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United States·Trade & Economy·Technology

Trump raked in over $1 billion from crypto businesses in 2025, filing shows[Updated]

Wednesday, 1 July 2026, 06:10 · 3 min read
Updates
10d

Former White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter said Trump "stands alone" among presidents in having substantial financial conflicts of interest, adding that the same conduct "would be a violation" for any other executive branch official. The disclosure also revealed Trump took in tens of millions from new property holdings in foreign countries, raising questions about whether leaders eager to influence U.S. military deployment and tariff policy directed money to the president. Additional income streams included tens of millions from lawsuits against media companies facing potential regulatory action under his administration, while sales of Trump-branded Bibles, guitars, and watches added millions more — with watches alone generating $4.7 million.

Sources
11d

Trump's total 2025 income across all businesses reached at least $2.2 billion, more than triple his reported income from the prior year, according to the disclosure — a figure historians described as unprecedented for a sitting president. Some $635 million of the crypto earnings came specifically from royalties tied to the $TRUMP meme coin, routed through an entity called Celebration Coins, which launched just days before Trump began his second term. The disclosure also revealed that Trump holds more than $100 million in bitcoin, marking the first time a sitting U.S. president has reported direct ownership of the asset. The sharp growth in Trump's wealth has intensified conflict-of-interest concerns, given that his administration simultaneously pursued policies favorable to the cryptocurrency sector.

Sources
Original story

US President Donald Trump earned more than $1.2 billion from cryptocurrency ventures in 2025, according to his mandatory annual financial disclosure filed with the Office of Government Ethics. The 927-page document — dwarfing the 11-page filing submitted by his predecessor Joe Biden for his final full year in office — reveals that Trump's crypto earnings have now surpassed revenue from the sprawling real estate empire that first made him a household name.

The bulk of the crypto income came from two sources. World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm co-founded by members of the Trump and Witkoff families, brought in more than $500 million from the sale of so-called "governance tokens" — digital assets that offer holders voting power on certain company decisions but no ownership stake. A separate business, CIC Digital LLC, took in over $600 million from sales of Trump-branded "meme coins," novelty digital currencies launched just days before Trump's inauguration in January 2025. Both products have collapsed in value since their launch: the meme coin, which peaked at over $74, now trades at around $1.68, and the World Liberty tokens have lost roughly 80% of their value. Among the buyers was Justin Sun, a Chinese billionaire who spent a combined $275 million on the two products while facing a federal lawsuit that was later settled for a $10 million fine — a sequence of events that critics argue illustrates the conflict-of-interest risks embedded in the president's financial arrangements.

Beyond crypto, the disclosure paints a broader picture of a presidency intertwined with commercial activity. Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, generated $77 million — a 50% jump from the previous year — as foreign heads of state and business figures sought access to the new administration. Overseas real estate deals added further tens of millions: a property in the United Arab Emirates brought in $10.4 million, one in Saudi Arabia $9 million, and projects in Romania, Qatar and Vietnam $5 million each. Several of those countries were simultaneously negotiating with Washington over tariffs, military equipment and technology access — and, the disclosure period shows, ultimately received concessions they had sought. The Trump Organization has said its overseas deals are with private companies, not governments, though in countries run by royal families or single-party systems the distinction can be difficult to verify. Trump also earned $86.5 million from legal settlements with media companies including ABC, CBS, Meta, YouTube and X, though the White House says much of that money has been directed to a future presidential library and nonprofit causes.

The White House has pushed back firmly against conflict-of-interest concerns. Deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said Trump had "proudly made the United States the crypto capital of the world" through executive action and legislation such as the GENIUS Act, signed into law last July, and insisted that "neither the President nor his family has ever engaged — or will ever engage — in conflicts of interest." Trump's businesses are held in a trust managed by his sons, the administration notes, and the president is not subject to federal conflict-of-interest laws that apply to other officials. Critics, however, argue that the scale and structure of Trump's financial interests — now estimated by Forbes to amount to a net worth of $6 billion, up from $2.3 billion in 2024 — make meaningful separation between his policy decisions and personal gain virtually impossible to establish.

Sources
BBC WorldTrump made more than $1bn from crypto in first year back in office ↗︎NOS NieuwsTrump verdiende 1 miljard met crypto, miljoenen met horloges, bijbels en geurtjes ↗︎PBS NewsHourTrump took in about $1.2 billion from crypto businesses last year, financial disclosure shows ↗︎The GuardianTrump raked in more than $1bn from crypto businesses in 2025, filing shows ↗︎
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