Trump's First Year in Office: Family Launches 'Crypto Money Printing Machine'

Odaily星球日报Published on 2026-01-25Last updated on 2026-01-25

Abstract

Former U.S. President Donald Trump and his family have significantly expanded their wealth through a series of cryptocurrency and blockchain ventures over the past year, with crypto-related assets now accounting for nearly 20% of their estimated $6.8 billion net worth—an increase of approximately $1.4 billion. Key initiatives include: - **World Liberty Financial**: A DeFi platform with governance token WLFI and USD1 stablecoin. USD1, backed by reserves including U.S. Treasuries, has grown to a $3.2 billion market cap, generating substantial interest income. - **American Bitcoin Corp.**: A Bitcoin mining venture partly owned by Eric and Donald Trump Jr., holding 5,427 BTC (worth ~$486 million) and producing around 9 BTC daily. - **TRUMP and MELANIA Tokens**: Meme tokens leveraging the family’s political brand. TRUMP, despite a significant price drop, still shows paper profits of ~$1.36 billion. MELANIA tokens have also generated millions, though amid allegations of insider selling. - **NFT Collections**: Multiple NFT series have collectively earned over $20 million in primary sales. - **Trump Media & Tech Group**: Plans for crypto ETFs are underway, and the company already holds 11,500 BTC (~$1.03 billion). The family continues to blend political influence with financial innovation, expanding its crypto footprint through mining, DeFi, stablecoins, and public market strategies.

Original | Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)

Author | DingDang (@XiaMiPP)

On January 20, Trump Media & Technology Group (NASDAQ:DJT) announced that the record date for its previously disclosed digital token plan is set for February 2, 2026. Ultimate beneficial owners and registered shareholders who hold at least one full share of DJT stock on this record date will be eligible to receive the future issuance of digital tokens and accompanying incentives. Following the record date, Trump Media will partner with Crypto.com to handle the minting and distribution of the tokens, with specific execution mechanisms still to be disclosed.

In form alone, this appears more like a crossover experiment between crypto and traditional finance: although it's an airdrop, the recipients are not crypto players but stock market investors. However, whenever the "Trump family + token" is involved, market nerves are inevitably struck.

After all, Trump has a knack for captivating the crypto crowd. The spectacle of the last TRUMP token issuance is still fresh in memory. It created wealth for a large number of people but was subsequently accused of sucking dry market liquidity, as the broader market experienced a sharp correction afterwards. This time, the DJT shareholder token plan represents the Trump family playing a new花样 (trick/variation) on top of financialization and securitization, yet it evokes a familiar sense of being harvested, doesn't it?

Since Trump began his second presidential term, his public stance has clearly shifted to be crypto-friendly: promoting regulatory framework development on one hand, while his family business simultaneously accelerated its expansion节奏 (pace/rhythm) within the crypto industry. Over the past year, crypto assets have become a significant component of the Trump family's wealth structure, systematically building a crypto industry network spanning DeFi, stablecoins, computing power, and publicly traded financial products.

Recent reports indicate that crypto-related projects have added approximately $1.4 billion to the Trump family's assets within a year. Within an overall net worth of about $6.8 billion, the proportion of crypto assets has risen to nearly 20% for the first time.

Based on this, Odaily Planet Daily attempts to provide a systematic overview of the Trump family's current trackable major crypto布局 (layout/arrangements).

1. World Liberty Financial: Core DeFi Hub

This is the core crypto project within the Trump family's industrial layout. The project is positioned as a decentralized finance protocol and governance platform, attempting to build a bridge between traditional finance (TradFi) and DeFi through blockchain technology, providing users with lending, governance participation, and yield opportunities, while emphasizing the role of dollar stablecoins in the global digital financial system.

The project was initiated in 2024 by Trump himself, his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, in conjunction with real estate developer Steve Witkoff and other partners.

The governance token for World Liberty Financial is WLFI, with a total supply of 10 billion tokens and a current market cap of approximately $4.7 billion. The token sale launched in October 2024, raising a total of about $550 million. According to the circulated profit distribution structure, about 75% of the net proceeds from the sale belong to Trump family entities, meaning this single item alone could potentially bring them about $400 million in cash returns.

In terms of token allocation, the family-linked company DT Marks DeFi LLC holds approximately 2.25 billion WLFI, accounting for 22.5% of the total supply. Calculated at the current price of about $0.17, its book value is approximately $380 million.

