Olga Kharif and Stephanie Lai | (TNS) Bloomberg News

Donald Trump headlined an event billed as the unveiling of a crypto platform promoted by the Republican nominee and his sons, putting the spotlight on a niche digital-asset sector with a history of controversy.

The project, World Liberty Financial, will be part of the decentralized finance segment of digital assets and is supposed to help with financial security and being able to transact freely, Trump’s son Donald Jr. said in an X Spaces livestream on Monday.

“It’s a real problem that needed to be addressed, and honestly I think this is the way,” Donald Jr. said after comments from his father. The launch came a day after the former president emerged unscathed from a second apparent assassination attempt, the latest shock to roil the presidential contest.

The Republican nominee has pivoted to courting the digital-asset sector in search of donations and votes amid a tight race for the White House, even vowing to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet.” His stance is an about-face given that he previously denounced Bitcoin as a “scam.”

On the goal of becoming the key crypto hub, Donald Trump said: “If we don’t do it, China is going to do it. China is doing it anyway. But if we don’t do it, we’re not going to be the biggest, and we have to be the biggest and the best.”

Trump’s sons Eric and Donald Jr. began promoting World Liberty Financial on X and Telegram in recent weeks. Decentralized finance — or DeFi — is an arcane crypto sector, where people trade, lend and borrow digital assets peer-to-peer using automated software.

“The effort is consistent with Trump’s pro-crypto policy stance,” said Campbell Harvey, a finance professor at Duke University. “It’s one thing to say you are pro-crypto, and other to launch a company in the space.”

The former president’s profile may make many more people aware of DeFi, proponents of which often claim gains in efficiency resulting from cutting out traditional intermediaries like banks. Critics argue the sector rests in a regulatory gray zone and is prone to hacks, a bugbear for crypto as a whole.

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By KEVIN FREKING

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson will move ahead with a temporary spending bill that would prevent a partial government shutdown when the new budget year begins on Oct. 1, despite the headwinds that prompted him to pull the bill from consideration last week.

The bill includes a requirement that people registering to vote must provide proof of citizenship, which has become a leading election-year priority for Republicans raising the specter of noncitizens voting in the U.S., even though it’s already illegal to do so and research has shown that such voting is rare.

“I urge all of my colleagues to do what the overwhelming majority of the people of this country rightfully demand and deserve — prevent non-American citizens from voting in American elections,” Johnson said Tuesday.

Johnson told reporters he was not ready to discuss an alternative plan to keep the government funded other than what will come before the House on Wednesday.

“I’m not having any alternative conversations. That’s the play. It’s an important one. And I’m going to work around the clock to try and get it done,” Johnson said.

The legislation faces an uphill climb in the House and has no chance in the Senate. The vast majority of Democrats oppose it, and some Republicans do, too, but for different reasons.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the only way to prevent a government shutdown was for both sides to work together on an agreement. He said the House vote announced by Johnson was doomed to fail.

“The only thing that will accomplish is make clear that he’s running into a dead end,” Schumer said. “We must have a bipartisan plan instead.”

The legislation would fund agencies at current levels while lawmakers work out their differences on a full-year spending agreement.

Democrats, and some Republicans, are pushing for a short extension. A temporary fix would allow the current Congress to hammer out a final bill after the election and get it to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature.

But Johnson and some of the more conservative members of his conference are pushing for a six-month extension in the hopes that Republican nominee Donald Trump will win the election and give them more leverage when crafting the full-year bill.

Schumer said a six-month measure would shortchange the Pentagon and other government agencies that need more certainty about funding levels.

“You simply cannot run the military with six-month stopgaps,” Schumer said.

Johnson said last week that he was not giving up on his proposal just yet and would be working through the weekend to build support. He said ensuring that only U.S. citizens vote in federal elections is “the most pressing issue right now and we’re going to get this job done.”

On Sunday, he traveled to Florida to meet with Trump, who had earlier seemingly encouraged a government shutdown if Republicans “don’t get assurances on Election Security.” Trump said on the social media platform Truth Social that they should not go forward with a stopgap bill without such assurances.

The House approved a bill with the proof of citizenship mandate back in July. Some Republicans who view the issue as popular with their constituents have been pushing for another chance to show their support for the measure. Still, other Republicans are expected to vote no because they view the spending in the bill as excessive.