Trump family earns $1.3B in crypto gains within weeks
What's the story
US President Donald Trump's family has made a whopping $1.3 billion from two cryptocurrency ventures in just a few weeks. The projects, World Liberty Financial and American Bitcoin Corp., were launched less than a year ago. The financial windfall shows how emerging projects can turn into real wealth for the Trump family, whose net worth currently stands at $7.7 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Crypto leadership
Brothers lead the charge into crypto
Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, the president's two eldest sons, are still executive vice presidents at the Trump Organization. However, they are now also leading their family's expanding cryptocurrency portfolio. The brothers co-founded World Liberty with their youngest brother, Barron, last year. On September 1, the company hit a major milestone by allowing customers to trade its token for the first time.
Wealth boost
Token deal boosts Trump's wealth
Last month, World Liberty Financial struck a lucrative deal with a public company to acquire its tokens. This transaction has added nearly $670 million to Trump's net worth, Bloomberg's wealth index shows. The calculation does not include some $4 billion worth of tokens owned by the Trumps that are still locked for now.
Mining venture
Shifting fortunes for the Trump family
Eric Trump's stake in American Bitcoin Corp., which was set up in March to mine virtual assets, was worth over $500 million when the stock soared on its trading debut on September 3. The rapid growth of these ventures suggests a shift for the Trump family. Their traditional wealth sources, like Trump Tower and Mar-a-Lago resort, aren't necessarily the quickest way to new riches anymore.
Regulatory landscape
Trump's pro-Crypto stance
Under previous administrations, the crypto industry faced stricter regulations. The Biden administration's SEC had targeted crypto exchanges for selling unregistered securities and sued some of the biggest players like Coinbase Global Inc. and Kraken. However, under Trump's administration, these high-profile cases were dropped after he appointed more lenient regulators and promised to make the US a "crypto capital of the world."
Future plans
Trumps eye real estate tokenization
The Trump family is also looking at new ideas in the crypto space. Warren Hui, co-founder of Soul Ventures that invested in Alt5 Sigma Corp., revealed that the crypto company's founders recently pitched an idea to "tokenize" real estate assets. Eric Trump was part of the group pitching this concept.