Trump’s crypto businesses took in about $1.2B US last year, federal filings show
US President Donald Trump took nearly $1.2 billion from his crypto businesses last year, federal filings released Tuesday show, locking in profits while his investors suffered losses.
Beginning as soon as he took the oath of office, the new ventures have now gone beyond the income that most of his assets took him decades to accumulate. Fueling their rise were billionaire investors and Trump’s move to end government crackdowns on the industry.
Trump received more than $500 million from his World Liberty Financial business, which sells new crypto products, including “management tokens,” according to an annual disclosure report required by the Office of Government Ethics. It also showed another crypto business, CIC Digital LLC, brought in more than $600 million from the sale of commemorative “meme” coins stamped with his face.
Both tokens and coins have decreased in value since the sale.
Trump also made millions last year selling Trump-branded Bibles, sneakers and other small items in another unprecedented presidential move. Sales of Trump-branded watches alone brought in $4.7 million.
The 927-page disclosure form paints an incomplete picture of the president’s massive wealth growth since he took office last January through a string of businesses, many of which have benefited from his administration’s policies.
Trump has insisted that his sons direct his finances, but this plan refuses to protect the conflict of interest established by his recent predecessors.
Forbes estimates Trump’s net worth to be $6 billion, up from $2.3 billion in 2024.
Trump’s growing business abroad
The rise of Trump’s property-related crypto is particularly notable because he first rode into office boasting of his property’s winnings. That core business boomed again last year. He has taken tens of millions in fees on dozens of new hotels, resorts and condos overseas, amounting to the biggest real estate expansion in a century since the family business was founded.
Most of those countries were negotiating with the US on tariffs, military aid and other important issues while the family business struck deals.
The property in the United Arab Emirates generated $10.4 million in Trump business last year. One in Saudi Arabia built by a real estate developer close to the ruling family sent the president’s company $9 million. One in Bucharest and one in Qatar sent him $5 million each.
One of his most prominent home properties, Mar-a-Lago in Florida, has seen significant growth in the past year.
Trump took in $77 million from the property, a 50 percent jump from a year ago, when he was just another resident, as heads of state and businessmen flocked to it during his new tenure.
The disclosure report does not provide profit figures, only income, so it is impossible to know how much you earn.
The crypto status of the Biden administration has been reversed
After taking office last year, Trump reversed the Biden administration’s strong stance on the crypto industry and pushed for industry-friendly policies.
But regulators still had some concerns. Before Trump’s World Liberty began selling “tokens of governance,” they issued warnings about this new type of crypto asset, saying that unlike shares, tokens do not provide an ownership stake in the issuing company – just the power to vote on certain corporate policies, and are difficult to value.
Buyers got on board anyway, including a Chinese billionaire who spent $75 million on tokens and $200 million on commemorative coins. In February of last year, a federal lawsuit against him for defrauding investors was dropped before a $10 million fine was paid.
Front burner25:12Trump’s crypto loans: what will he gain?
US President Donald Trump has promised to make America the cryptocurrency capital of the world and he has been working to make it happen. This week, which House Republicans are calling “Crypto Week”, he pushed Congress to pass three pieces of industry-backed legislation. Trump hasn’t always been a fan of crypto but after his sons got involved and tens of millions from the crypto industry poured into his re-election campaign, he’s completely on board. Now, he has many jobs but none as big as World Liberty Financial, a startup that has earned his family about $500 million to date. But with whom do these agreements? And why are some Democrats calling it all a “corruption vehicle”? To unravel this complex web of policymaking, monetization and influence, we’re joined by Jacob Silverman, co-author of “Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud” and host of The Naked Emperor, CBC Understood’s four part podcast series about the rise and fall of FTX CEO Sam Bankman Fried. For Front Burner transcripts, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts
The billionaire, Justin Sun, has repeatedly denied that his spending on Trump’s businesses was related to his case, and World Liberty dismissed the idea of a conflict of interest.
Meanwhile, investors have seen the value of their Trump-held assets plummet.
The price of World Liberty tokens has fallen by 80 percent since they started trading in September. Trump commemorative coins that rose to more than $74 days after the January 2025 launch are now selling for $1.68.
The White House is defending the president’s actions
The White House has repeatedly said that Trump has placed his business in a trust run by his sons, and is not involved in its decisions and that there are no ethical issues to discuss.
“Neither the president nor his family has ever engaged – or will engage – in a conflict of interest,” spokeswoman Anna Kelly said. “Every action by President Trump and his administration is done in the best interests of the American people.”
Trump’s umbrella company, the Trump Organization, said its deals abroad were with private companies, not governments.
Still, it’s hard to know what’s really secret in countries ruled by dictators, royal families and one-party governments.
Trump’s new location in Vietnam, the report shows that Trump took 5 million dollars last year after the ruling Communist Party sent a deputy prime minister to sign the agreement and, according to the New York Times, pushed farmers to the land to do construction work.
Whether the deals played a role in changing US policies in ways these countries wanted is hard to know, but the countries got what they wanted.
Vietnam received tax relief. Qatar gained access to previously off-limits advanced American technology and Saudi Arabia received US warplanes it had coveted for years.
