Trump family earned $2.3 billion from crypto while investors lost

While about a million people collectively lose $2.3 billion on Trump-related crypto projects, the Trump family earns exactly the same amount. An analysis of four projects shows that the structure is always identical: licensing out the name, barely investing any of their own capital, and profiting from every token sold.

The Same Trick, Repeated Four Times

Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. act as promoters for all the projects. Investors buy in at the peak, after which prices collapse. World Liberty Financial is the largest example: 75% of all token sales go to an entity under the control of the Trump family, resulting in more than $1.6 billion for the family. The governance tokens of this project have fallen 87% from the introductory price in September, and a lockup until 2030 prevents most holders from selling their tokens, even though some are still sitting on paper profits.

The $TRUMP memecoin brings the family around $616 million, but buyers lose more than $700 million. The coin itself has dropped 97% from its peak in January 2025. The two publicly traded vehicles follow the same pattern. ALT5 Sigma, now renamed AI Financial Corp, raised $750 million and spent $717 million of that on World Liberty tokens, of which more than $500 million went to the Trumps. The stock has fallen by about 90%. American Bitcoin saw its price drop from $11 to $1,15. causing outside investors to lose more than $200 million while Eric Trump’s limited equity stake is still worth more than $70 million.

Trump Himself Explained the Model Back in 2016

Interestingly, Donald Trump openly described the approach back in 2016. According to him, licensing deals are the best deals that exist because you take no risk and need to put in no capital of your own. That statement takes on a special meaning in light of the recent crypto projects.

The comparison with other major players in the crypto market is striking. Coinbase posted a pre-tax profit of $2.1 billion, while companies such as Circle and Galaxy Digital reported losses of $14 million and $430 million, respectively. The Trump Organization tops the list with $2.3 billion in profit, fully funded by retail investors who bet on the projects.