US President Donald Trump and his family have taken an interest in just about every corner of the crypto industry

US President Donald Trump and his family have taken an interest in just about every corner of the crypto industry.

Non-fungible tokens, decentralised finance, a proposed stablecoin, an effort at Bitcoin mining and a pair of memecoins - US President Donald Trump and his family have taken an interest in just about every corner of the crypto industry.

Together, the various projects are approaching US$1 billion in paper gains even after the latest round of trade war-induced market gyrations, according to Bloomberg calculations based on publicly available data.

The former president is already the richest person to have ever become president, and his non-crypto holdings include significant investments in real estate. After his first election in 2016, his lawyers created a trust to handle his business affairs. That was managed by his two eldest sons and by Mr Allen Weisselberg, the longtime chief financial officer of Mr Trump’s real estate company.

His second son, Eric Trump, has emphasised that “there are no conflicts” related to the family’s crypto investments.

“I don’t work with the White House,” Eric Trump said during a Bloomberg TV interview in April. “We’ve believed in crypto for a long time.”

The president’s own public conversion to crypto is still relatively new. Trump called Bitcoin a “scam” as recently as 2021, telling Fox Business at the time that he did not like the token “because it’s another currency competing against the dollar” and that it should be regulated “very, very high”.

His relationship with the digital asset industry has evolved significantly since then. As a candidate, he courted and benefited from significant contributions to his re-election campaign from crypto executives and advocates.

In his second term, Trump has signed executive orders in support of his promise to make the US the crypto capital of the planet, installed David Sacks and Bo Hines to represent the interests of the industry, and continued to tout his memecoin with posts on Truth Social.

“Trump and his family seem eager to establish a broad foothold in the sector prior to further regulatory actions that are likely to boost crypto-asset valuations,” said Eswar Prasad, professor of trade policy at Cornell University.

Here is how the Trump crypto portfolio has evolved.

Non-fungible Tokens: December 2022

Trump became a crypto convert after falling in love with his own digital collectibles, known as non-fungible tokens.

An idea pitched to him by friend and adult-education company founder Bill Zanker, the Trump Trading Cards NFTs have been spread out over four collections, showing the president in a variety of poses and outfits - sometimes dressed as a superhero.

The president last year hosted dinners for fans who purchased his NFTs, which, according to financial disclosures, have brought in millions of dollars.

Decentralised Finance: September 2024

The Trump family announced its crypto project World Liberty Financial ahead of the US election. Since its inception, the project has been buying up millions of dollars worth of other cryptocurrencies, including Ether and Tron, though has yet to offer promised DeFi services like lending crypto without any intermediaries.

A company affiliated with Trump receives 75 per cent of net revenue as a fee, including the proceeds of token sales, according to offering documents. The Trump family owns 60 per cent of the equity share of the World Liberty through their company DT Marks DeFi LLC.

The company has raised US$550 million in token sales after completing a second round last month.

Zach Witkoff, one of World Liberty’s co-founders, is the son of Steve Witkoff, who helped connect the president’s family to other World Liberty Financial’s participants. Since the platform’s token sale in October, observers have raised questions about its potential conflicts of interest for the Trump family, given the administration’s sway over regulations.

Trump’s three sons, Donald Jr, Eric and Barron, are all listed as “Web3 Advisers” to World Liberty Financial. The family actively promotes the project through social media and public appearances.

Memecoins: January 2025

The day before Trump’s inauguration, he and his wife, Melania, launched their own memecoins, a highly speculative corner of crypto in which the asset does not have much intrinsic value. After an initial surge, which likely generated more than US$11.4 million in fees for entities linked to the president in January alone, prices have tanked.

The foray was met with mixed reaction from the crypto industry, as many believed it hurt the push to appear more legitimate. Two Trump-linked entities - CIC Digital and Fight Fight Fight LLC - own 80 per cent of the supply, a holding that will be unlocked over three years.

ETFs: February 2025

Trump Media & Technology Group Corp said in early February that it had applied to trademark brands for investment products with themes that track Trump’s priorities, including a “Truth.Fi Bitcoin Plus ETF”.

It has said it would work