Under the backdrop of Trump regaining power, the cryptocurrency industry is experiencing an unprecedented regulatory relaxation. Seizing this opportunity, the Trump family has quickly laid out in the related industries, creating a multi-billion dollar crypto empire that covers platform construction, token issuance, infrastructure control, and even market manipulation, with power and capital closely intertwined.
This process has not only brought huge profits but also triggered serious conflicts of interest and allegations of abuse of power. From platform control to policy intervention, from meme coin hype to potential insider trading, the Trump family is turning the national regulatory system into a tool for its own profit.
Funding from Big Money, Loosening of Rules: How Crypto Capital Quickly Opens Up the Political and Business Channels
After Trump regained power, he quickly received at least $20 million in political donations from crypto industry bigwigs. Among them, Ripple and Andreessen Horowitz each contributed $5 million, while giants such as Coinbase, Gemini, Kraken, and Circle also provided support in the millions of dollars.
These big donors soon received policy paybacks: at least eight enforcement cases by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against crypto companies were withdrawn or put on hold. Many companies were also included in the new rule-making process, taking the opportunity to tailor market rules for themselves in an environment with weak regulation, low compliance requirements, and poor consumer protection.
The policy relaxation not only brought huge profits to the donor companies but also cleared the way for the Trump family's crypto expansion, laying the foundation for the entire business operation.
Trump's Crypto Empire Behind: The Triple Game of Regulation, Ethics, and Financial Risks
Source: Follow the Crypto
World Liberty Financial: The Core Asset of Trump's Crypto Empire
In August 2024, Trump and partners founded the crypto company World Liberty Financial. The project's co-founder, Zack Wittkoff, is the son of Steven Wittkoff, a long-time Trump ally who currently serves as the Special Representative for the Middle East and was recently appointed as Trump's private envoy for his visit to Putin. He is also the key figure who facilitated the relationship for this project.
Despite the platform's publicity and positioning revolving almost entirely around Trump himself, with his son listed as a "DeFi visionary" and "Web3 ambassador" on the official website, and a promise that 75% of the protocol's profits would go to him, the family initially tried to maintain a "distance-keeping" posture. It was not until Trump took office again that he officially took a 60% controlling stake and became the actual controller.
Trump's Crypto Empire Behind: The Triple Game of Regulation, Ethics, and Financial Risks
Source: World Liberty Financial homepage
Despite not having launched any trading platform yet, World Liberty has raised as much as $550 million in funds, with Trump personally expected to profit nearly $400 million according to the profit-sharing ratio. The company claims to build a "financial democratization" platform and issue a stablecoin called USD1, which is in stark contrast to Trump's previous stance of calling stablecoins "government-controlled financial tools."
It is worth noting that $75 million of the project's funding came from Justin Sun, a foreign crypto entrepreneur under investigation by the SEC and the Department of Justice for alleged fraud. Unable to donate directly to Trump, Sun was later appointed as an advisor to World Liberty, and the SEC's lawsuit against him was suspended after Trump took office.
The $WLFI issued by World Liberty is defined as a "governance token," which theoretically should give holders voting rights. However, without any voting, the platform team unilaterally pushed forward major matters, including the issuance of stablecoins. The token also has several regulatory-dodging clauses, being limited to non-US citizens or "accredited investors" for purchase, and currently non-tradable. Some investors are betting that once SEC regulation is further weakened, these restrictions will be lifted, and the token may enter the secondary market for returns.
At the same time, the project has also been widely questioned for alleged insider trading. Media reports revealed that World Liberty had purchased tokens from Movement Labs for about $2 million, just as the latter was rumored to be in talks with Musk's "Ministry of Government Efficiency" for blockchain cooperation. Although both parties denied it, the market reaction was intense.
On April 8, 2025, a memo issued by Deputy Attorney General Todd Branch showed that the Department of Justice, based on an executive order signed by Trump, formally dissolved the cryptocurrency investigation team and terminated all related law enforcement actions. This move almost cut off the federal investigation path for the Trump family's crypto business.
