Content Warning
Newsletter: Inside the Trump family’s sprawling crypto empire — from memecoins to mining — and how Trump is using presidential power to dismantle the regulators who could stop it.
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Content Warning
This Trump family crypto empire is set to profit precisely because Trump is gutting the regulations that would normally constrain it — brazen self-dealing that represents perhaps the most flagrant exploitation of presidential authority in American history.
I write about the financial abuses of the Trumps because it is my beat, and it is where I hope I can make something of a difference with my expertise, but I want to direct you to the excellent coverage from experts in that field such as Immigration Impact.
Since Trump took office, federal agencies have issued a torrent of announcements stripping away long-established financial regulations and criminal oversight from crypto businesses — dismantling what little oversight existed in the already predatory and poorly regulated industry. As these guardrails fall, the Trump family has aggressively expanded their ventures, which now span nearly every corner of the cryptocurrency world. These projects don’t just generate direct profits — they create new opportunities for outside interests to gain favor through cryptocurrency "investments" that would be illegal as campaign contributions. The timing and scope of these developments clearly demonstrate that federal policy is being weaponized for personal profit.
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In an unprecedented abuse of presidential power, Donald Trump is dismantling federal cryptocurrency oversight while building a sprawling family crypto empire worth billions. Through World Liberty Financial, a planned decentralized finance platform that also recently announced its own stablecoin, the Trump family is positioning to profit from facilitating cryptocurrency lending and trading. Through Truth.Fi, they seek direct exposure to bitcoin and profits from hawking investment products to Trump’s most loyal base. Through a new bitcoin mining venture, they’re gaining control over crypto infrastructure and expanding exposure to assets that Trump himself can influence from the White House. And through a series of memecoins, NFTs, and even a planned crypto game, the Trumps are converting political support directly into cash. This empire is set to profit precisely because Trump is gutting the regulations that would normally constrain it — brazen self-dealing that dwarfs even the unchecked emoluments violations of his first term. This is only one of the many widespread abuses characterizing the most flagrant exploitation of presidential authority in American history.a
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It feels weird to write this without noting that there are substantially more horrific abuses happening as we speak, such as the kidnapping and disappearance of Kilmar Abrego Garcia and others, without due process or even apparently genuine suspicion of wrongdoing, to a horrific mega-prison in El Salvador.
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Before I continue: I’m a completely independent researcher and writer, and it is contributions from people like you who make my work possible. Consider signing up for a pay-what-you-want subscription to help me keep doing this: https://www.citationneeded.news/signup
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Trump has received at least $20 million in publicly reported political contributions from crypto benefactors, plus the over $100 million in Congressional spending, and the benefits to these companies in return have been substantial.
(Newly tracked at https://www.followthecrypto.org/quidproquo)
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But far from only doing favors for his crypto industry benefactors, Trump and his family are working fast to personally cash in as Trump now holds the power to shape industry policy and oversight. Here’s an overview of the Trumps’ crypto conflicts:
Trump receives 75% of protocol revenues and owns a 60% stake in the World Liberty Financial crypto business. This has already netted him almost a $400 million claim on token sale revenue, even though no platform has been launched yet.
The project has already faced accusations of insider trading, and is reportedly in talks to work with Binance as Binance is simultaneously petitioning the US Treasury department to remove the compliance monitor as a result of the company’s criminal conviction.
![Allegations of insider trading and quid pro quo deals [I76] have plagued the project, particularly amid reports of unusual token swaps with other cryptocurrency companies. For example, a World Liberty deal to acquire around $2 million of a Movement Labs token coincided with rumors of Movement’s talks with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency about integrating blockchain technology into government operations. (Both World Liberty and Movement Labs denied these allegations.)4 But an April 8 memo from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, citing Trump’s executive order on crypto, dismantled the Department of Justice’s cryptocurrency investigations team and directed the Market Integrity and Major Frauds Unit to “cease cryptocurrency enforcement”. This may well have eliminated any remaining chance of a federal investigation into allegations of malfeasance in a business venture controlled by the president and his family [I81].
As for the stablecoin, the timing is significant: World Liberty Financial announced plans to issue USD1 on March 25, and just ten days later the Securities and Exchange Commission published a statement declaring that "covered" stablecoins fall outside its authority, and that companies issuing stablecoins need not register.5 Meanwhile, a Trump-aligned Congress is working to pass new, friendly stablecoin legislation [I79] with substantial direction from the cryptocurrency industry, which spent over $130 million installing crypto-friendly legislators](https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/114/355/777/214/775/738/original/f150e82be4123c6c.png)
Allegations of insider trading and quid pro quo deals [I76] have plagued the project, particularly amid reports of unusual token swaps with other cryptocurrency companies. For example, a World Liberty deal to acquire around $2 million of a Movement Labs token coincided with rumors of Movement’s talks with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency about integrating blockchain technology into government operations. (Both World Liberty and Movement Labs denied these allegations.)4 But an April 8 memo from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, citing Trump’s executive order on crypto, dismantled the Department of Justice’s cryptocurrency investigations team and directed the Market Integrity and Major Frauds Unit to “cease cryptocurrency enforcement”. This may well have eliminated any remaining chance of a federal investigation into allegations of malfeasance in a business venture controlled by the president and his family [I81].
