2025-03-31 11:29

MILAN, March 31 (Reuters) - Italian prosecutors have opened an investigation into possible espionage and terrorism after a drone flew several times over an EU research centre in northwestern Italy, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said on Monday. The European Joint Research Center (JRC) in the town of Ispra, on Lake Maggiore, reported five flyovers in March by a commercial drone, which was believed to be of Russian manufacture judging from the images, the sources said. Sign up here. Flights over the JRC, which opened in 1960 as a nuclear research site, are not allowed. As a result, the anti-terrorism department of the Milan public prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into military or political espionage for terrorist purposes, the source added. The JRC website says the Ispra centre is the European Commission's third largest research campus after those in Brussels and Luxembourg, dealing with numerous issues, including nuclear security, space, sustainable resources, migration and transport. There was no immediate comment from the European Commission. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/italy-investigates-drone-flyovers-eu-facility-spying-suspicions-2025-03-31/

2025-03-31 11:28

KAMPALA, March 31 (Reuters) - Ugandan private power utility Umeme Limited (UMEME.UG) , opens new tab said on Monday it had received $118 million in compensation from the government for unrecovered investments, following the expiration of its monopoly rights to distribute electricity in the country. Umeme signed a 20-year concession agreement in 2005. But as it was nearing its end in 2022, the government rejected Umeme's request to renew the deal amid complaints it had been slow to expand new power connections and lower prices for consumers. Sign up here. Under the terms of Umeme's agreement, the government is required to compensate the company for any capital investments in the power distribution network that it had not recovered by the end of the concession period. Umeme said in a statement that Monday's payment represented what government auditors determined the company was owed. Umeme, however, is claiming $234 million in total unrecovered investments. It said its board remained "optimistic that the matters in dispute will be resolved during the ensuing 30-day good faith negotiations period or in any event subsequently by an arbitral tribunal in London." A spokesperson for Uganda's energy ministry was not immediately reachable for comment. Umeme's concession ended on Monday. The monopoly will now be returned to the state-owned Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/umeme-receives-118-million-uganda-unrecovered-investments-2025-03-31/

