Reuters estimates that businesses associated with Trump earned $802 million in cryptocurrency by early 2025.
The revenue comes from the earnings of WLFI tokens, TRUMP coins, and the USD1 stablecoin.
Trading by Alt5 Sigma and foreign buyers helped convert the token value into cash.
As U.S. cryptocurrency enforcement relaxes, experts point out potential conflicts of interest.
In the first half of 2025, businesses related to Trump generated approximately $802 million in revenue through cryptocurrency. Major sources include the sale of World Liberty Financial (WLFI) tokens and the official Trump (TRUMP) meme coin, a figure that far exceeds traditional businesses such as golf, licensing, and real estate.
Reuters' investigation and methodology documents detail the sources of funds and statistical methods.
WLFI was launched at the end of 2024 as a token-centric project associated with the Trump family. Compared to traditional DeFi projects, WLFI governance tokens grant holders only limited rights. The company's lawyer stated that the token "has practical utility."
According to the "Gold Paper" released by WLFI, affiliated companies under the Trump Group are entitled to 75% of the token sales revenue after deducting fees. Reuters reports that it established a revenue model based on this.
According to Reuters' estimates, WLFI token sales were the largest source of cash contributions in the first half of 2025, accounting for a significant portion of the family's cryptocurrency asset surge.
In August 2025, WLFI reached an agreement with Nasdaq, raising hundreds of millions of dollars from Alt5 Sigma to purchase WLFI tokens. This move greatly stimulated market demand and converted part of the book value into cash actually received by entities controlled by Trump.
Other reports from the same month revealed that a $1.5 billion WLFI "fund pool" strategy associated with Alt5 is underway. This plan aims to hold a large supply of WLFI, which also explains the massive capital flow into WLFI.
According to data from on-chain forensic institutions cited by Reuters, the TRUMP meme coin was launched on January 17, 2025, and its founding team received part of the trading fees from the Meteora exchange at launch, generating between $86 million and $100 million in trading fee revenue within two weeks solely from the Meteora platform.
In analyzing the first half of 2025, the media simulated approximately $672 million in meme coin sales and, based on a conservative 50% revenue-sharing assumption, attributed about $336 million to parties related to Trump. Due to the ownership structure and revenue-sharing ratios not being fully disclosed, this methodology acknowledges uncertainty.
Most WLFI buyers are anonymous wallet addresses, but the investigation found several well-known participants and concentrated overseas demand. The investigation highlighted that the Aqua1 Foundation spent $100 million to purchase WLFI and reported that Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. participated in global investor roadshows to promote the project.
The review also pointed out that identifiable large buyers include overseas investors. While attribution remains probabilistic, foreign participation among large holders is significant.
WLFI also promotes USD1, a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar, supported by cash and U.S. Treasury reserves, and custodied by BitGo.
According to Reuters, the reserves backing USD1 can generate approximately $80 million in interest annually at current yields, with part of this belonging to a company in which the Trump Group holds a 38% stake, but the actual amount realized in 2025 has not been clearly disclosed.
Reports indicate that with support from Abu Dhabi, MGX announced a $2 billion investment in Binance, and WLFI publicly stated that this transaction is intended to be settled in USD1. This has become one of the important cases demonstrating WLFI's stablecoin service for large transactions.
Due to the private nature of Trump's business empire, Reuters calculated based on presidential disclosures, real estate records, court-published financial data, and on-chain transaction data, using explicit assumptions such as a 75% revenue share for WLFI token sales and a 50% share for TRUMP, confirmed by academic experts and certified public accountants. The final conclusion suggests that nearly $802 million in household income in the first half of 2025 came from cryptocurrency operations, while traditional businesses contributed only about $62 million.
Did you know? WLFI raised objections to Reuters' analysis, arguing that its revenue model is overly simplified, misinterprets wallet data, and overlooks the project's real-world application value.
Since January 2025, the U.S. stance on cryptocurrency enforcement has changed. The Department of Justice disbanded the national cryptocurrency enforcement team and reduced priorities, while the Securities and Exchange Commission withdrew or suspended several major cases, including the withdrawal of the lawsuit against Coinbase and the termination of actions against other large companies.
According to ethics experts, leading cryptocurrency policy during the presidential term while the family reaps substantial profits, even if not illegal, constitutes an unprecedented new type of conflict of interest risk.
The White House and company representatives deny any allegations of misconduct.
All totals are based on disclosed allocation ratios and modeled fund calculations. However, the current focus of controversy lies in the lack of transparency regarding buyer identities and the potential changes in the U.S. policy environment as large amounts of capital flow in. For those concerned with crypto politics, this matter has become a real case study in incentive mechanisms, information disclosure, and governance risks.
Related: Tharimmune invests $540 million in Canton Coin, advancing the cryptocurrency asset treasury strategy.
Original article: “How the Trump Family Turned Crypto into an $800M Gold Rush”
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