Media365
US President Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency empire has generated more than $1.4 billion in revenue since his return to the White House, but many of the retail investors who backed his crypto ventures, including some of his own supporters, have been left nursing steep losses, triggering accusations of “brazen crypto corruption” and “disgusting” greed from political opponents.
Fresh financial disclosures released this week show
Trump earned an estimated $2.2 billion overall last year through a mix of real estate, golf resorts, licensing deals, branded merchandise, legal settlements and digital assets. But it was the sheer scale of his crypto earnings — and the fortunes lost by many who invested in Trump-linked tokens — that has become the biggest political flashpoint.
The 927-page disclosure filed with the US Office of Government Ethics shows the Trump family’s crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, generated more than $500 million through governance token sales. Another Trump-linked company, CIC Digital LLC, brought in more than $600 million from the president’s branded $TRUMP memecoin, launched just days before his second inauguration.
Independent reporting and blockchain analysis suggest Trump’s broader crypto businesses generated roughly $1.4 billion in revenue, making digital assets one of the biggest contributors to his personal wealth since returning to office.
Trump got richer. Many of his supporters didn’t
For critics, the controversy is less about how much Trump made than about who lost.
The $TRUMP memecoin, which features an image of Trump raising his fist after the 2024 assassination attempt, attracted hundreds of thousands of buyers hoping the token’s value would soar alongside Trump’s political comeback. Instead, many of them were left holding assets worth a fraction of what they paid.
According to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, around 764,000 crypto wallets lost money after buying the $TRUMP token. Only 58 investors reportedly made profits of more than $10 million each, with most cashing out early before the token’s price slumped.
Fresh analysis by crypto research firm Nansen paints a similarly bleak picture. Roughly two-thirds of the 1.48 million wallets that have purchased Trump’s memecoin since its January 2025 launch are currently sitting on losses. Among buyers of World Liberty Financial’s $WLFI token, nearly 85 per cent of investors in the secondary market remain underwater.
While many retail investors watched the value of their holdings collapse, Trump’s businesses continued collecting revenue through token sales and transaction fees whenever the coins were traded.
‘He played a better game than I did’
The contrast between Trump’s profits and investors’ losses has left many early supporters disillusioned.
The Wall Street Journal reported the experience of Morten Christensen, a digital-asset entrepreneur who invested heavily in World Liberty Financial tokens hoping the returns would help fund his retirement.
Instead, the value of his holdings plunged while Trump’s companies continued generating hundreds of millions of dollars.
“In crypto, people say a game is a game,” Christensen told the newspaper. “He played a better game than I did.”
Another investor who bought World Liberty tokens was even more blunt.
“My investment is trash now,” the investor told the Journal.
Summing up the episode, the newspaper wrote that while Trump enjoyed a “crypto summer”, many of the political supporters and crypto believers who bought into his projects were left enduring a “crypto winter”.
Democrats seize on disclosures
The disclosures prompted an
immediate political backlash from senior Democrats, who argued they demonstrated why stricter ethics rules are needed for elected officials involved in cryptocurrency.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, said pending crypto legislation should explicitly prohibit presidents, vice-presidents, cabinet officials, members of Congress and their families from profiting from the industry.
“If it does not,” Warren said, “it will only turbocharge Donald Trump’s brazen crypto corruption.”
Illinois Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton, who is running for the US Senate, accused Trump of using public office for personal enrichment.
“Donald Trump uses the office of the president to make billions while American families struggle to afford their basic needs,” she wrote on social media, adding that the president’s “infinite greed is disgusting.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom also highlighted the gap between Trump’s gains and investors’ losses.
“He got richer,” Newsom wrote. “His crypto supporters got rug-pulled.”
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the Democratic Party’s 2024 vice-presidential nominee, described Trump as “the most corrupt president in American history.”
Criticism has not been confined to Democrats.
A longtime Republican activist familiar with grassroots sentiment among Trump’s MAGA base told the Wall Street Journal that many loyal supporters felt uncomfortable seeing Trump generate billions from crypto while ordinary Americans struggled financially.
“People backed Trump because they believed he would fight for them and were hoodwinked into thinking he cared about the working classes who brought him into power,” the activist said. “Seeing billions tied to crypto makes some loyal supporters uncomfortable.”
Ethics questions grow
The disclosures have also reignited conflict-of-interest concerns because Trump’s administration has simultaneously pursued policies aimed at making the United States friendlier towards digital assets.
During his second term, Trump pledged to make America the “crypto capital of the world” and his administration has taken a lighter regulatory approach towards parts of the cryptocurrency sector.
Ethics watchdogs argue the president’s personal financial interests in crypto create an unprecedented overlap between public policy and private business.
Former Federal Reserve examiner Lee Reiners, now a cryptocurrency researcher at Duke University, said Trump’s business model allowed him to profit regardless of whether ordinary investors ultimately made or lost money.
“It is hard to wrap your head around that the president of the United States would engage in this level of self-enrichment at the expense of so many of his supporters,” Reiners said.
Former Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement official John Reed Stark also criticised what he described as weak investor protections, saying many retail buyers had effectively been left exposed after regulators eased oversight of memecoins.
Adding to the irony, Trump himself had dismissed Bitcoin as a “scam” in 2021 before emerging as one of the cryptocurrency industry’s most influential political champions.
Trump brushes aside criticism
Asked about the disclosures on Wednesday, Trump defended his financial success, saying he had earned substantial wealth long before entering politics.
“I made a lot of money before I became president,” he told reporters.
Trump also insisted he does not personally direct his investment portfolio, saying independent financial institutions manage his accounts without consulting him or his family.
“I don’t even speak to them,” Trump said. “They’re big institutions and they run it.”
The White House has repeatedly rejected allegations of conflicts of interest, saying Trump’s businesses are managed by his adult sons and remain separate from his official duties.
Spokeswoman Anna Kelly said neither Trump nor his family had engaged in conflicts of interest and maintained that every action taken by the administration was in the best interests of the American people.
Although cryptocurrency dominated the disclosures, it was only one part of Trump’s expanding business empire.
The filing also showed millions of dollars in revenue from Trump-branded Bibles, watches, trainers and other merchandise, including about $4.7 million from watch sales alone.
Trump also earned tens of millions through overseas hotel, resort and condominium licensing deals, including projects in countries simultaneously negotiating tariffs, military cooperation and other policy matters with Washington.
The disclosure further detailed payments of more than $86 million from legal settlements involving media and technology companies, including ABC, CBS, Meta, YouTube and X.
But it is the image of a president earning billions from crypto while many of the people who bought into his digital tokens watched their investments collapse that is likely to keep fuelling political attacks in Washington. For Trump’s critics, the disclosures have crystallised a simple contrast: the president won big from crypto — many of his supporters did not.
With inputs from agencies.
