The consumer advocacy non-profit Public Citizen reported that since 2022, US President Donald Trump "has cost investors losses estimated at least at $4.7 billion" through his and his family's digital assets.
According to Public Citizen, investors lost billions of dollars due to the Trump family's World Liberty Financial governance token, the 2022-released presidential collectible $NFTs, his Official Trump ($TRUMP) memecoin, and the Trump Media digital asset treasury.
The organization states that the bulk of the alleged losses fell on investors in the $TRUMP memecoin: they lost $3.2 billion, while buyers of World Liberty Financial's USD1 stablecoin "did not suffer significant losses." Public Citizen said that in the case of the memecoin, these losses represented "a transfer of wealth to a small group of early buyers, not money that simply disappeared."
Alleged investor losses from Donald Trump's cryptocurrency projects. Source: Public Citizen
According to Public Citizen, against the backdrop of $4.7 billion in investor losses, Trump received $7.2 million in licensing fees and royalties for $NFTs, over $600 million from the sale of World Liberty tokens and the realization of equity stakes, $635 million in licensing fees for his memecoin, and $197 million in capital contribution income from World Liberty. This amount did not include stakes in companies and projects he still owns. Some of these figures were included in the President's 2025 disclosure, which reported $1.4 billion in cryptocurrency-related income.
Related: Majority of Americans Find Trump Family's Crypto Investments 'Inappropriate': Poll
Cointelegraph reached out to the White House for comment but did not receive an immediate response. Spokesperson Anna Kelly has repeatedly stated in response to questions about Trump's cryptocurrency investments that "there is no conflict of interest."
Vote on Crypto Bill Still Weeks Away
Against the backdrop of Trump's crypto projects and other potential ones, the organization renewed its call to include ethics provisions in the crypto market structure bill—the Clarity for Regulating Digital Assets (CLARITY) Act—arguing that "the President's policy decisions and his personal investment portfolio cannot be separated," and any law should require the US President and his family to divest from projects in this industry.
Last week, Trump met with cryptocurrency company executives and urged them to pass a "fair version" of the CLARITY Act after the Senate returns to work next month. A cloture vote on the bill is scheduled for September 15; at least 60 senators' votes will be required to advance it.
Magazine: Proposed US SEC crypto rules likely won't trigger a new ICO boom
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