Trump Family Built a Crypto Empire. Now They're Cashing Out. By Molly White

With Trump back in power, the cryptocurrency industry is experiencing an unprecedented loosening of regulation. Taking this opportunity, the Trump family quickly laid out

With Trump back in power and the cryptocurrency industry experiencing an unprecedented loosening of regulation, the Trump family quickly forged related industries and created a crypto empire with a market value of billions of dollars, covering platform construction, token issuance, infrastructure control and even market manipulation, with power and capital closely intertwined.

This process not only brings huge profits, but also raises serious conflicts of interest and abuse of power. From platform holdings to policy intervention, from meme currency speculation to potential insider trading, the Trump family is turning the national regulatory system into a tool for their own profit.

This article will sort out the operation path of the family crypto business, reveal how it profits in a regulatory vacuum, and explore the institutional risks caused by this "crypto empire expansion."

Financial backers provide blood transfusions and rules are loosened: How can crypto capital quickly open up channels between government and business?

After Trump returned to power, he quickly received at least $20 million in political donations from crypto industry financiers, including $5 million each from Ripple and Andreessen Horowitz, and millions of dollars in support from giants such as Coinbase, Gemini, Kraken, and Circle.

These financiers were rewarded with policies: at least eight U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement cases against crypto companies were withdrawn or suspended. Many companies were also included in the new rule-making process, taking the opportunity to tailor market rules for themselves in an environment with a lack of supervision, low compliance requirements, and weak consumer protection.

The loosening of policies not only allowed the donating companies to make huge profits, but also cleared the institutional barriers for the Trump family's crypto expansion and laid the prerequisites for the entire set of business operations.

World Liberty Financial: The core asset of Trump's crypto empire

In August 2024, Trump and his partners founded the crypto company World Liberty Financial. Steven Witkov, the father of project co-founder Zach Witkov, is a long-time ally of Trump and the current special representative for the Middle East. He was recently appointed as Putin's personal envoy and a key figure in facilitating the project.

Although the platform's promotion and positioning were almost all centered around Trump himself, and the official website also listed his son as a "DeFi visionary" and "Web3 ambassador", and promised that 75% of the protocol revenue would belong to him, the family still tried to create a "keep your distance" attitude in the early days. Until Trump took office again, he officially held a 60% stake and became the actual controller.

According to the latest report by crypto data company ChainArgon, World Liberty Financial has so far raised at least $550 million from multiple institutions and private investors. Among them:

* Andreessen Horowitz, a well-known Silicon Valley venture capital firm, invested $200 million in convertible preferred shares.

* A consortium of Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds, including the Investment Corporation of Dubai and the Kuwait Investment Authority, jointly invested $150 million in Series A preferred shares.

* Several U.S. crypto hedge funds, including Alameda Research and Three Arrows Capital, collectively invested $100 million in tokens sold in the private placement.

* Several Chinese crypto mining companies, including Bitmain and Canaan, invested a total of $50 million in Series B preferred shares.

Among them, Andreessen Horowitz's investment is the largest single investment in a crypto startup this year. The report pointed out that the capital strength of these investors is very strong, and they are willing to invest heavily in promising projects. At present, World Liberty Financial is preparing for the next round of financing, and the expected amount will be even greater.

At the same time, the report also mentioned that World Liberty Financial is currently facing some challenges, such as the lack of a clear revenue model and the fact that its flagship product, a USD1 stablecoin, has yet to be launched. However, with the rapid development of the crypto industry and the strong support of the Trump administration, World Liberty Financial is expected to overcome these challenges and become a leading crypto company in the future.

It is worth noting that $75 million of the project came from Justin Sun, a foreign crypto entrepreneur who was investigated by the SEC and the Department of Justice for suspected fraud and could not donate directly to Trump. Subsequently, Sun was appointed as an advisor to World Liberty, and the SEC's lawsuit against him was shelved after Trump took office.

$WLFI issued by World Liberty is defined as a "governance token" and should theoretically give holders voting rights, but the platform team unilaterally promoted major matters including the issuance of stablecoins without any vote. The token also has a number of regulatory circumvention clauses, is only available to non-US citizens or "qualified investors", and is currently not tradable. Some investors bet that once SEC regulation is further weakened, the relevant restrictions will be lifted and the token may be able to enter the secondary market to bring