The Trump Family's Crypto Empire: A DL News Investigation

Donald Trump slaps his name on pretty much anything: cologne that's a “rallying cry in a bottle,” gold-embossed sneakers, and even porterhouse steaks.

Former President Donald Trump and his family have built a crypto empire, launching memecoins, a DeFi app, NFTs, and a newly launched investment business.

Political experts say the unprecedented situation raises clear conflict of interest concerns.

Here's a breakdown of the Trump family's crypto ventures:

Memecoins

Trump launched his own memecoin in 2024, and his wife, Melania, launched hers shortly afterward.

Two companies, CIC Digital LLC and Fight Fight Fight LLC, collectively own 80% of Trump’s token, which has a paper value of over $14 billion, according to his memecoin’s website.

Trump wholly owns CIC Digital, according to his 2024 financial disclosure.

CIC Digital jointly owns Fight Fight Fight with another firm called Celebration Cards LLC, which is registered in Wyoming by Andrew Pierce, a corporate paralegal for Wyoming LLC Attorney.

Pierce’s firm specializes in setting up anonymous shell companies and asset protection planning, according to its website. Pierce did not respond to a request for comment.

Because Celebration Cards is set up through a third party, little is known about its ownership or financials.

Several other companies connected to Trump’s businesses, such as his line of sneakers, are also registered in Pierce’s name and are similarly opaque.

The company structure behind Melania’s memecoin is simpler.

It’s issued through Florida-registered MKT World LLC, a firm run by the First Lady, according to Florida’s business registry.

In 2023, MKT World notched between $1 million and $5 million in income, per Trump’s financial disclosures.

World Liberty Financial

In September, Eric Trump and Donald Jr unveiled World Liberty Financial.

The DeFi app is yet to launch, but the brothers plan to issue a stablecoin as well as let users lend and borrow crypto assets.

Sales of WLFI, the project’s governance token, have generated around $385 million.

While Trump and his family don't directly own World Liberty Financial, they do receive funds from the venture.

The protocol keeps the first $30 million raised through WLFI sales, per the project’s documentation. Anything raised after that goes to three separate entities.

The first, DT Marks DEFI LLC, is owned and controlled by President Trump and members of his family, including Eric, Donald Jr, and Barron.

The second firm is owned by Chase Herro and Zak Folkman, World Liberty Financial’s co-founders.

Herro once called himself the “dirtbag of the internet” in a since-deleted YouTube video. He and Folkman founded the DeFi protocol Dough Finance, which shut down after a $2.1 million hack.

The third entity is a vehicle for Trump ally Steven Witkoff, a real estate investor and developer, and his sons Zach and Alex, who are also co-founders of World Liberty Financial.

NFTs

In 2022, Trump made his first foray into crypto when he released NFTs depicting him as a muscled superhero, a gun-bearing hunter, and other comic book-like images.

The idea came from Bill Zanker, a confidante who co-authored a book with Trump in 2007, who approached the then-presidential candidate on launching his own NFTs, reported Bloomberg News.

His wife Melania also got into the game and launched her own NFTs.

Like with Trump’s memecoin, the Trump-owned firm CIC Digital is behind his NFT trading cards.

CIC Digital licenses Trump’s name to the firm NFT INT LLC, which isn’t owned by Trump himself, according to his website.

NFT INT is registered in Delaware through a firm that obscures a business’ ownership.

Trump has made somewhere between $7.3 and $8.2 million off of his NFT collection, per his 2023 and 2024 financial disclosures.

Melania, meanwhile, has made between $1 to $5 million off of her NFTs, per Trump’s 2023 financial disclosure. His 2024 disclosure did not list Melania’s income from her NFT sales.