2025-03-31 11:23

LONDON, March 31 (Reuters) - What matters in U.S. and global markets today By Mike Dolan , opens new tab, Editor-At-Large, Financial Industry and Financial Markets Sign up here. Gold is homing in on its best quarter since 1986, telling you everything you need to know about what's proven to be a dire quarter for Wall Street. April offers little chance of reprieve as it looks set to kick off with the start of a global trade war. I'll get into all the market details below before taking a look at rising fears that the U.S. could take the once-unthinkable step of weaponizing emergency dollar access. Today's Market Minute * Trump said this weekend that the reciprocal tariffs he is set to announce this week will include all nations, not just the 10 to 15 countries with the biggest trade imbalances. * Gold is heading for its biggest quarterly gain since 1986, as investors embrace the safe-haven appeal of bullion. * Trump says he's "pissed off" at Russian President Vladimir Putin and will impose secondary tariffs of 25% to 50% on buyers of Russian oil if he feels Moscow is blocking his efforts to end the war in Ukraine. * Dude, where's my car? Toyota buyers are facing long waits for delivery of their new cars as demand for gasoline-electric hybrids booms. * Billionaire Elon Musk on Sunday handed out million-dollar checks to two voters in Wisconsin and promised smaller payments to others who help elect a conservative candidate to the state's top court in a closely watched election. No quarter for Wall Street There was little to calm markets this morning, as the prospect of universal U.S. import tariffs returned to the radar over the weekend. The turbulent end to last week has barreled into Monday, as stocks across the globe fell sharply on the final day of March. Japan's Nikkei (.N225) , opens new tab lost 4% in its biggest one-day drop since September. And South Korea's Kospi (.KS11) , opens new tab dropped 3%. The S&P 500 (.SPX) , opens new tab is already on course for its worst month since 2022 and its worst first quarter since the pandemic in 2020. Futures show those losses may extend even further on Monday. The White House tariff plan should be announced in full on Wednesday, though the range of possibilities for what will eventually emerge is very large. President Donald Trump jarred markets this weekend by saying all countries could be subject to tariffs, not just the 10 to 15 with the biggest trade imbalances. The unusual degree of uncertainty being generated by the administration could ultimately end up creating as much discomfort as the impact of the actual tariffs. On the growth front, more worrying numbers came out on Friday as real personal consumption spending was below forecast. This dragged down first quarter U.S. GDP estimates, while the University of Michigan showed long-term inflation expectations climbing. Even the Atlanta Federal Reserve's , opens new tab gold-adjusted "GDPNow" model, which strips out the distortions created by high gold bar imports in January, is signaling that the U.S. economy contracted during the quarter. That fact and the flight from stocks has had a direct impact on interest rate expectations. Three Fed cuts in 2025 are once again being priced into Fed futures. Two-year Treasury yields, which plunged back below 4% on Friday, dropped another 7 basis points on Monday to just 3.84%. Investors appear increasingly less confident about what is going to happen next on either the economic or policy fronts in the U.S. These concerns were amplified over the weekend, as Trump's statements on a whole range of issues seemed more erratic than usual. Asked whether he was worried about rising prices for foreign autos and other imports, Trump said he "couldn't care less" and urged consumers to buy American-made cars instead. He also said he was not joking about seeking a third presidential term, which is barred by the U.S. Constitution, though he said that it was too early to think about doing so. In geopolitics, Trump said he was "pissed off" with Russian President Vladimir Putin for dragging his heels on the Ukraine peace deal, threatening to extend secondary sanctions on countries who traded with Russia as a punishment for delays. And he then criticized Putin for questioning the credibility of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's leadership - something he has done himself over the past month. Markets responded to this accordingly. Wall Street's fear index, the VIX (.VIX) , opens new tab, climbed to its highest in more than two weeks, gold topped $3,100 for the first time, and safety seekers also bought Japanese yen . European stocks (.STOXXE) , opens new tab, which have outperformed this year with gains of more than 10%, fell back on Monday too, but the euro held up against a softer dollar. Monday's economic diary is quiet, but it's a big labor market data week on top of the much-anticipated tariff announcements. Let's now turn back to the rising concerns about erratic U.S. policy and consider the risk that the dollar could potentially be weaponized in a new way. 'Coercion' fears include hijacking dollar dominance There may be a thin line between 'transactional' and 'coercive', but U.S. international economic policies judged to have crossed it could weaken the foundations of the dollar's dominant role in international finance. Washington has long used its economic and financial heft to wring change out of countries it considers foes, but explicitly threatening its traditional allies is something very new. As trade and military fissures widen between the United States and its closest neighbors and G7 partners, the word 'coercion' is increasingly being used as reason for war-gaming other potentially extreme pressures from 'Uncle Sam'. The European Union was prepared for this, as its "Anti-Coercion Instrument" (ACI) came into force just over a year ago. This creates policy bulwarks against countries seeking to use trade as a political tool. If countries are deemed to be putting economic pressure on EU members to change policies, the ACI allows the EU to limit access to public procurement tenders for the offending nation's companies, restrict protection of intellectual property rights or limit the country's financial service firms' access to EU markets. It's a tool Europe could potentially use to hit U.S. Big Tech if U.S. President Donald Trump follows through with his sweeping tariffs plans. "Coercion" is a big word, often reserved for Chinese or Russian policies, but extraordinary when used in interactions between long-standing allies. And yet, here we are. EU President Ursula von der Leyen spoke just last month about being braced for economic "coercion" in relation to U.S. tariff threats. But this bristling at U.S. pressure could also have ramifications beyond the trade sphere and could ultimately make the world rethink a reliance on ready access to ubiquitous dollars. Contingency planning appears to be well underway as leaders consider just how far the Trump administration will go. European Central Bank chief economist Philip Lane last week said Europe's dependence on U.S.-based payment providers leaves it open to "economic pressure and coercion", weakening its autonomy and upping the case for a digital euro. More pointedly, European central banking and supervisory officials told Reuters that many now question whether they can still rely on the Federal Reserve to provide dollar funding in times of market stress. 'NUCLEAR BUTTON' Contingency planning is, of course, just that. It's the job of supervisors to be prepared for all conceivable outcomes. But it is remarkable that it's even considered conceivable an ostensibly independent Fed could be pressured to forgo its role as 'lender of last resort' of dollars to the rest of the world. As financial markets and investors are contingency planners by nature, coercion talk has forced some strategists to examine the impact this could have on the enormous volume of dollar-denominated financial transactions that occur around the planet every day. Deutsche Bank's George Saravelos dubbed it "a nuclear button for the dollar". Saravelos dwells on the overwhelming use of the dollar in the currency swaps and forwards market, where the Bank for International Settlements data shows the dollar on one side of 88% of the almost $100 trillion in swap and forward payment obligations globally. He notes that this market is the simplest way for non-U.S. firms use to source dollars for imports or U.S. investments. But these are short-term contracts rolled over continuously to fund longer-term assets, creating the potential for maturity mismatches that could cause massive ructions if there is suddenly a shortage of dollars worldwide. To counter global financial stability risks, the Fed has over the past 20 years opened up emergency dollar swap lines , opens new tab with several central banks. While rarely used, these lines are seen as a critical backstop during times of financial stress. The very idea that this Fed safety net could be used as a bargaining chip has potentially seismic implications. For one, it could make dollars seem scarcer on the margin and even bolster the exchange rate in the short term. But the long-term cost to America could be that foreigners rethink their exposure to U.S. assets. While scenario-testing is understandable, it comes down to one central question: could the Fed ever be used in such a political way? Much has been written about how the central bank can insulate itself from government control. And yet antagonism between Trump and the Fed and federal agencies in general is well known. Trump's decision this month to fire two commissioners at the Federal Trade Commission raises concerns about whether something similar could happen at the Fed. "In our view, similar actions taken against Fed Governors could undercut central bank independence and credibility," said Stifel's Washington strategist Brian Gardner. Economic coercion domestically and abroad takes many forms of course and is often in the eye of the beholder. But few taboos have been left unbroken this year and it's not hard to see why "worst case" planning is in full swing. Chart of the day It's been a year to forget so far for Wall Street, as weakness in U.S. equities has contrasted with soaring European defence stocks and rising gold prices. The final day of the quarter has yet to play out in full, but there appears to be little to indicate a last-minute reprieve stateside, as Wednesday looks set to sound the sirens on what could be a bruising global trade war. Today's events to watch * Chicago Federal Reserve's March business survey, Dallas Fed March manufacturing survey Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles , opens new tab, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/americas-no-quarter-wall-street-2025-03-31/

