Author: Jack Inabinet, Bankless Analyst

Translation: Golden Finance Xiaozou

It has been just six months since "King of Understanding" returned to the White House, and this self-proclaimed "President of Cryptocurrency" has been extremely busy. Recent reports indicate that the first family has made over $600 million in cash from token sales this year and holds a cryptocurrency-related investment portfolio worth billions.

Today, we will delve into the Trump family's most notable cryptocurrency ventures and explore the far-reaching implications of their strong push for cryptocurrency.

1. Trump Digital Trading Cards

The first attempt by President Trump to enter the cryptocurrency space — the "Trump Digital Trading Cards" — was launched on the Polygon PoS chain in December 2022.

The initial series included 45,000 digital cards priced at $99 each, which sold out within hours, generating over $4.4 million in initial revenue. Subsequently, three sub-series were added, totaling hundreds of thousands of unique digital cards.

Although marketed as digital collectibles for personal entertainment, with no investment attributes and unrelated to Trump's political campaign, cardholders still enjoy several tangible benefits: including guaranteed invitations to dine with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, authentic fabric from the "KO version" suit for the 2024 presidential debate, and free Trump sneakers.

The digital cards supported credit card and cryptocurrency purchases during the initial sale and could be traded on regular NFT markets like OpenSea afterward. All secondary market sales of Trump Digital Trading Cards are subject to a 10% royalty fee.

2. World Liberty Finance (WLFI)

World Liberty Finance is essentially a Trump-related investment DAO, holding nearly $200 million worth of various mainstream cryptocurrencies — from stablecoins to major coins like BTC and ETH, as well as several altcoins (including TRX, ONDO, and MOVE).

Initially promoted as a native crypto lending application similar to Aave, World Liberty Finance has made no substantial progress in deploying on-chain money markets, aside from labeling the "Lend" button on its website as "coming soon."

Unlike the TRUMP and MELANIA meme coins discussed later (which can be freely purchased), only qualified investors who meet the SEC's Regulation D and Regulation S exemption registration requirements (i.e., accredited U.S. investors and non-sanctioned international investors) can participate in WLFI investments.

Although the governance layer of World Liberty Finance recently voted to remove transfer restrictions on WLFI tokens, KYC re-examinations and compliance monitoring will continue to ensure that tokens do not flow into the hands of unapproved buyers.

In March 2025, WLFI launched a USD-pegged stablecoin, USD1, backed by short-term U.S. Treasury reserves and custodied by BitGo. As of the time of writing, USD1 has a market cap of $2.2 billion, ranking seventh among stablecoins, just behind MakerDAO/Sky's DAI.

In addition to holding 22.5 billion WLFI tokens, the Trump family also owns 40% of "WLF Holdings LLC" — the company that serves as the development entity for World Liberty Finance and received 75% of the token sale revenue.

3. TRUMP/MELANIA Coins

These meme coins, based on the President and First Lady, were launched shortly after Trump's inauguration in January 2025. Although both have generally shown a downward price trend, the TRUMP token has experienced periodic surges due to various announcements.

For example, at the end of April, the token price doubled after Trump announced an invitation for 220 TRUMP holders to a private dinner; in June, after Eric Trump revealed that World Liberty Finance would purchase "a large amount of TRUMP positions" for the Treasury, the price rose by 10%.

Any user can purchase TRUMP and MELANIA coins through decentralized exchanges (like Uniswap), and some centralized exchanges (including Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, and Robinhood) have also listed trading pairs for one or both tokens.

4. Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT)

Founded by President Trump in 2021, the "Trump Media & Technology Group" is the owner and operator of the alternative social media platform Truth Social. The platform is custom-developed based on the open-source social media framework Mastodon.

In March 2024, through a merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition company under Shanghai ARC Capital, Trump's media company went public with the stock code "DJT."

In May 2025, Trump Media disclosed that it had raised $2.5 billion from about 50 institutional investors to establish a Bitcoin reserve. In early June of the same year, the company submitted shelf registration documents to the SEC to propose an additional sale of $12 billion in securities to fund subsequent Bitcoin acquisitions. If fully executed, this move would make DJT the second-largest cryptocurrency reserve holding company globally, after Strategy.

