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U.S. Creates Sovereign Wealth Fund With Potential To Acquire TikTok

by THEFUTURE.TEAM

February 4, 2025

In a surprising move, U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to create a sovereign wealth fund within the next 12 months, which could include the acquisition of the popular short-video app TikTok. The fund’s purpose would be to manage U.S. assets and generate wealth for the nation, with Trump promising it would benefit American citizens.

The sovereign wealth fund could be structured similarly to other such funds in countries across the globe, particularly in the Middle East and Asia, which use them to make direct investments. While the executive order provided little detail on the fund’s operations, it directed the U.S. Treasury and Commerce Departments to submit a comprehensive plan, including funding mechanisms and investment strategies, within 90 days.

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Trump has previously expressed support for creating a government-backed investment vehicle during his presidential campaign. He envisioned it as a tool to fund key national projects such as infrastructure, manufacturing, and medical research. The fund would likely be financed through innovative sources, including tariffs, though no clear explanation has been provided yet on its structure or funding.

In contrast to typical sovereign wealth funds, which rely on a country’s budget surplus, the U.S. operates at a deficit, which makes the funding approach more complex. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent emphasized that the fund’s creation would focus on monetizing U.S. assets, particularly those on the country’s balance sheet. However, many experts believe that the creation of such a fund would require Congressional approval, as it may involve legislation to authorize new funding sources.

The possibility of the fund purchasing TikTok has drawn significant attention. Trump suggested that the fund might acquire the social media platform, which has around 170 million U.S. users, after its ownership by Chinese company ByteDance became a subject of national security concerns. A law mandating ByteDance to sell its U.S. assets or face a ban took effect in January, but Trump has delayed its enforcement by 75 days, citing ongoing negotiations. Trump stated that if a suitable deal could be reached, TikTok would potentially become part of the sovereign wealth fund. However, he also indicated that this was not a certainty, leaving the decision still to be made.

This announcement follows reports that the Biden administration had also explored the idea of establishing a similar fund. However, as Trump’s plan unfolds, it remains uncertain whether it will materialize within the expected timeframe. Sovereign wealth funds manage over $8 trillion globally, and with this new initiative, the U.S. could join the ranks of nations leveraging such funds for national investment purposes.

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How Venture Capital Can Help Create Startup Fraud

by THEFUTURE.TEAM

August 3, 2026

Fraud Is Often A System Problem, Not Just A Founder Problem

A new report from Imperial College London and Emlyon Business School examines how venture capital-backed founders commit fraud and how investors can unintentionally create the conditions for it.

Published in June, the study draws on cases pursued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice between 2000 and 2023. Its central conclusion is that fraud is not solely a founder problem, but can also stem from the incentives, expectations and governance structures surrounding startups.

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High Expectations, Higher Risks

Several high-profile cases, including Charlie Javice of Frank, Gökçe Güven of Kalder, Do Kwon of Terraform Labs, and Alexander and Valerie Lau Beckman of GameOn, have intensified debate over where ambitious fundraising ends and fraud begins.

“Fraud is much more common and normalized in the startup world than we are ready to admit and accept,” Tim Weiss, one of the report’s authors, told TechCrunch.

Weiss also cited a University of Toronto study covering 654 fraud cases involving U.S. venture-backed startups between 2000 and 2023. Although fraud remained relatively rare, venture-backed companies were more likely to face fraud charges than non-VC-backed firms, while startups launched during overheated investment markets were 19% more likely to commit fraud later.

According to Weiss, pressure from investors and boards to deliver rapid growth can encourage misconduct, particularly in fast-moving sectors such as artificial intelligence.

The Three Stages Of “Façading”

The report, co-authored by Weiss and Nevena Radoynovska, identifies a three-stage process the authors call “façading.”

Surface façading begins with exaggerated claims about a company’s progress or traction. Reinforced façading involves creating evidence to support those claims, including fabricated contracts, invoices or revenue records. Deep façading extends the deception to the product itself through fake demonstrations and staged proof points.

Rather than beginning with a single act of fraud, the report argues that misconduct often develops gradually as founders attempt to sustain increasingly unrealistic expectations.

Investors Also Shape The Conditions For Fraud

One of the report’s central arguments is that investors are not always passive victims of founder misconduct. In some cases, they help create the conditions in which fraud becomes more likely.

According to the researchers, venture capital can “co-create fraud” by continuing to back founders who have previously been accused of misconduct, signaling that such behavior carries few long-term consequences. A separate University of Toronto study found little evidence that founders accused of fraud struggle to raise funding for new ventures, even when earlier cases attracted significant media attention.

“New investors and the broader VC market do not penalize past misconduct,” the report said, linking that pattern to Silicon Valley’s long-standing tolerance for failure.

Governance Plays A Critical Role

The University of Toronto study also identified governance as a key factor. Startups with founder-controlled boards were twice as likely to commit fraud as companies with investor-controlled or shared-control boards.

It also found that venture-backed companies going public were more likely to face securities class-action lawsuits within two years than private equity-backed firms. As startups remain private for longer while raising larger funding rounds, Weiss argues that governance has not kept pace with their growing scale.

“Founders do not have a professional body or association that could govern or enforce rules of entrepreneurial and investor conduct on how to be a good founder and what reasonable growth expectations are,” he said.

Calls For Stronger Oversight

Weiss argues that regulators should take a more proactive approach by introducing routine investigations and formal audits once startups reach significant funding thresholds, rather than waiting for whistleblower complaints or investor lawsuits.

The report also calls on investors to accept greater responsibility when aggressive growth targets contribute to governance failures. According to the authors, stronger oversight by both regulators and investors would help reduce the conditions in which fraud can develop.