The Trump administration is telling the world to pick a side in the artificial intelligence race: America or China. The Trump children are telling the world, “We know where the back door is if you want in.” According to Reuters, as Trump and company continue to refine their AI policy and close in on an anti-China firewall, his sons are using their crypto companies to profit from workarounds that would offer access to banned Chinese AI models.
First, the policy. Per Reuters, the State Department is preparing a document that will warn countries that working with China on AI initiatives is likely to get them cut off from America’s efforts. The letter will reportedly go out to 35 signatories who joined the United States’ AI Opportunity Statement in June of this year. Those countries will have the opportunity to join Pax Silica, a US-created framework for securing supply chains for AI—but only if they choose not to join China’s competing framework, the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (WAICO).
There are currently several overlapping members in these initiatives—most notably Kazakhstan, which is rich with the minerals and materials needed to build AI infrastructure. Losing Kazakhstan would be a pretty major blow for the US, but the Trump administration is apparently willing to take the risk and issue an ultimatum as part of its ongoing crackdown on China. The administration has also been mulling ways to ban Chinese AI models from being used in the US, despite the urging of businesses that prefer those options because they’re cheaper than American alternatives.
But if the Trump administration drops the Silicon Curtain, the Trump family will find a way to lift the veil. Reuters reports that a Hong Kong-based startup called WorldClaw is offering access to Chinese models, including those subject to a Trumpian crackdown. One of the ways that people can pay WorldClaw to access those models is through USD1, the stablecoin owned and operated by World Liberty Financial, the cryptocurrency company that is, in part, owned and operated by the Trump sons, Eric and Don Jr.
Per Reuters, World Liberty Financial doesn’t own a part of WorldClaw, which gives enough plausible distance between the organizations to claim there’s nothing shady going on. But there’s no real way around the fact that the organization profits from every transaction involving USD1. And the Trump kids aren’t exactly creating much distance. Both Don Jr. and Eric tweeted out posts promoting the fact that WorldClaw was accepting USD1 to access AI models, including those administration-maligned Chinese options.
It’s fitting that USD1 is positioned to be the official currency of profiting off a Trump policy, given that it was launched by the Trump family ahead of the administration loosening rules on stablecoins in the first place. If you ever wonder what the Trump administration is going to do, just take a look at what venture his front-running sons are supporting and work backwards.