To facilitate its transition to a cryptocurrency asset holding company, Trump Media has partnered with Crypto.com to launch a series of securities and cryptocurrency ETFs featuring the "Made in America" concept through the upcoming Truth.Fi financial services platform. As of the time of writing, DJT has submitted applications for three cryptocurrency ETFs to the SEC.

Additionally, on July 9, Truth Social announced that subscribers to the $9.99/month "Trump Media Patriot Package" would receive functional tokens stored in the "Truth Digital Wallet," which can be used to purchase goods and services within the "Truth Ecosystem."

5. American Bitcoin

American Bitcoin is a holding subsidiary established by Bitcoin mining company Hut 8 and "American Data Centers," focusing on "industrial-grade Bitcoin mining and strategic Bitcoin reserve development." The group was formed in March 2025, and under the merger agreement, Hut 8 transferred most of its ASIC mining machines to the American Data Centers company, supported by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, in exchange for 80% equity in the joint venture.

Eric Trump was appointed as Chief Strategy Officer. According to the company's website, American Bitcoin has unique advantages: it can leverage Hut 8's mature mining operation system while combining Eric Trump's "business acumen, capital market expertise, and firm commitment to advancing decentralized financial systems."

On June 10, American Bitcoin disclosed that it had purchased $23 million worth of Bitcoin. The company later announced it had raised $220 million through a private placement to increase its Bitcoin holdings and acquire more mining equipment.

6. Metaplanet (formerly Red Planet)

Metaplanet is a Japanese hotel holding group that became insolvent due to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 and was acquired by Evolution Financial Group, thus avoiding delisting risks from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

In June 2024, Metaplanet took its first step towards transforming into "Asia's top cryptocurrency asset reserve platform" by issuing bonds to Evolution Financial Group to raise 1 billion yen to purchase Bitcoin. Subsequently, the company issued a combination of stocks and bonds (fully funded by Evolution Financial Group's "Evo Fund"), accumulating a total investment of 122.2 billion yen to build a reserve of 8,888 Bitcoins.

Japanese securities brokerage accounts currently do not offer spot Bitcoin custody services. Unlike similar cryptocurrency reserve companies, Metaplanet frequently sells cash-secured put options to acquire Bitcoin, a strategy that allows it to earn premiums while purchasing tokens at prices lower than when the options were issued.

On March 20, 2025, Donald Trump's second son, Eric Trump, was appointed as the first member of Metaplanet's "Strategic Advisory Committee." Bitcoin evangelist and Nakamoto Capital founder David Bailey subsequently joined the team in April.

7. TRON Inc.

Toy manufacturer SRM Entertainment announced on June 16 that it would raise up to $210 million from "private investors" to acquire TRX. By the end of that month, the company had completed its first acquisition of TRX worth $100 million and deployed these tokens on the JustLend platform to earn approximately 10% annualized returns.

This transaction made TRON founder Justin Sun an advisor to SRM Entertainment, which will be renamed "TRON Inc." Additionally, SRM plans to implement a dividend policy after successfully launching the TRX staking program.

Although Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump serve as advisory committee members for the exclusive placement agent Dominari Securities in this fundraising effort, Eric Trump refuted earlier reports from the Financial Times about him taking a public position at SRM Entertainment. While specific terms were not disclosed, Dominari Securities likely received stock compensation for its role as the placement agent.

Conclusion:

Trump's deep ties to the cryptocurrency world have sparked widespread questions about whether he is abusing presidential power for personal gain. Several prominent Democratic lawmakers have sharply criticized his cryptocurrency business landscape.

For instance, Senator Elizabeth Warren condemned the president for "enriching his family through cryptocurrency businesses while undermining government oversight of the market," pointing out that his cryptocurrency asset portfolio constitutes a significant conflict of interest that could lead to disastrous consequences.

White House officials have denied all allegations of wrongdoing. Family members of Trump interpret their business involvement as part of a "mission of financial democratization," aiming to make the U.S. a global cryptocurrency hub.

While Trump has indeed profited from his presidential term, supporters argue that compared to his pro-cryptocurrency policies that reversed the industry suppression of the Biden era, personal gains are merely a trivial cost.

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