The launch time of USD1 also attracted attention: on March 25, World Liberty announced the issuance of the stablecoin, and just ten days later, the SEC stated that "certain types" of stablecoins are not within its regulatory scope, and companies can issue them without registration. Meanwhile, Congress is being pushed by pro-Trump factions to pass related legislation to ease regulatory restrictions on stablecoins. Behind this, the crypto industry has spent over $130 million on lobbying in the last election cycle.
In addition, World Liberty is in talks with Binance to list USD1 on its platform. Once achieved, the project will tap into the user base of the world's largest crypto exchange, with huge profit potential. At this time, Binance is negotiating with the US Treasury Department on compliance matters, trying to dissolve the regulatory agreement previously established due to anti-money laundering violations, which was reached after it paid over $4 billion in fines as part of a judicial settlement.
Truth Social and Truth.Fi: Social Platforms Turn to Crypto Investment
Trump's "Trump Media & Technology Group" (TMTG), the parent company of Truth Social, has also begun to enter the crypto field in recent years. The company has gone public with a valuation of about $2 billion, with Trump holding about 53%. Recently, TMTG also applied to allow the trust fund controlled by Donald Trump Jr. to sell its shares.
In January 2024, TMTG announced its entry into the fintech field under the brand "Truth.Fi," launching so-called "America First" investment products. On March 24, the company announced a partnership with the Singapore-based exchange Crypto.com. It is worth noting that the platform was previously under investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and received a "Wells Notice" in August of the same year, indicating that it would face law enforcement actions. However, just three days later, Crypto.com announced that the SEC had terminated the investigation.
At the same time, TMTG said it would invest up to $250 million in cash reserves in crypto assets such as Bitcoin. Through this move, the company - in fact, Trump himself - could directly profit from his own market-inflating rhetoric. His proposals to establish a Bitcoin strategic reserve and push for government funds to buy Bitcoin could have a substantial impact on the market.
Blockchain Gaming Plans and Regulatory Loosening: From "Monopoly" to Real-World Arbitrage
According to Fortune magazine, Trump is preparing to launch a blockchain-based real estate-themed game, similar to "Monopoly," but built on a cryptocurrency system, focusing on "Play-to-Earn" to attract players to earn real rewards through the game.
Such games have been widely criticized in the past, with issues concentrated on imbalanced economic structures and ethical risks. Wealthy players can "pay to win," while those with poorer economic conditions may not even be able to participate. The system highly depends on the inflow of new players to maintain the value of tokens, and once the growth rate slows down, it faces the risk of collapse.
Axie Infinity, which became a sensation in 2021, once triggered a "digital sharecropping" model: the rich leased game assets to players in low-income countries, promising them higher-than-local wages through the game. This model eventually sparked widespread ethical controversies, involving minors participating in gambling-like mechanisms and players losing all their invested money. In March 2022, the game was also hacked by North Korean hackers, resulting in a loss of about $625 million, and the token price has not recovered to this day.
In recent years, US regulatory authorities have begun to strengthen their review of such projects. The SEC, in its lawsuits against Coinbase and Binance, accused them of listing unregistered securities, including in-game tokens such as Axie Infinity's $AXS, The Sandbox's $SAND, and Decentraland's $MANA. Meanwhile, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has also focused on exploitative behaviors in the monetization of game tokens, especially involving underage players.
However, after Trump returned to power, these regulatory barriers were quickly dismantled. He pushed for the relaxation of restrictions on crypto companies, including the cancellation of key regulatory links such as registration, compliance, accountability, and gambling mechanism supervision. The SEC recently "accelerated" the withdrawal of several law enforcement actions against Binance, Coinbase, and related in-game tokens, and announced that most crypto assets are no longer within its regulatory scope, while inviting industry executives to participate in the new rule-making.