2025-03-31 11:18

Goldman expects three rate cuts from Fed, ECB this year Broker cuts S&P 500 annual target - second time this month GS increases 12-mth US recession probability to 35% vs 20% Broker predicts euro area could fall into recession in 2025 March 31 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs raised the probability of a U.S. recession to 35% from 20% and said it expects more rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, as President Donald Trump's tariffs roil the global economy and upend financial markets. The brokerage also lowered the world's largest economy's GDP growth forecast for 2025 to 1.5% from 2.0% and projected three interest rate cuts each from the U.S. Fed and the European Central Bank from its previous expectation of two each. Sign up here. Trump said on Sunday his reciprocal tariffs, to be announced this week, would include all countries and not a more limited number, rattling financial markets globally over fears of an economic slowdown. In a separate note, Goldman also cut its year-end target for the S&P 500 index (.SPX) , opens new tab for a second time this month to 5,700 from 6,200, the lowest among Wall Street brokerages, followed by Barclays's target at 5,900. U.S. - MORE FED RATE CUTS Goldman expects the average U.S. tariff rate to rise 15 percentage points in 2025, 5 percentage points more than its prior baseline forecast and predicts Trump to announce reciprocal tariffs that average 15% across all U.S. trading partners on April 2. "Almost the entire (tariff rate) revision reflects a more aggressive assumption for 'reciprocal' tariffs," Goldman wrote in a note on Sunday. The brokerage estimates the Fed to consecutively cut interest rates in July, September and November, compared with its previous forecast of two cuts in June and December. EUROPE TO FARE WORSE THAN U.S. Europe is expected to fare worse than the U.S., Goldman warned, as it projected the region's economy could enter into a "technical" recession this year. The brokerage forecasts "little" growth for the rest of 2025, with non-annualised growth of 0.1%, 0.0% and 0.2% in the second, third and fourth quarter, respectively. The brokerage expects Trump to implement a reciprocal tariff on the European Union amounting to 15 percentage points, raising the total effective tariff rate by 20 percentage points. "We estimate that our new tariff assumptions will lower euro area real GDP by an additional 0.25% compared to our previous baseline, for a total hit to the level of GDP of 0.7% compared to a no-tariff counterfactual by end-2026," Goldman said in a separate note on Sunday. However, in a more "downside" scenario of tariffs, Goldman sees a total hit of 1.2% to the economy which could push the euro area into a technical recession in 2025, compared with a no-tariff scenario. The brokerage said it now expects the ECB to deliver an additional cut in July, along with its previous forecast of a rate cut each in April and June. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/goldman-sachs-expects-us-fed-deliver-three-rate-cuts-2025-2025-03-31/

