Trumps earn $2.3bn from crypto as investors face steep losses

The $TRUMP meme coin project generated about $1.2 billion, according to blockchain data tracing coin movements to exchanges.

Donald Trump and his family have reaped enormous profits from cryptocurrency ventures, earning an estimated $2.3 billion since mid‑2024 while staking little of their own money and leaving outside investors with heavy losses.

The ventures followed a familiar Trump playbook: attaching the family name to projects, investing little or nothing, promoting them aggressively, and cashing in once tokens or shares were sold. Startup costs for their largest projects — World Liberty Financial and the $TRUMP meme coin — were minimal, likely under $1 million, with some experts suggesting developers may have been paid in tokens rather than cash.

World Liberty Financial raised $1.4 billion by selling 30 billion governance tokens, yielding nearly $1 billion for the Trumps through their 75 percent cut of sales. Evidence suggests an additional 3 billion tokens were sold, which would have added at least $460 million more. Combined, the family’s earnings from World Liberty exceeded $1.4 billion, the largest share of their crypto windfall.

The $TRUMP meme coin project generated about $1.2 billion, according to blockchain data tracing coin movements to exchanges. Analysts said the transfers indicated insider selling, with coins offloaded at high prices before values collapsed.

Two Nasdaq‑listed companies also delivered major gains. ALT5 Sigma, later renamed AI Financial Corp, partnered with World Liberty Financial to buy $717 million worth of tokens, sending more than $500 million to the Trumps. American Bitcoin, a treasury and mining company, gave Eric Trump a stake worth over $70 million at no cost, while Donald Trump Jr.’s stake has not been disclosed.

While the Trumps profited handsomely, investors lost heavily. Buyers of World Liberty tokens are down about $674 million, with locked holdings valued at zero under accounting rules. Retail investors in the $TRUMP coin spent $1.2 billion, but by late April their holdings were worth just $521 million, a loss of more than $700 million. ALT5 Sigma shares plunged from above $9 to 75 cents, wiping out $675 million, while American Bitcoin shares fell from $11 to $1.15, costing investors over $200 million.

Experts described the ventures as unusually aggressive in selling tokens early, with one finance professor calling it “insider dumping.” While a handful of large traders profited, hundreds of thousands of smaller buyers lost money.

The outcome underscores how the Trump family leveraged its brand to extract billions from the volatile crypto sector, assuming little risk while transferring losses onto outside investors.