Tracking Trump’s growing crypto empire

Author: Jack Inabinet, Bankless Analyst; Translation: Golden Finance xiaozou

Only six months have passed since Trump returned to the White House, and the self-proclaimed "cryptocurrency president" has been busy. The latest reports show that the first family has made more than $600 million in cash from token sales this year and holds a crypto-related investment portfolio worth billions of dollars.

Today, we will take a deep look at the Trump family's most eye-catching crypto layout and explore the far-reaching impact that their vigorous promotion of cryptocurrencies may have.

1. Trump Digital Trading Cards

President Trump’s first attempt to enter the field of cryptocurrency, "Trump Digital Trading Cards", was launched on the Polygon PoS chain in December 2022.

The first series included 45,000 digital cards priced at $99 each, which sold out within hours and generated more than $4.4 million in first-time revenue. Since then, three sub-series have been added to the series, with a total of hundreds of thousands of unique digital cards issued.

Although these digital collectibles are advertised as being for personal entertainment only, not investment properties and not related to Trump's political campaign, cardholders can still enjoy a number of physical benefits: including a guaranteed invitation to dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, real cut fabrics of the "KO" suit for the 2024 presidential debate, and free Trump sneakers.

The digital card supports credit card and cryptocurrency purchases during the initial launch period, and can be traded on regular NFT markets such as OpenSea after the release. All secondary market sales of Trump digital trading cards are subject to a 10% royalty.

2. World Free Finance (WLFI)

World Free Finance is essentially an investment DAO related to Trump, holding nearly $200 million worth of various mainstream cryptocurrencies - from stablecoins to mainstream coins such as BTC and ETH, to a variety of altcoins (including TRX, ONDO and MOVE).

Although initially promoted as a native crypto lending application similar to Aave, World Free Finance has made no substantive progress in deploying an on-chain money market, except for the "Lending" button on its official website marked "coming soon".

Unlike the TRUMP and MELANIA meme coins discussed later (which can be freely purchased), only qualified investors who meet the registration exemption requirements of the US Securities and Exchange Commission's Regulation D and Regulation S (i.e., certified US investors and international investors who are not subject to sanctions) can participate in WLFI investment.

Although the World Free Finance governance has just voted to remove the transfer restrictions on WLFI tokens, KYC reviews and compliance monitoring will continue to ensure that tokens do not flow into the hands of unapproved buyers.

In March 2025, WLFI launched the US-anchored stablecoin USD1, which is backed by short-term US Treasury reserves and hosted by BitGo. At the time of writing, USD1 has a market cap of $2.2 billion, ranking seventh among stablecoins, second only to 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 is the main developer of World Free Finance and received 75% of the token sale revenue.

3. TRUMP/MELANIA Coin

This pair of meme coins is based on the president and the first lady, respectively, and was launched shortly after Trump took office in January 2025. Although the overall price trend of the two is a unilateral decline, the TRUMP token has repeatedly seen a periodic surge due to various announcements.

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

Any user can purchase TRUMP and MELANIA coins through on-chain decentralized exchanges (such as Uniswap), and some centralized exchanges (including Binance, Coinbase, Kraken and Robinhood) have also launched one or both of the token trading pairs.

4. Trump Media and Technology Group (DJT)

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

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

In May 2025, Trump Media disclosed that it had raised $2.5 billion from about 50 institutional investors to build a Bitcoin reserve. In early June of the same year, the company submitted a shelf issuance registration document to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, intending to issue an additional $12 billion in securities to fund subsequent Bitcoin acquisitions. If fully executed, this move will make DJT the world's second largest cryptocurrency reserve holding company after Strategy.

In order to cooperate with the transformation into a crypto asset holding company, Trump Media has reached a cooperation with Crypto.com and plans to launch a series of securities and cryptocurrency ETFs featuring the concept of "Made in the USA" through the upcoming Truth.Fi financial services platform. As of writing, DJT has submitted three crypto ETF applications to the SEC.

In addition, on July 9, Truth Social announced that users who subscribe to the $9.99/month "Trump Media Patriot Package" will 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 of Bitcoin mining company Hut 8 and "American Data Center", focusing on "industrial-grade Bitcoin mining and strategic Bitcoin reserve development". The group was established in March 2025. According to the merger agreement, Hut 8 will transfer most of its ASIC mining machines to the American Data Center Company supported by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump in exchange for 80% of the equity of the joint venture.

Eric Trump was appointed as Chief Strategy Officer. According to the company's official website, American Bitcoin has unique advantages: it can rely on Hut 8's mature mining operation system and combine Eric Trump's "business acumen, capital market expertise and firm commitment to promoting a decentralized financial system."

On June 10, American Bitcoin disclosed that it had purchased $23 million worth of Bitcoin. The company then announced that it would raise $220 million in funds through private placements to increase its holdings of Bitcoin and purchase more mining equipment in the future.

6. Metaplanet (formerly known as Red Planet)

Metaplanet is a Japanese hotel holding group. In 2021, it was insolvent due to the continued impact of the new crown epidemic. After being acquired by Evolution Financial Group, it was exempted from the risk of delisting from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

In June 2024, Metaplanet took the first step in its transformation into "Asia's top crypto asset reserve platform": it raised 1 billion yen to purchase Bitcoin by issuing bonds to Evolution Financial Group. Since then, the company has spent a total of 122.2 billion yen to build a reserve of 8,888 bitcoins through a combination of stock and bond issuances (funded entirely by Evolution Financial Group's "Evo Fund").

Japanese securities brokerage accounts currently do not provide spot Bitcoin custody services. Unlike similar crypto reserve companies, Metaplanet frequently sells cash-secured put options to acquire Bitcoin, which can both earn premiums and purchase tokens at a price lower than when the options were issued.

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

7. TRON Inc.

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

The deal makes TRON founder Justin Sun an advisor to SRM Entertainment, which will be renamed "TRON Inc.". In addition, SRM plans to implement a dividend policy after the "successful implementation" of the TRX staking program.

Although Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump serve on the advisory board of Dominari Securities, the exclusive placement agent for this fundraising, Eric Trump refuted the Financial Times' earlier report that he would take a public position in SRM Entertainment. Although the specific terms were not disclosed, Dominari Securities likely received stock compensation for its role as a placement agent.

Conclusion:

Trump's deep connection with the crypto world has raised widespread questions about whether he abused the power of the presidency for personal gain. Several heavyweight Democratic lawmakers have sharply criticized his crypto business territory.

For example, Senator Elizabeth Warren accused the president of "enriching his family through crypto business while weakening government regulation of the market", pointing out that his crypto asset portfolio constitutes a major conflict of interest and may lead to disastrous consequences.

White House officials have denied all allegations of wrongdoing. Trump family members interpret their business involvement as part of their "financial democratization mission" to make the United States the global crypto capital.

While Trump did profit from his presidency, supporters argue that the personal gains are a small price to pay for his pro-crypto policies that reversed the Biden-era crackdown on the industry.