'Extinct in 10 years': Eric Trump says crypto to overtake banks, slams SWIFT system

Eric Trump, Executive Vice President at The Trump Organisation and the son of U.S. President Donald Trump, said on the second day of the biggest global crypto event, Token 2049 in Dubai, that he believes the crypto world is going to take over big banks.

During a fireside chat with World Liberty Financial Co-Founder Zach Witkoff and Tron Founder Justin Sun at Token2049 in Dubai, Eric Trump, who is a vocal cryptocurrency advocate, talked about the situation of the current financial system, saying the crypto world is going to leave big banks in the dust, and that digital currencies have brought an even playing field to the world.

"They’re just going to be extinct because you’re eliminating their function. It’s like old school film and cameras. I think that’s what’s going to happen to financial institutions," he said, The Block reported.

Eric Trump, during a different conversation in Dubai, said the current SWIFT financial system for carrying out global transactions is an "absolute disaster". "There's not a week that goes by that I'm either trying to send out a wire on a Friday afternoon or trying to receive a wire on a Friday afternoon. You're worried if you're going to hit that four o'clock cutoff time, where you might not see the funds you're supposed to be receiving in the ordinary course of business for another 72 hours."

He asked why banks work nine to five, "with a long lunch break", Monday through Friday. "It doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Whereas you can open up a DeFi app right now. You can open up any cryptocurrency app, and you can send money from wallet to wallet instantaneously without the expense, without the variability. Our banking system is broken."

He said the current banking system favours the ultra-wealthy. "If the banks don't watch what's coming, they're going to be extinct in 10 years."

During the conference, decentralised finance (DeFi) platform World Liberty Financial's Witkoff also said that its stablecoin USD1, which is a dollar-pegged US Treasuries-backed stablecoin, will be used by Abu Dhabi-based investment company MGX to close its $2 billion investment in Binance. "We are excited to announce today that USD1 has been selected as the official stablecoin to close MGX's $2 billion investment in Binance," said Witkoff, as reported by Reuters.

As per the World Liberty Financial website, Eric Trump and his two brothers are Web3 Ambassadors at the platform, while US President Donald Trump is the chief crypto advocate.