Eric Trump said the US financial system is full of outdated bloat and personal bias while speaking on stage Thursday at TOKEN2049 Dubai, where he joined Justin Sun and Zack Witkoff for a panel on financial freedom and the future of crypto.

Eric said traditional banks are run by people in “golden towers” who can destroy your life with a single decision. He called them obsolete and praised crypto as the only system giving people control over their money.

“When someone in a bank doesn’t like you, they can just cancel you. And they tried that with us,” Eric said. “We got letters in 2019, 2020, 2021 from banks we’d done business with for 40 years. Your accounts are shut. That’s it. That’s how broken the system is.”

Eric added that the Trump Organization survived because of its size and reach, but most people have no leverage at all.

“We had enough zeros on the balance sheet and a loud enough voice that they couldn’t just erase us. But that’s not the case for most people,” said Eric. “Try being someone in Zimbabwe facing 1000% inflation and telling a bank to give you a loan. You’ve got nothing.”

Eric says crypto gives people access banks won’t

Eric argued that the only tool giving people real financial power today is the smartphone in their pocket. “If you don’t have a line to Jamie Dimon or the CEO of some big bank, you’re screwed,” he said. “But with a phone, you can buy USD1, you can invest $10 or $10 million. It doesn’t matter. You’re not stuck begging for access anymore.”

Justin backed that up by pointing to the flaws of the current financial model. “In the US, banks go bankrupt overnight. People don’t even know until it’s done,” he said. “In Hong Kong, $5 million can disappear from an account without the customer having a clue.”

He said blockchain prevents that.

“On-chain, everything happens instantly. You can’t hide transactions. That’s why trust in banks is falling, and why crypto is rising.”

Eric said USD1, the stablecoin launched by World Liberty Financial, is built for this purpose. “It’s backed one-to-one by short-term US treasuries and cash equivalents. So yeah, ask yourself where you want your money,” he said.

Zack said the project’s goal is to integrate USD1 into both DeFi and real-world retail systems.

“We’re working hard so you can use your USD1 debit card anywhere — buy food, book a hotel, whatever,” Zack said. “Until that happens, we’re not done.”

Eric corrected him. “You’re not going to be swiping that card at Four Seasons. It’ll be at Trump International Hotel,” he said.

Eric says bureaucracy killed Europe while UAE builds fast

Eric called the UAE a model for how governments should operate. “They say yes to good ideas. That’s why they’re moving fast. You bring them a smart plan, they give you permits in a month,” he said. “We got approval for a building that’s 1,150 feet tall with the world’s highest swimming pool — in thirty days.”

He compared that to what he dealt with in Europe.

“In Ireland, we tried to move a golf green and some microscopic snail delayed us seven years. We finally got a yes, and then Brussels said no,” Eric said. “That continent is a lost cause.”

He said Dubai and Abu Dhabi understand the future. “Most countries talk about what happened 2000 years ago. The UAE talks about where they’re going by 2050. That’s why they’re winning,” he said.

Justin confirmed the next phase of the project: native integration of USD1 with the Tron blockchain. “We’re minting hundreds of billions to start, and we’ll hit billions in market cap soon,” he said. “This isn’t a small rollout.”

He said most crypto firms ignored poor users. “They thought there’s no profit in it. We didn’t. We’re doing this for 7 billion people,” Justin said.

Zack added that 1.4 billion people are completely unbanked. “And that number doesn’t even count the millions who are underbanked,” he said. “We want to reach all of them.”

Eric then said crypto companies must also fix their own problems. “The first time these guys showed me DeFi, it was a fucking disaster,” he said. “Gas fees, wallet links, MetaMask, swaps. It made no sense.”

He said hospitality matters. “Make it easy. That’s what I do in real estate. If people hate using it, they’re not going to come back. Fix that, and we win.”

Justin said user experience matters more than hype. “You can’t grow with broken tools. We’re building for daily use,” he said.

Eric closed the panel with a warning:

“Big banks hate all of us. They always did. They still do. But they’re slow, and we’re not. That’s why we’re going to win this.”

Then he thanked the region. “Thank you to Dubai, to Abu Dhabi, to the UAE, to everyone in this room, and to everyone who believes in World Liberty Financial,” Eric said. “We love you all.”

Ashish Kumar contributed to the report.

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