The Trump administration also pushed to completely shut down the CFPB, a proposal that has been openly supported by crypto company executives. Congress is also taking action in this regard, with both the House of Representatives and the Senate passing a bill to repeal the regulatory rules set by the CFPB for crypto games, which were originally intended to strengthen protection for underage users and non-game crypto asset investors.
This repeal bill shows a clear partisan split: Democrats and independent legislators are unanimously opposed, with only one Republican senator symbolically opposing, while the rest of the Republican legislators all support it. Currently, the bill is awaiting Trump's signature. Once signed, it will not only completely end the regulatory barriers for such behaviors but also bring direct benefits to himself and his related crypto projects.
Trump Family Enters Bitcoin Mining, Raising Questions of Interest Transfer
At the end of March 2025, Trump's two sons - Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. - announced investments in the Bitcoin mining company American Bitcoin, with Eric taking on the role of Chief Strategy Officer.
The company was set up with the assistance of mining firm Hut8, which transferred "almost all" of its mining equipment to the new company, raising industry doubts. VanEck analyst Matthew Sigel commented, "I really can't understand why they traded 61,000 miners for just 80% of the remaining shares of what was previously a 100% controlled subsidiary." Many observers believe this is more like a "political share swap" - Hut8 gives 20% of the equity to the Trump family in exchange for policy convenience and potential returns.
Eric Trump said the company plans to go public in the future and will collaborate with World Liberty Financial. He also revealed that they will hold some of the mined Bitcoin, betting on Trump pushing up the price of Bitcoin again to gain asset appreciation returns.
Mass Launch of Meme Coins, Trump Family Cashes Out Hundreds of Millions
On the eve of Trump's second presidential inauguration, he launched a meme coin called $TRUMP, which even shocked some crypto supporters. Some industry insiders directly called his behavior "blatant money-grabbing" and criticized it as "absurd to the extreme, setting a new low for foolishness."
Soon after, the family launched the $MELANIA meme coin, further sparking controversy. The Financial Times estimated that by early March, Trump's team had cashed out at least $350 million through these two tokens. On April 15, a wallet address controlled by Trump was suspected of cashing out $4.6 million again.
At the same time, the $MELANIA team allegedly sold about $4.5 million worth of tokens from late March to early April. On April 7, the on-chain analysis platform Bubblemaps disclosed that insiders of the project transferred and massively sold tokens worth about $30 million from a wallet labeled "community distribution." More worryingly, the team had previously been accused of manipulating the $LIBRA token related to Argentine President Mile and insider trading of several Solana-based meme coins.
In the initial allocation of the $TRUMP token, Trump and his related parties held as much as 80% of the control rights, with a three-year linear vesting mechanism. The first round of vesting is about to start, and Trump can sell up to 40 million tokens, valued at about $310 million at the current price. Meanwhile, many early investors have been hit hard, with the token price falling from a peak of $75 to less than $5.
Despite these trading behaviors being suspected of market manipulation or insider trading, regulation is almost absent. On February 27, the SEC clearly stated that meme coins are not within its regulatory scope. Normally, such potential criminal acts should be handled by the Department of Justice, but the department has been instructed to prioritize resources for "immigration and government procurement fraud" and other areas, with the crypto market being put on hold.
In other words, the Trump family is leveraging the regulatory vacuum to obtain high returns at low risk in the meme coin market.
NFT Maneuvers: From Buying "Obscure Works" to Selling "Suspect Trading Cards"
In addition to cryptocurrencies and meme coins, the Trump family has also actively entered the NFT (non-fungible token) market. As early as December 2021, Melania Trump launched her first NFT series, but the market response was lukewarm. Works with a starting bid of about $250,000 went unsold, and were eventually suspected to be purchased by her at a price of about $170,000.