2025-03-31 11:15

LONDON, March 31 (Reuters) - Hedge funds last week ditched tech stocks at the fastest pace in six months and at the highest levels in five years, according to Goldman Sachs (GS.N) , opens new tab, as world markets tumbled on worries over U.S. President Donald Trump's April 2 tariff deadline. Import tariffs and retaliation by U.S. trade partners, along with government cutbacks under Trump have stoked fears in recent weeks that the U.S. economy might tip into recession. Sign up here. Hedge funds fled tech stocks last week, dropping long positions and getting out of bets against these stocks, Goldman said in a note to clients on Friday and seen by Reuters on Monday. A short position expects an asset value to fall, whereas a long bet hopes it will rise. Info tech, which includes so-called Magnificent-7 tech stocks, was "by far the most net sold on the Prime book this week", said the note, referring to the bank's prime brokerage desk which lends to hedge funds and tracks their trades. Analysts at Edmond de Rothschild on Monday linked the downward trend in many of these stocks to the expected copper tariffs due to come into force on April 2. Hedge funds are increasingly betting against stocks, with Nvidia (NVDA.O) , opens new tab, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.O) , opens new tab and Tesla (TSLA.O) , opens new tab as their top three shorts placed on Wednesday, a Morgan Stanley note said on Thursday. U.S. tech stocks made up about 75% of the selling last week, said Goldman. The selling centered on companies that make AI-related tech hardware, said the bank. Total hedge fund exposure to this sector of stocks now stands at a five-year low, said Goldman. Hedge funds had bought tech stocks in the middle of March, but sold them last week, noted another dataset from JPMorgan (JPM.N) , opens new tab. Strong retail buying might also have impacted hedge fund positions, said the JPMorgan note to clients on Friday. A short squeeze occurs when a stock price rises so much that bearish bets become too expensive to hold and investors are forced to buy them back, sometimes at a loss. "With the tariff news, it was interesting that hedge fund flows and positioning might suggest they’re already somewhat prepared—at least in terms of key areas that have been in focus," said the JPMorgan note. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/hedge-flow-hedge-funds-flee-techs-stocks-before-tariffs-take-hold-says-goldman-2025-03-31/