More noteworthy is its stablecoin, USD1.

USD1 adopts a 100% reserve-backed mechanism primarily composed of short-term U.S. Treasury bonds, cash deposits, and money market funds. Defillama data shows that the current market cap of USD1 is approximately $3.2 billion, ranking seventh among stablecoins. For a stablecoin that was only issued in April 2025, its growth rate is astonishing.

The most critical boost factor is Binance's deep integration and traffic support. On the BSC chain, the supply of USD1 is about $1.83 billion, accounting for 57.8% of its total issuance scale.

If based on a reserve scale of about $3 billion and assuming a 2026 annualized yield on short-term U.S. Treasuries in the 3.5%–4.5% range, the interest income generated solely from the reserve assets could reach $105 million to $135 million annually. Under the current model, this cash flow primarily belongs to the issuing entity.

From a financial structure perspective, this makes USD1 not just a stablecoin, but a financial instrument capable of continuously generating U.S. dollar cash flow. For the Trump family, it's akin to a long-running "interest machine."

2. American Bitcoin Corp.: Dual Drivers of Hashrate and Reserves

American Bitcoin Corp (NASDAQ: ABTC) is a Bitcoin mining and strategic reserve company, controlled by Hut 8 Corp, one of North America's largest listed mining companies, and operated in cooperation with the Trump family. Hut 8 holds approximately 80% equity, while Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and early shareholders of American Data Centers collectively hold the remaining 20%. Eric Trump personally holds a direct stake of about 7.4%-7.5%.

The company is not merely an investment entity but operates several large mining facilities located in Texas and elsewhere. In November 2025, Eric Trump showcased a mining facility in Texas in a public video, deploying about 35,000 mining machines, stating this was only part of their overall hashrate, implying American Bitcoin Corp's equipment holdings likely far exceed 35,000 units. He claimed daily output constitutes about 2% of the global daily new Bitcoin production. From the context, it's inferred the company produces approximately 9 Bitcoins daily (global daily new production is about 450), amounting to an annual production of roughly 3,285 Bitcoins.

According to American Bitcoin's Q3 2025 financial report, revenue for the quarter was approximately $64.2 million, with a net profit of about $3.5 million, reversing a loss of $576,000 in the same period last year. The quarter's mining output was 563 Bitcoins. extrapolating from this, the average Bitcoin price during the period was around $114,000. If prices fluctuate around the current $89,000 range, profitability would clearly be compressed, potentially even resulting in losses.

Data from bitcointreasuries.net shows that American Bitcoin Corp's accumulated Bitcoin reserves, through mining and market purchases, currently total 5,427 Bitcoins, valued at approximately $486 million, placing it within the top twenty listed companies by Bitcoin reserves.

However, as the company does not fully pay for new miners in cash but uses a "BTC collateral + installment/guarantee" structure, pledging part of its own Bitcoin as collateral to acquire equipment from manufacturers with delayed payments. The pledged BTC规模 (scale/amount) disclosed in Q3 was approximately 2,385 Bitcoins, which has not yet been deducted from the total reserves.

Many mining companies adopt this method, using BTC as "high-value collateral" to exchange for physical equipment. Therefore, for mining companies, this cycle of "mining output → partial collateral financing for new miners → increased hashrate → more mining output" can amplify capital returns in an upward Bitcoin price trend; conversely, it also amplifies operating leverage during bear markets.

3. TRUMP & MELANIA Tokens: Monetizing Political IP Traffic

Compared to the infrastructure-type layouts above, TRUMP and MELANIA tokens represent direct monetization leveraging the brand influence and market speculation effect of the Trump family.

TRUMP was launched by Trump-associated companies CIC Digital LLC and Fight Fight Fight LLC. The total token supply is 1 billion tokens, with an initial circulation of 200 million. The remaining 800 million are expected to be linearly unlocked over 3 years. However, the two associated entities hold 80% of the TRUMP tokens, with a lock-up period of 3-12 months, followed by gradual release over 24 months.

According to tokenomist data, TRUMP's current circulating supply is 480 million tokens. Of these, 200 million were用于 (used for) airdrops and liquidity support, unlocked directly at initial circulation, and the remaining 280 million are owned by Trump-associated companies. Calculated at the current price of $4.86, the paper profit is approximately $1.36 billion, even though the current TRUMP price has fallen over 90% from its peak of $77.