In July 2023, she launched a second series, which again sparked controversy. This project used NASA images, allegedly violating its prohibition against commercial use. The series also had poor sales, with only 55 sold in the first week, generating less than $5,000 in revenue.
In contrast, Trump himself has had more commercially successful NFT projects. In December 2022, he launched his first batch of "digital trading cards" (Trump Cards), intentionally downplaying the "NFT" label. These cards depicted an idealized image of him - muscular, young, and handsome, dressed in Superman or cowboy outfits, with an exaggerated and unrealistic style.
Subsequent series went even further, directly using Trump's suspect mugshot as the theme, and offering "upgrade rewards" to buyers, including fragments of the suit worn in the mugshot, and even the opportunity to have dinner with him during his New York criminal trial.
Holding Unclear, Speech Linked to Action: The Trump Family's Crypto Asset Holdings Raise Concerns
Although the Trump family's holdings of crypto assets are not transparent, public financial filings and on-chain records provide some clues. In August 2024, Trump reported holding Ethereum (ETH) worth between $1 million and $5 million, which was basically in line with the approximately $2.28 million balance in his wallet at the time. Since December of that year, the wallet has begun to sell ETH on a large scale and has now sold most of its holdings.
The holdings of other family members have not been disclosed, but they obviously have the opportunity to directly profit from market fluctuations influenced by policy. Some even actively "influence the market." For example, in February this year, Eric Trump posted, "Now is a good time to buy more $ETH, remember to thank me later." Almost at the same time, World Liberty Financial, dominated by the Trump family, transferred a large amount of ETH to Coinbase, arousing suspicions of "shouting orders in coordination."
Trump's Crypto Empire Behind: The Triple Game of Regulation, Ethics, and Financial Risks
More worryingly, there may be insider trading risks within Trump's inner circle. They are well aware of Trump's style and may also have access to non-public information, while Trump's sudden policy decisions have caused violent shocks to the market.
A recent example is particularly typical: after Trump announced the "Liberation Day" tariff policy, causing the stock market to plunge, there were signs that some insiders bought at low prices and profited from the market rebound after the policy suspension news was released. Similar operations are also possible in the crypto market. The prices of Bitcoin and other assets fluctuate violently, and if you know the policy direction in advance, it is easy to obtain considerable profits from the information gap.
The Ultimate Form of Power Monetization: From Regulatory Collapse to Systemic Risk
The Trump family's conflicts of interest in the crypto field have long surpassed the "emoluments clause" controversy during his first term. By laying out multiple projects, Trump has built a complete path to profit from power: directly profiting from tokens and companies, pushing regulatory policies favorable to his own investments, being involved in suspected insider trading, and providing a channel for external forces to exchange "investments" for political influence - if converted into campaign donations, these actions would constitute a violation.
At the same time, the regulatory system is being systematically dismantled. Trump continues to weaken the constraints on the crypto market, exposing ordinary investors to the risks of fraud and manipulation, while he and his big donors are almost free from substantial scrutiny.
Despite increasingly obvious signs of abuse of power, the current checks and balances are still ineffective. Although some Democratic legislators have written to the SEC Inspector General, senior officials of the Department of Justice, and several state attorneys general, calling for an investigation into Trump and his team's conflicts of interest, there has been no substantial progress made public so far.
More alarmingly, the continued collapse of regulation is leading to a high degree of overlap between the president's personal financial interests and national policy power. The crypto market is gradually becoming a playground for the elite to arbitrage: high-risk lending projects are disguised as "financial democratization," fraudulent behavior is packaged as technological innovation, and meme coins have evolved into tools for "pump and dump" schemes.
In this process, ordinary investors are marginalized and have no way to defend their rights. The risks of this deregulation experiment are also spreading to the traditional financial system. As banks increase their exposure and pension and retirement funds get involved, the whole society is quietly bearing the systemic costs that may be profited by a very few but paid for by everyone. Once the bubble bursts, the victims will not only be speculators but also the ordinary people who have never been involved.
