Trump’s $1.4 billion crypto disclosure
The White House insists there’s no conflict of interest as Trump reports $1.4 billion in income from an industry he’s deregulated.
President Donald Trump’s most recent financial disclosure reveals that he earned more than $1.4 billion in income from his cryptocurrency businesses alone last year. These crypto-related ventures account for more than half of the $2.2 billion in income Trump reported overall, through an unprecedented self-enrichment scheme that has made him and members of his family fabulously wealthy while investors who bought into his projects have lost money hand over fist. Forbes most recently estimated Trump’s personal net worth at $6.5 billion, a staggering increase from his estimated $2.3 billion valuation as a private citizen in 2024.1
The bulk of the crypto windfall came from Trump’s two primary crypto ventures. He brought in $635 million thanks to a licensing agreement with “Celebration Coins” — likely an erroneous reference to Celebration Cards LLC, one of the firms in the web of companies responsible for the $TRUMP memecoins. Another $529 million came via sales of World Liberty Financial’s $WLFI token, whose buyers are not named in the disclosure but include crypto billionaire Justin Sun.
The filing also reports more than $260 million from equity sales in Stablecoin Holdco LLC and WLF Holdco LLC, both entities in the World Liberty Financial tangle of companies. Again, the buyers are not disclosed, but some of these proceeds are likely his share of the $500 million investment by the United Arab Emirates into World Liberty Financial, inked shortly before the White House approved the sale of highly restricted AI chips to the country [I83, 87, 93, 94]. That we know the investment came from the UAE, which was simultaneously negotiating deals with both President Trump and World Liberty-connected Steve Witkoff [I95], is known only thanks to outside reporting by the Wall Street Journal.
Trump’s family members are also profiting handsomely from their roles in the family’s crypto empire, and from their own crypto-related ventures. Industry groups clearly see them as conduits to favorable political outcomes — Donald Trump Jr. was named to advisory roles at both the Kalshi and Polymarket prediction market platforms, for example, and likely not solely on the basis of his business acumen. That segment of the industry has enjoyed a particularly favorable shift in regulatory stance, with the CFTC — under the control of a single Trump loyalist Commissioner — intervening to fight back against state regulators in court cases against these firms [I101, 104, 105]. But because they don’t serve in formal roles, Trump’s family members are not required to file financial disclosures, leaving much of their earnings hidden from public view. Despite this, both sons have met with high-level officials from at least eight foreign governments since Trump’s re-election, to talk both business and policy.2
Citation Needed is an independent publication, entirely supported by readers like you. Consider signing up for a free or pay-what-you-want subscription — it really helps me to keep doing this work.
Even the jaw-dropping $1.4 billion figure is only a partial view into Trump’s opaque crypto empire. The disclosure reflects income Trump has extracted from his crypto businesses via token sales, license agreement royalties, and equity sales. But the overall valuation of his businesses and crypto holdings is likely significantly higher, though challenging to estimate.
For example, the disclosure notes that Trump holds 15.75 billion $WLFI tokens, the token issued by World Liberty Financial. A naive valuation of this asset — simply multiplying its current price on the secondary market by the number of tokens — would put Trump’s holdings at more than $920 million. But limitations on when and how he can sell, and the fact that any attempt to unload a substantial amount of them would crash the token price, puts its realistic valuation considerably lower. Trump’s financial disclosure estimates its value at “over $50 million”.
Although it’s not clear how that figure was reached, it is among the more transparent estimates in the document. The phrase “value not readily ascertainable” appears more than 100 times in the filing, scattered across crypto and non-crypto businesses alike. Among other entries, it appears on the line item for Trump’s license agreement with Celebration Coins — an agreement that generated $635 million in income in 2025 alone.
As for World Liberty Financial itself, which has not yet released much in the way of a product since it was announced nearly two years ago, Trump is “assigned certain economic rights to non-token sale revenues”. Trump’s share in the business itself, which traces its way back to him via a winding path through the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, the Trump Organization, and companies with names like DT Marks Defi LLC and WLF Holdco LLC, is not estimated in the disclosure.
