Chapter 1: Midnight Trading
The night in Manhattan was as dark as ink, and the skyscrapers of Wall Street whispered under the neon lights, concealing the secrets of the financial world. Erin Carter, 33, a former (Wall Street Journal) reporter and now an independent blogger, sat at her desk in her Brooklyn apartment, the blue light of the screen reflecting on her tired face. Her blog 'Light of the Dark Pool' had exposed countless financial scandals, but tonight's discovery made her heart race: USD1, an emerging stablecoin, had skyrocketed from a market cap of 130 million to 2.2 billion, with a trading volume of 400 million in 24 hours. Just a few months ago, no one knew what it was.
Erin scrolled through X posts, @wanghebbf wrote: 'USD1 went live on PancakeSwap, trading volume 100 million, the Trump family's interests above all.' She opened the World Liberty Financial (WLFI) official website, which stated that USD1 was backed by short-term U.S. Treasury bonds, dollar deposits, and money market funds, custodied at BitGo. But what truly made her hair stand on end was that 60% of WLFI's shares belonged to the Trump family, and 75% of the token sale revenue flowed into their accounts. This was not an ordinary stablecoin, but a meticulously planned financial conspiracy.
Her crypto inbox pinged with a message from 'Deep Throat': 'The goal of USD1 is to take down Tether. Check Lutnick's Bahamas accounts.' Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, Trump's nominee for Secretary of Commerce, has been managing Tether's treasury assets since 2021. Erin dialed Jack Moran's phone number, a former SEC investigator and the only person she trusted.
“Jack, the audit of USD1 is too clean, like a fake,” Erin said. Jack's voice was low: “Erin, Lutnick made a billion with Tether, and now he's betting on USD1. He has a plan with the Trump family: to use USD1 to burn bridges and destroy Tether.” Erin's gaze swept over a photo of Eric Trump at the WLFI press conference, a chill creeping up her spine. She discovered a leaked WLFI email mentioning that 'dark pool trading' would transfer Tether's reserve assets to USD1's offshore accounts, undermining Tether's credibility. This was a financial slaughter, and she had already stepped onto a dangerous chessboard.