2025-03-31 10:42

Trump family has a claim on 75% of net revenues from World Liberty's token sales World Liberty's tokens are non-tradeable; holders cannot vote for a share in profits Critics warn of potential conflicts of interest with president's involvement in crypto Over $280 million raised from buyers purchasing $1 million or more in $WLFI tokens LONDON/NEW YORK, March 31 (Reuters) - As World Liberty Financial raised more than half a billion dollars, President Donald Trump’s family took control of the crypto venture and grabbed the lion’s share of those funds, aided by governance terms that industry experts say favor insiders. Launched last fall, World Liberty’s goal is to allow people to access financial services using cryptocurrencies and without intermediaries like banks in what is called decentralized finance, or DeFi. But it has yet to launch a public platform and has reported only a small staff, a review of the project shows. Sign up here. Even so, World Liberty said in mid-March it had raised $550 million selling so-called governance tokens. Most of those sales took place after Trump’s election win in November, Reuters calculations show. The tokens, which go by the symbol $WLFI, give holders the right to vote on changes to the project’s underlying code and to signal their opinion on its direction and plans. They cannot be traded. As its fundraising got traction, World Liberty disclosed in January that the Trump family had taken control of the business, a review of changes in the fine print on World Liberty’s website shows. Two of its co-founders, crypto entrepreneurs Zak Folkman and Chase Herro, were replaced as the controlling parties of World Liberty by an entity in which the Trump family holds a 60% stake. The changes have not been previously reported. Overall, the Trump family now has a claim on 75% of net revenues from token sales and 60% from World Liberty operations once the core business gets going. The arrangement means the Trump family is currently entitled to about $400 million in fees. After World Liberty's co-founders take their cut, the crypto venture will be left with 5% of the $550 million raised to date to build the platform, according to Reuters calculations. The arrangements, including the Trump family’s large share of the project’s revenues and the non-tradeable nature of the governance tokens, make World Liberty unusually centralized for the industry, according to a survey of the practices of the five largest DeFi lending platforms and interviews with four U.S. academics who study the crypto industry. "It's hard for me to see any economic benefit to the owner of these tokens," said Jim Angel, an associate professor at Georgetown University who has written about DeFi regulation. David Krause, a longtime finance professor at Marquette University in Milwaukee who recently published a study of World Liberty, said that the structure of the project “pretty much excludes public investors or token holders from any meaningful financial participation.” A White House spokesperson referred questions about World Liberty to the Trump Organization. The Trump Organization's chief legal officer and the president's two older sons, who are executives at the company, did not respond to requests for comment. The Trump Organization announced in January that the president's investments, assets and business interests would be held in a trust managed by his children and he would play no role in day-to-day operations or decision-making. The family's business also retained an attorney to serve as an ethics adviser to "avoid any perceived conflicts of interest." Folkman and Herro did not reply to Reuters questions in person and in writing. In a post on social media platform X on March 14, World Liberty said it “is a DeFi project with a tremendous mission to build and democratize a new financial system for the benefit of millions.” At a conference in February, Herro said the plan was to open crypto investing to everyday Americans such as teachers, dentists and firemen. His business partner, Donald Trump Jr, the president's son, has complained about the family being excluded from traditional banking in the aftermath of his father's first term. CRYPTO PRESIDENT The Trump family’s investment in World Liberty ties the personal fortunes of a sitting U.S. president to an asset class that sits at the outer edges of both risk and regulation. Trump has promised to be the “crypto president,” who will popularize its mainstream use in America. He has said he backs crypto because it can improve the banking system and increase the dominance of the U.S. dollar. At the same time, the Trump family, long rooted in skyscrapers and country clubs, has opened beachheads in crypto, quickly gaining hundreds of millions of dollars. A so-called meme coin promoted by Trump has generated at least $349 million in fees for entities connected to the president, according to crypto data firm Chainalysis. On Monday, the Trump family deepened its crypto interests, as a company formed with the president's elder sons, Eric and Donald Trump Jr., took a minority stake in a newly-formed bitcoin producer called American Bitcoin. Eric Trump will become the chief strategy officer of the new firm, which will focus on mining bitcoin and aims to become publicly listed, the statement said. The prospect of Trump and his family benefiting from deregulation has drawn criticism from his political opponents and some government ethics experts who say it creates the potential for conflicts of interest and influence peddling. "You've got the guy in charge who is responsible for his own regulation," said Ross Delston, a former U.S. banking regulator who has acted as an expert witness on anti-money laundering issues for the government. Delston also pointed to the potential for people buying $WLFI tokens to earn political favor. It would be “the perfect vehicle,” he said, for governments or oligarchs overseas “to funnel money to the president." World Liberty has attracted well-heeled buyers: Almost 70% of the money raised came from wallets that spent at least $100,000, and more than 50% was buys of $1 million or more, according to a Reuters analysis of publicly available information on transactions. While buyers of $WLFI gave their names to the venture, the identity of nearly all of those big spenders is hidden from public view by anonymous crypto wallets. Among a handful of buyers that Reuters was able to identify, several said they