MELANIA is marketed by MKT World LLC, a Florida-registered company under First Lady Melania. The total supply is also 1 billion tokens, with approximately 600 million currently unlocked. The team's share is 350 million, worth about $57.8 million at the current price.

However, the Melania team was once accused of selling at high prices, defrauding investors. In June 2025, on-chain data showed that team-related addresses sold 82.18 million MELANIA through 44 wallets over 4 months, primarily by adding and removing liquidity, cashing out a累计 (cumulative) 245,000 SOL, worth approximately $35.76 million at the time. One can imagine their actual profits likely far exceed current data.

4. Trump Digital Trading Cards Series NFT

NFTs were Trump's entry point into the crypto world.

In December 2022, Trump announced the issuance of Trump Digital Trading Card NFTs through his social media website Truth Social. The series was minted on the Polygon blockchain, initially creating a total of 45,000 NFTs priced at $99 each. Purchasing 45 digital trading cards would earn a ticket to have dinner with Trump. Although mocked at the time, the series sold out in less than two days, generating direct profits of $4.45 million.

Following the success of the initial sale, Trump subsequently launched Series 2 and Series 3, still priced at $99 per card. However, Series 2 totaled 47,000 cards, and Series 3 reached 100,000 cards. Despite the夸张 (exaggerated/outrageous) quantities, they ultimately sold out through Trump's花样 (tricky/varied)玩法 (play/methods), generating累计 (cumulative) additional revenue of approximately $14.55 million from these two sales.

In August 2024, Trump launched Series 4, still priced at $99 per card, but with an离谱 (absurd/ridiculous) total of 360,000 cards. This time, however, the market couldn't absorb it. Opensea data shows the series sold approximately 32,000 cards, profiting about $3.18 million.

Overall, this NFT series has still brought Trump direct income of over $20 million, and this does not include the 10% royalty earned on each NFT resold on the secondary market.

5. Trump Media's Financial Product Ambitions

Since 2025, Trump Media Group has launched the "America First" series of ETFs and crypto treasury布局 (layout/arrangements) through Truth.Fi. These ETFs were officially listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on December 30, 2025, launched jointly by TMTG and Yorkville America Equities (a branch of Yorkville Advisors). The first batch consists of five ETFs, all equity-themed funds focusing on the "Made in America" concept, covering defense, security, technology, energy, and real estate sectors, with only one related to Bitcoin.

However, TMTG has indeed filed for multiple pure-crypto ETFs (such as Truth Social Bitcoin ETF, Bitcoin & Ethereum ETF, Crypto Blue Chip ETF). These funds plan to directly hold assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Cronos (CRO) (e.g., the Crypto Blue Chip ETF initial allocation is 70% BTC, 15% ETH, etc.). However, these crypto ETFs are still in the SEC filing/approval stage and have not yet been approved for listing or begun trading.

Nevertheless, Trump Media Group itself holds approximately 11,500 Bitcoins, valued at about $1.03 billion, ranking 12th among listed companies by Bitcoin reserves, with no record of sales yet.

Related Questions

QWhat is the total estimated value of crypto assets in the Trump family's net worth, and what percentage does it represent?

AThe crypto assets are estimated to be around $1.4 billion, representing approximately 20% of the Trump family's total net worth of about $6.8 billion.

QWhat is the name of the core DeFi project in the Trump family's crypto portfolio, and what are its two main components?

AThe core DeFi project is called World Liberty Financial. Its two main components are the WLFI governance token and the USD1 stablecoin.

QHow much interest income is the USD1 stablecoin projected to generate annually based on its reserve assets?

ABased on a reserve of approximately $3 billion and an assumed annual yield of 3.5% to 4.5%, the USD1 stablecoin is projected to generate between $105 million and $135 million in annual interest income.

QWhich publicly traded company is a key part of the Trump family's Bitcoin mining and reserve strategy, and how many bitcoins does it hold?

AThe key company is American Bitcoin Corp (NASDAQ: ABTC). It holds a reserve of 5,427 bitcoins, valued at approximately $486 million.

QWhat was the total direct revenue generated from the sales of Trump's Digital Trading Cards NFT series across all four collections?

AThe total direct revenue generated from the sales of all four Trump Digital Trading Cards NFT series was over $20 million.

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