Author: Jack Inabinet, Bankless Analyst
Translation: Jinse Finance Xiaozou
Just six months have passed since 'King of Knowledge' returned to the White House, and this self-proclaimed 'Cryptocurrency President' has been incredibly busy. Recent reports indicate that this year, the First Family has made over $600 million in profits from token sales and holds a crypto-related investment portfolio worth billions.
Today, we will delve into the Trump family's most notable crypto layout and explore the far-reaching implications of their vigorous push for cryptocurrency.
1. Trump Digital Trading Cards
Trump's first foray into 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, the series added three sub-series, totaling hundreds of thousands of unique digital cards.
Although these digital collectibles are marketed as purely for personal entertainment, not investment purposes, and unrelated to Trump's political campaign, cardholders can still enjoy various tangible benefits: including a guarantee to be invited to dinner 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 can be traded on conventional NFT markets like OpenSea after the sale. All secondary market sales of Trump Digital Trading Cards are subject to a 10% royalty fee.
2. World Freedom Finance (WLFI)
World Freedom Finance is essentially an investment-type DAO related to Trump, holding nearly $200 million in various mainstream cryptocurrencies — from stablecoins to major currencies like BTC and ETH, as well as several altcoins (including TRX, ONDO, and MOVE).
Although initially marketed as a native crypto lending application similar to Aave, World Freedom Finance has made no substantive progress in deploying on-chain money markets, aside from marking 'coming soon' next to the 'lending' button on its website.
Unlike the TRUMP and MELANIA meme coins (which can be freely purchased) discussed later, only qualified investors (i.e., accredited U.S. investors and non-sanctioned international investors) who meet the SEC Regulation D and S exemption registration requirements can participate in WLFI investment.
Although the governance of World Freedom Finance just voted to lift the transfer restrictions on WLFI tokens, it will continue to conduct KYC reviews and compliance monitoring to ensure that tokens do not flow into the hands of unapproved buyers.
In March 2025, WLFI launched the USD1 stablecoin, backed by short-term U.S. Treasury reserves and held by BitGo. As of the time of writing, USD1 has a market cap of $2.2 billion, ranking as the seventh-largest stablecoin, just behind MakerDAO/Sky's DAI.
In addition to holding 22.5 billion WLFI tokens, the Trump family also owns a 40% stake in 'WLF Holdings LLC' — the company that serves as the main developer of World Freedom Finance, which received 75% of the token sale revenue.
3. TRUMP/MELANIA Coin
These meme coins were launched shortly after Trump took office in January 2025, modeled after the president and first lady. Although both have generally shown a downward price trend, the TRUMP token has seen sporadic 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 attend a private dinner; in June, after Eric Trump revealed that World Freedom Finance would purchase a 'large amount of TRUMP positions' for the Treasury, the price surged 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 one or both token trading pairs.
4. Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT)
The 'Trump Media & Technology Group' co-founded by President Trump in 2021 is the owner and operator of the alternative tech social platform Truth Social. This platform was developed based on the open-source social media framework Mastodon.
In March 2024, Trump's media company went public under the stock code 'DJT' by merging with Digital World Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition company under Shanghai ARC Capital.
In May 2025, Trump Media revealed 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 a shelf registration document to the SEC to propose an additional $12 billion in securities for subsequent Bitcoin acquisitions. If fully executed, this move would make DJT the second-largest crypto reserve holding company globally, next to Strategy.
To facilitate the transition to a crypto 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 crypto ETFs to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Additionally, on July 9, Truth Social announced that users subscribing to the $9.99/month 'Trump Media Patriot Package' will receive functional tokens stored in the 'Truth Digital Wallet' that can be used to purchase goods and services within the 'Truth Ecosystem'.
5. American Bitcoin Company
The American Bitcoin Company is a holding subsidiary jointly established by the Bitcoin mining company Hut 8 and 'American Data Centers', focusing on 'industrial-grade Bitcoin mining and strategic Bitcoin reserve development.' The group was established in March 2025, and under the merger agreement, Hut 8 transferred most of its ASIC mining machines to the American data center company supported by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump in exchange for 80% ownership of the joint venture.
Eric Trump was appointed Chief Strategy Officer. According to the company's website, the American Bitcoin Company has a unique advantage: it can leverage Hut 8's mature mining operation system while combining Eric Trump's 'business acumen, expertise in capital markets, and firm commitment to promoting decentralized financial systems.'
On June 10, the American Bitcoin Company revealed it had purchased $23 million worth of Bitcoin. The company then 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 in 2021 due to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and after being acquired by Evolution Financial Group, it avoided delisting risks from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
In June 2024, Metaplanet took its first step to transform into 'Asia's top crypto asset reserve platform': raising 1 billion yen by issuing bonds to Evolution Financial Group to purchase Bitcoin. Subsequently, 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 (with funds entirely from Evolution Financial Group's 'Evo Fund').
Japanese securities brokerage accounts currently do not offer spot Bitcoin custody services. Unlike similar crypto reserve companies, Metaplanet frequently sells cash-secured put options to acquire Bitcoin, a strategy that earns premiums while allowing the company to purchase 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' for the acquisition of TRX. By the end of the month, the company had completed its first acquisition of TRX worth $100 million and deployed these tokens to the JustLend platform to earn about 10% annualized yield.
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 executing the TRX staking plan.
Although Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump serve as members of the advisory committee for the exclusive placement agent Dominari Securities for this fundraising, Eric Trump has denied (Financial Times) earlier reports about him taking a public position at SRM Entertainment. While specific terms have not been disclosed, it is likely that Dominari Securities received stock compensation for its placement agent role.
Conclusion:
The deep ties between Trump and the crypto world have sparked widespread questions about whether he is abusing presidential power for personal gain. Several prominent Democratic lawmakers have issued sharp criticisms of his crypto business empire.
For example, Senator Elizabeth Warren condemned the president for 'enriching his family through crypto business while undermining government oversight of the market,' directly pointing out that his crypto asset portfolio constitutes a significant conflict of interest and could lead to catastrophic consequences.
White House officials deny all allegations of misconduct. Members of the Trump family interpret their business involvement as part of a 'financial democratization mission' aimed at making the U.S. the global crypto capital.
Although Trump did benefit from his presidential term, supporters believe that personal gains are just a trivial cost compared to his pro-crypto policies that reversed the industry suppression during the Biden era.