bought into the token because they believed Trump’s involvement would help it succeed as a business. ‘LET’S GO PURSUE IT’ World Liberty’s beginnings lie in the convergence of two obscure figures on the crypto scene and some of the most powerful people in American politics. Folkman and Herro entered Trump circles via the family of New York real estate mogul Steve Witkoff, a longtime Trump friend who is now also his envoy to the Mideast. The two crypto entrepreneurs had already collaborated on several companies together focused on making money from online ventures. Their business background includes past instances of dissolution, litigation and unpaid debts, according to corporate records, state filings and U.S. court documents. Early in his career, Folkman offered seminars on how to “date hotter girls.” Steve Witkoff said he was introduced to the pair by one of his sons, when speaking about how the deal came together on a crypto podcast hosted in September by the Trump family. After meeting the two crypto businessmen and hearing them speak about the difficulties of getting credit in traditional finance, Witkoff said he thought of the Trumps. He set up a meeting with Donald Trump and his two oldest sons for Herro and Folkman to describe the opportunities of DeFi. The Trumps, Witkoff said, were smitten: “We said, ‘Let’s go pursue it.’” Witkoff did not respond to requests for comment. Despite Trump’s backing, token sales were slow at first. According to a U.S. regulatory filing by the company dated October 30 - around two weeks after World Liberty sales had begun - the venture’s total amount sold was only $2.7 million. Then, on November 25, less than three weeks after Trump won the U.S. election, Justin Sun, a Hong Kong-based crypto entrepreneur who was fighting a U.S. securities fraud lawsuit, announced that he’d sunk $30 million into $WLFI - the amount the company said it needed to jumpstart operations. “His amount was pretty meaningful at that point,” said “Ogle”, a World Liberty security adviser who only goes by that pseudonym and has appeared in video interviews with his face obscured by a bandana and sunglasses. Sun has said his investment has since risen to $75 million. As well as its single-largest known investor, he has become an advisor to the project. Meanwhile, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in February paused its case against him, citing public interest. Sun didn’t respond to a request for comment. The SEC declined to comment. TAKING CHARGE Initially, Herro and Folkman were listed as the “sole directors and members” of World Liberty Financial Inc, the main entity developing the platform, according to World Liberty’s terms and conditions, last updated in October. On January 19 and 20 - the day of Trump’s inauguration - World Liberty raised almost $300 million in a frenzy of token sales, according to a Reuters analysis of blockchain data. Around that time, its website was updated to say WLF Holdco LLC now controlled World Liberty Financial Inc. And DT Marks DeFi LLC – Trump’s company – now held about 60% of WLF Holdco. It did not disclose who owns the rest. The president’s son, Eric, also gained a seat on WLF Holdco’s board of managers. Reuters could not ascertain the terms of any deals between Trump and his partners that led to the changes. Angel, the Georgetown professor, said the corporate structure had put several layers of entities between Trump and World Liberty, protecting the president from any potential legal action should something go wrong. “He can say: ‘You can't sue me because I'm not involved’,” Angel said. AN OUTLIER The five largest DeFi lending platforms, as ranked by data site DefiLlama, all have governance tokens that give holders voting rights. But unlike World Liberty, those five platforms either allocated the majority of their governance tokens to be given away for free to users, sold them to venture capitalists in return for money to build the platform, or paid them to partners in return for building the project. World Liberty governance tokens lack another critical feature of those issued by other DeFi platforms – the ability of token holders to vote for the platform to pay them a share of its profits. World Liberty has told token holders any vote to breach its existing deals with Trump and other backers would have no force, according to a 13-page description of the business released in October. Folkman told a New York audience on March 18 that the company is working on three main products, including a “lend and borrow” market that would be announced soon and a personal finance application. World Liberty also said in March that it is planning to launch a stablecoin, known as USD1, that will be backed by assets such as U.S. Treasuries and redeemable for a dollar. One company that World Liberty has collaborated with is Ondo Finance. The startup, founded in 2021 by former Goldman Sachs employees, lets users buy blockchain-based tokens backed by U.S. Treasuries and other assets such as money market funds, thereby earning interest. The two companies said in a statement that they would collaborate to “advance the adoption of tokenized real-world assets.” “They're all in early stages, but we're exploring what they're doing at a very high level,” Nathan Allman, Ondo’s CEO, told Reuters. While World Liberty has also used some of the money it raised to invest in other cryptocurrencies, it has yet to launch a DeFi platform. Two software developers listed on World Liberty's website are based in Romania, according to their social media profiles. Octavian Lojnita was previously a developer at Dough Finance, a Herro and Folkman project that collapsed last year after being hacked, according to Lojnita's online profile and the publicly available source code of Dough. The online handle for a second developer at Dough matches that of Bogdan Purnavel, also at World Liberty. Lojnita declined to discuss his involvement in World Liberty. Purnavel referred questions to World Liberty. The coding for contracts posted to the project’s blockchain – a public-facing database – shows that World Liberty “appears to still be in development, with several functionalities not yet implemented or fully operational,” according to a review in late March by CertiK, a cybersecurity company that audits projects for security flaws. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/how-trump-family-took-over-world-liberty-financial-it-raised-hundreds-millions-2025-03-31/