Nevertheless, spokespeople for the Trump Organization have boasted that “the breadth and depth of this filing further underscores our commitment to transparency. At nearly 1,000 pages, it represents one of the most comprehensive financial disclosure reports ever submitted and demonstrates a level of financial transparency unmatched in presidential history.”
They do not acknowledge that the reason Trump’s disclosure is hundreds of pages longer than those of other presidents (Biden’s last filing was 11 pages long) is because the President is essentially day trading. Analysis by CBS News found that Trump’s investment accounts were averaging 63 trades per trading day, based on a Q1 2026 disclosure.3 Many of those trades involve companies in sectors where the Trump administration is actively focused on setting policy. Trump holds huge positions in firms like NVIDIA (his stake is somewhere between $12.5 million to $58 million), Amazon ($9.5 million to $46.5 million), and other companies whose fortunes rise and fall based on decisions made in the White House.
When asked about Trump’s conflicts, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly stated: “Neither the President nor his family has ever engaged — or will ever engage — in conflicts of interest. President Trump proudly made the United States the crypto capital of the world through executive actions. All actions by President Trump and his administration are taken in the best interest of the American people – and any so-called ‘reporters’ pushing otherwise are recycling the same, tired, false narrative that Democrats and the legacy media have been pushing for a decade.”
Apparently, it is not a conflict of interest that Trump has just reported over $1.4 billion in income from an industry that his administration directly regulates. His policy decisions have enabled his crypto businesses to operate in ways that would have been prohibited, or at the very least legally risky, under the previous administration — the Securities and Exchange Commission, for instance, did a complete U-turn on whether tokens like $WLFI should be considered securities, directly enabling Trump’s more than half a billion in profits from World Liberty Financial. The SEC and CFTC, led by Trump loyalists, have dropped enforcement actions against practically every major crypto company, including Coinbase, Gemini, Justin Sun/Tron, and Kraken. All of these have been significant Trump campaign donors, have engaged in business deals with Trump firms that have been highly lucrative for the president, or both.
Molly White
As for making the US “the crypto capital of the world”, that’s certainly one way to describe gutting consumer protections, ending fraud investigations, and letting the industry write its own rules. But who has actually benefited from this supposed achievement?
Certainly not Trump’s own investors. While Trump’s net worth soars, those who bought into his crypto projects have watched their investments crater. The $TRUMP memecoin that earned Trump $635 million has plummeted in price, down 98% from its launch-time highs. Last month, I helped Reuters with an investigation that found that buyers of Trump’s crypto products have lost money almost across the board, with more than a million investors facing more than $2.3 billion in losses.
The broader crypto market hasn’t fared much better under Trump’s “leadership”. Despite regulatory wins, the so-called “Trump pump” in crypto prices was short-lived. Bitcoin is back down to $58,000, down about 50% from those highs, and sinking well below both its price at the time Trump was elected and when he was inaugurated.
Even Trump’s billionaire benefactors are bleeding. Coinbase stock trades at $146.19, down from around $270 when Trump was elected and $300 at his inauguration — a roughly 50% collapse. The crypto industry poured millions into the 2024 election betting on Trump. While they got some of the deregulation they wanted, the promised riches have materialized for exactly one group: the Trumps.
Which “American people” had their “best interests” served? Not the ones watching foreign policy shaped by the highest bidder. Not the ones who bought the $TRUMP memecoin at $75 and watched it drop below $2. Not even the crypto industry executives who funded his campaign.
Crypto enthusiasts used to sneer at skeptics with the refrain, “have fun staying poor”. If you don’t buy in to the crypto hype, you’ll get left behind in poverty while the rest of us laugh at you from our bitcoin-purchased Lamborghinis. Turns out, just about the only one not staying poor in crypto these days is the man in the White House.
Have information? Send tips (no PR) to molly0xfff.07 on Signal or molly@mollywhite.net (PGP).
I have disclosures for my work and writing pertaining to cryptocurrencies.
