The Trump family is profiting from cryptocurrency at a speed far exceeding traditional businesses by leveraging their fame and connections.
Written by: Tom Maloney, Annie Massa, and Demetrios Pogkas, Bloomberg
Translated by: Luffy, Foresight News
In December 2024, a photo of Donald Trump holding Bitcoin was displayed at a Coinhero store in Hong Kong, marking the first time Bitcoin's price broke $100,000. Image source: Bloomberg
On the surface, Donald Trump's personal net worth seems unchanged since his return to the White House: $6.5 billion on election day, now $6.4 billion.
However, a deeper look reveals an unprecedented shift in how he and his family are consolidating their wealth empire, and they are gaining benefits through their fame, influence, and power at a speed far beyond previous methods.
Whether applying their brand to real estate projects or associating it with perfumes and mattresses, the Trump family has long used licensing agreements to quickly earn money, which traditionally required years of planning and execution cycles for real estate development. Now, with cryptocurrency, the Trump family has further accelerated their brand monetization.
Combined with Trump's second administration's relaxation of overseas transaction restrictions, this has created a wealth feast. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, cryptocurrency investments have added at least $620 million to Donald Trump's wealth in just a few months. The index first valued the Trump family's earnings from projects like World Liberty Financial and Trump MEME coin (TRUMP).
Trump's wealth is increasingly linked to cryptocurrency and Memecoin. Source: Bloomberg Billionaires Index (Note: Excludes liabilities. Publicly traded assets in the latest valuation are as of the end of June.)
More and more cryptocurrencies and lesser-known companies are gaining value through their connection to Trump and his "Make America Great Again (MAGA)" movement, with earnings far exceeding the $34 million the Trump Organization earned through real estate licensing transactions last year.
Eric Trump, Executive Vice President of the Trump Organization, stated: "I am incredibly proud of our outstanding companies. We have never been this strong."
While the president's assets are held in a trust managed by Donald Trump Jr., he still directly benefits from the Trump Organization's success. The Bloomberg Wealth Index attributes the family's various interests to the "patriarch". Currently, many private investments involving Trump's children are not included because their financial details are unclear, including Executive Branch private club in Washington, Metaplanet (a Japanese hotel company transformed into a Bitcoin hodler), Salem Media Group Inc., prediction market startup Kalshi, and online pharmaceutical retailer BlinkRX.
Although Trump and his children are all venturing into cryptocurrency. Since December alone, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. have given speeches at events in Abu Dhabi, Washington, Dubai, and Las Vegas, sometimes separately, sometimes together. But one of the biggest drivers of Trump's personal wealth is a long-brewing domestic project.
Eric Trump (left) and Donald Trump Jr. at the Bitcoin 2025 Conference. Image source: Bloomberg
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Trump's Memecoin (TRUMP) has been highly sought after due to its connection with the current president's family, and its demand soared after a competition in May. The competition invited the 220 largest TRUMP token holders to a private dinner with Trump at the Trump National Golf Club in Virginia, where he delivered a speech. Justin Sun was also a guest, and he posted a selfie wearing a black tie while en route to the event venue. Guests enjoyed filet mignon and pan-seared halibut, while protesters outside held signs calling it a "scammer's gathering".
Valuing Memecoin is extremely difficult, typically because the token's creators control the vast majority of the supply, which would collapse the market if sold. Crypto risk modeling company Gauntlet found that digital wallets associated with TRUMP's creation hold nearly 17 million TRUMP tokens.
These wallets have additionally transferred approximately 17 million TRUMP tokens to cryptocurrency exchanges.
On May 22, activists from "Our Revolution" held a demonstration outside the Trump National Golf Course in Sterling, Virginia. That day, the private dinner invited the 220 largest TRUMP token holders. Image source: Associated Press
The Trump Group holds 40% of TRUMP's total token supply, which matches its disclosed stake in World Liberty Financial. According to Bloomberg calculations, after applying a large liquidity discount and including nearly $300 million in transaction and sale proceeds, Trump's Memecoin investment is worth approximately $150 million, not including 800 million tokens that will be unlocked over the next three years starting later this month. At current prices, these 800 million tokens are valued at over $7 billion.
Although World Liberty Financial and TRUMP were initially independent projects, they now intersect at least in one aspect: Eric Trump revealed that World Liberty Financial plans to accumulate a large number of TRUMP tokens as the company's crypto asset reserve.
Moreover, the Trump family has another ace in the cryptocurrency field.
American Bitcoin, an entity spun off from a small investment bank under Trump's umbrella, is planning to become a publicly listed company, which will add another source of crypto wealth for the Trump family. When American Bitcoin was established in February this year, a press release stated it would focus on AI infrastructure and data centers. By March, the company had developed a new strategy, shifting towards the cryptocurrency sector and changing its name.
Bitcoin miner Hut 8 Corp. has agreed to acquire a majority stake in American Bitcoin and transfer almost all of its crypto mining equipment. Hut 8 Corp. plans to merge with Nasdaq-listed small-cap company Gryphon Digital Mining Inc. to take the entire company public. The Trump family and its partners hold a 20% stake in American Bitcoin.
According to Bloomberg's calculations, Gryphon's stock price values the new joint venture at over $3 billion. Considering the new company's primary assets will be Bitcoin mining equipment from Hut 8 (with a book value of around $120 million), the $3 billion figure seems excessive by any traditional valuation standard.
However, like many assets and enterprises that constitute Trump's new wealth, fundamentals are often not the focus.
