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

Donald Trump gifle son nom à peu près n'importe quoi: Cologne est un «cri de ralliement dans une bouteille», des baskets en or et même des steaks de Porterhouse.

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

L'ancien président Donald Trump et sa famille ont construit un Empire crypto, lançant Memecoins, une application Defi, NFTS et une entreprise d'investissement nouvellement lancée.

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

Les experts politiques disent que la situation sans précédent soulève des problèmes de conflit d'intérêts clairs.

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

Voici une ventilation des entreprises crypto de la famille Trump:

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.

Deux sociétés, CIC Digital LLC et Fight Fight Fight LLC, détiennent collectivement 80% de Trump's Token, qui a une valeur papier de plus de 14 milliards de dollars, selon son site Web de Memecoin.

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.

CIC Digital possède conjointement Fight Fight Fight avec une autre entreprise appelée Celebration Cards LLC, qui est enregistrée au Wyoming par Andrew Pierce, un parajuriste d'entreprise pour l'avocat du Wyoming LLC.

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.

La firme de Pierce est spécialisée dans la création de sociétés d'écran anonymes et de planification de la protection des actifs, selon son site Web. Pierce n'a pas répondu à une demande de commentaires.

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.

Plusieurs autres sociétés liées aux entreprises de Trump, telles que sa gamme de baskets, sont également enregistrées au nom de Pierce et sont également opaques.

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.

La deuxième entreprise appartient à Chase Herro et Zak Folkman, les co-fondateurs de World Liberty Financial.

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.

Herro s'appelait une fois le «sac à terre d'Internet» dans une vidéo YouTube supprimée depuis. Lui et Folkman ont fondé le protocole de Defi Finance Finance, qui a fermé ses portes après un hack de 2,1 millions de dollars.

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.

La troisième entité est un véhicule pour Trump Ally Steven Witkoff, un investisseur et développeur immobilier, et ses fils Zach et Alex, qui sont également cofondateurs de World Liberty Financial.

NFTs

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.

En 2022, Trump a fait sa première incursion en crypto lorsqu'il a libéré NFTS le représentant comme un super-héros musclé, un chasseur portant des armes à feu et d'autres images de bande dessinée.

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.

L'idée est venue de Bill Zanker, un confident qui a co-écrit un livre avec Trump en 2007, qui a approché le candidat alors président lors du lancement de son propre NFTS, a rapporté Bloomberg News.

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

Son épouse Melania est également entrée dans le jeu et a lancé sa propre NFTS.

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

Comme avec Trump's Memecoin, la firme appartenant à Trump Cic Digital est derrière ses cartes à trading NFT.

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.

Trump a fait quelque part entre 7,3 et 8,2 millions de dollars sur sa collection NFT, selon ses divulgations financières de 2023 et 2024.

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.