As for the stablecoin, the timing is significant: World Liberty Financial announced plans to issue USD1 on March 25, and just ten days later the Securities and Exchange Commission published a statement declaring that "covered" stablecoins fall outside its authority, and that companies issuing stablecoins need not register.5 Meanwhile, a Trump-aligned Congress is working to pass new, friendly stablecoin legislation [I79] with substantial direction from the cryptocurrency industry, which spent over $130 million installing crypto-friendly legislators
![When Trump was inaugurated, he dropped the pretense and took majority control of the company with a 60% stake.2
The project hasn’t launched a trading platform, but the Trumps have discussed a decentralized finance platform for crypto financial services with promises of “democratiz[ing] finance”.2 Recently, World Liberty announced its own stablecoin, USD1 (despite Trump’s past warnings about similar cryptocurrencies, which he described as currencies that “would give a federal government — our federal government — absolute control over your money” [I80]).
And not having any actual platform to speak of has of course not limited World Liberty Financial from raking in money — it raised $550 million in its initial $WLFI token sale, putting Trump’s 75% cut at almost $400 million. $75 million came from Justin Sun, a crypto entrepreneur with a shady past [I71] who, as a foreign national, couldn’t contribute to Trump’s campaign. He was, at the time, facing a lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging fraud. Recent reporting also suggests he was under investigation by the Justice Department, at least as of late 2024.3 With his investment, he earned an advisory position with World Liberty Financial, and shortly after Trump was inaugurated, the SEC case against him and his company was stayed pending potential resolution [I78].](https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/114/355/776/194/394/953/original/a5316277f0f31770.png)
When Trump was inaugurated, he dropped the pretense and took majority control of the company with a 60% stake.2
The project hasn’t launched a trading platform, but the Trumps have discussed a decentralized finance platform for crypto financial services with promises of “democratiz[ing] finance”.2 Recently, World Liberty announced its own stablecoin, USD1 (despite Trump’s past warnings about similar cryptocurrencies, which he described as currencies that “would give a federal government — our federal government — absolute control over your money” [I80]).
And not having any actual platform to speak of has of course not limited World Liberty Financial from raking in money — it raised $550 million in its initial $WLFI token sale, putting Trump’s 75% cut at almost $400 million. $75 million came from Justin Sun, a crypto entrepreneur with a shady past [I71] who, as a foreign national, couldn’t contribute to Trump’s campaign. He was, at the time, facing a lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging fraud. Recent reporting also suggests he was under investigation by the Justice Department, at least as of late 2024.3 With his investment, he earned an advisory position with World Liberty Financial, and shortly after Trump was inaugurated, the SEC case against him and his company was stayed pending potential resolution [I78].
World Liberty Financial
World Liberty Financial is a cryptocurrency company created by Trump and several partners in August 2024. The project was co-founded by Zach Witkoff, son of Steven Witkoff: a longtime Trump associate, the newly appointed US Special Envoy to the Middle East, and, more recently, Trump’s personal envoy to Vladimir Putin.1 The elder Witkoff also introduced the Trumps to the project’s other co-founders.
Although the project was entirely branded around Trump, his sons were prominently listed on the website with titles like “defi visionary” and “web3 ambassador”, and Trump was to receive 75% of protocol revenues from the outset, the Trump family nevertheless initially tried to maintain the illusion of an arms-length relationship to the enterprise.
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The homepage of World Liberty Financial’s website, showing Donald Trump reaching out an arm and a large headline reading “Shape a New Era of Finance / Be DeFiant”
Content Warning
Trump owns 53% of the Trump Media company, which has recently announced it’s getting into crypto. Three days after Trump Media announced a partnership with Crypto.com, Crypto.com got the news that the SEC was dropping its investigation into their company.
![Truth Social and Truth.Fi
Trump Media & Technology Group, behind Trump’s Truth Social platform, is also newly exploring the cryptocurrency world. Trump owns about 53% of the shares, estimated to be worth around $2 billion, in the publicly traded company, which recently submitted filings to allow the trust holding his shares (controlled by Donald Trump Jr.) to sell them [I81].
In January, the company announced it would enter the fintech space with a brand called Truth.Fi, focusing on “America First investment vehicles”.6 On March 24, TMTG announced a partnership with Singapore-based crypto exchange Crypto.com — a company under SEC investigation, that had in August 2024 received a Wells notice informing them of an impending enforcement action [I68]. On March 27, only three days after the partnership announcement, Crypto.com revealed that the SEC had dropped its investigation [I81].
Simultaneously with its announcement about entering fintech, TMTG announced it would allocate up to $250 million of its cash reserves into investment vehicles including bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.7 By investing in crypto, the company (and thus Trump) stands to profit from Trump’s own actions to pump crypto prices, including announcing a bitcoin strategic reserve to “elevate this critical industry”, and exploring avenues to use government money to buy bitcoin [I80].](https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/114/355/780/088/847/446/original/f71ed3f480e2c50d.png)
A 𑐴𑐶𑐟𑐶 (hiti) is an ancient Newah urban water feature: a stepped, sunken courtyard with waterspouts and a central pool. These are fed through a remarkable network of pipes, reservoirs, and irrigation systems drawing water from mountain springs dozens of kilometres away. Every day, hundreds of people from the neighbourhood come to draw water, bathe, and exchange news. They are a unique and precious feature of Newa urban architecture through which neighbourhoods are created.
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