Trump and his family penetrate the crypto industry on all fronts

On April 13, Bloomberg reported that President Donald Trump and his family are penetrating the crypto industry on all fronts: from digital collectibles NFTs to decentralized financial projects, from a planned stablecoin to a bitcoin-mining operation, and including Meme Coin, which is named after the presidential couple. According to estimates based on publicly available data, the combined book of these projects is approaching $1 billion, even after the latest round of trade war-induced market shocks.

In December 2022, Trump entered the crypto space with his personal digital collectible “Trump” NFT series, which has launched four series and generated millions of dollars in revenue, and Trump has hosted private dinners for its holders. in September 2024, the Trump family took a 60% stake in the DeFi project, WLFI, through its affiliate DT Marks DeFi LLC, which has completed two rounds of token sales. The project has completed two rounds of token sales to raise $550 million, but promised DeFi services such as on-chain lending have yet to materialize. Trump family-affiliated companies receive 75 percent of net revenues as fees under the prospectus, including proceeds from the token sale. Donald Trump Jr, Trump’s eldest son, and two other sons, Eric and Barron, are listed as ‘Web3 advisors’ to WLFI.

In January, Trump launched the TRUMP and MELANIA meme coins on the eve of his inauguration, and while the initial surge brought his family substantial gains, MELANIA plummeted 90 percent after generating $11.4 million in proceeds for affiliated entities. Two Trump family-affiliated entities hold 80 percent of the supply of TRUMP tokens, which will be unlocked over three years. In February, Trump Media Technology Group filed a trademark application for the “Truth.Fi Bitcoin Enhanced ETF,” proposing to launch an ETF in partnership with Crypto.com, and in March Trump family project WLFI released its Stablecoin Initiative, launching the U.S. Dollar Stablecoin USD1 backed by short-term U.S. debt and cash equivalents. In the bitcoin mining space, the Trump family also partnered with publicly traded miner Hut 8 to form American Bitcoin Corp, honoring a 2024 campaign promise of support for the miners’ community.

The Trump family’s series of maneuvers has raised questions in the market about their interests, with Eswar Prasad, a professor of trade policy at Cornell University, noting, “The Trump family seems eager to establish a broad industry foothold ahead of regulatory policies that could push up the valuation of crypto-assets. The president’s sons are planning to take their bitcoin mining company public, and the SEC recently concluded its investigation into Crypto.com.”