Musk backtracks, crypto inner circle splits, Trump's backyard erupts in flames
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Musk backtracks, crypto inner circle splits, Trump's backyard erupts in flames
Cracks are everywhere around Trump, from his political alliance to his crypto empire.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsBy 0xFacai, BUBBLE, BeWater Research
In the early hours of June 6, Elon Musk and Donald Trump fully turned against each other. Less than a week after Musk stepped down as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the two engaged in a fierce public exchange on X, hurling explosive allegations at one another. This confrontation triggered a single-day plunge of over 15% in Tesla's stock price and an 7.82% drop in shares of Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG). As this "political reality show" reached its climax, cracks also began to emerge within Trump’s crypto empire.
Presidential Feud Goes Live: Global Internet Watches the Drama Unfold
In the early morning of June 6, Elon Musk suddenly posted on social media platform X: "Time to drop the real bomb: Trump appears in Epstein's files. That's why these documents haven't been released. Have a great day, DJT!"
This cryptic tweet marked Musk’s latest salvo in his escalating war of words with Trump. Just hours earlier, Trump had posted on his own social platform, expressing that Musk had “become annoying,” stating: “I let him go. I canceled the electric vehicle mandate forcing everyone to buy EVs that no one wants (he knew I was going to do this months ago!), and then he went crazy!” He followed up with another post: “The easiest way to save tens of billions in our budget is to terminate government subsidies and contracts for companies like Musk’s—Tesla, SpaceX, etc. I’ve always been surprised Biden hasn’t done this!”
Trump continued his tirade, asserting he could win Pennsylvania even without Musk’s support. This further enraged Musk, who fired back on X: “Trump is so ungrateful. Without me, Trump would have lost the election. Democrats would control the House, and Republicans’ Senate seats would shrink from 51 to 49.”
After Musk formally left the Department of Government Efficiency last Friday, the former allies swiftly descended into open conflict.
The rift reportedly began when Trump withdrew his nomination of Jared Isaacman, a close ally of Musk, for NASA Administrator. In response, Musk launched a direct attack on Trump’s flagship legislative proposal—the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBB)—calling it “disgusting”: “This self-serving, absurd congressional spending bill is a nauseating disaster.” His remarks sent shockwaves through American political circles and public discourse.
The OBBB is actually a comprehensive legislative package covering government budgets, tax systems, debt management, and environmental policies. It aims to extend the expiring 2017 tax cuts enacted during Trump’s first term, fund defense spending, and finance large-scale deportation of undocumented immigrants. It serves as a key instrument for advancing Trump’s core policy agenda in a potential second term.
Musk warned that the bill would push America’s already massive fiscal deficit to $2.5 trillion, burdening citizens with unsustainable debt. The plan faced strong opposition within the Republican Party during its House debate, and Musk’s criticism highlighted broader tensions within the GOP over the legislation.
Some Republican lawmakers sided with Musk. On June 6, U.S. Representative Thomas Massie stated that members of Congress were not given access to the full text until the night of the vote: “There’s a 72-hour rule in the House requiring bills to be published 72 hours before passage. But the Speaker bypassed this via a ‘manager’s amendment,’ which rewrote most of the bill and added critical provisions the same night it cleared the Rules Committee.”
Rumors of growing tension between Musk and the Trump administration had circulated for months. In April, a heated argument between Musk and Beeson outside the White House sparked widespread political discussion. When Trump ultimately backed Beeson’s appointment, many began questioning whether the Musk-Trump alliance was already fraying.
According to media reports, several White House officials privately admitted they were caught off guard by Musk’s sharp rhetoric, not expecting such a forceful public stance. In response to Musk’s attacks, White House Press Secretary Levitt said at a press briefing on June 3: “The President was aware of Mr. Musk’s position on this bill. That won’t change his view. It’s a great and beautiful bill. He will stand by it.”
Family Feud Over Launch of 'Trump Wallet'
Also in the early hours of June 6, another battle erupted among Trump’s inner circle. WORLD LIBERTY FINANCIAL (hereinafter WLFI), a DeFi project associated with the Trump family, issued a cease-and-desist notice to FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT LLC—the company behind the $TRUMP token—over the controversial Trump Wallet app that has stirred chaos in the crypto market recently.
In the early hours of June 4, NFT marketplace MagicEden announced a collaboration with $TRUMP to launch the Trump Wallet. Upon news release, MagicEden’s token $ME surged nearly 30% from $850 million to $1.1 billion in just two hours. However, Trump’s eldest son, second son Eric, and youngest son Barron all quickly took to social media to deny any involvement with the announcement.
Despite resistance from multiple “WLFI members,” both the official TrumpMeme account and MagicEden team confirmed the collaboration, creating confusion as both sides stood by their claims. Meanwhile, the original X account for Trump Wallet has since been repeatedly suspended by Twitter. Prior to suspension, the account belonged to MagicEden’s gold-checkmark profile. Website privacy policies, terms and conditions, and promotional activities are managed by Slingshot Finance—a project acquired by MagicEden two months ago.
Factions Within Trump’s Crypto Empire
This isn’t the first time instability has surfaced within Trump’s team. During his previous presidency, internal factions within his administration frequently clashed, and staff turnover was common. Similarly, seeds of division have long existed within Trump’s crypto ventures.
Interestingly, from MagicEden CEO Jack’s Twitter feed, we can see that he recently attended a $TRUMP dinner event alongside the founder of Slingshot, the acquired firm mentioned above. This post was retweeted by the official $TRUMP meme account. On June 3, the TRUMP Meme official account announced an airdrop of three different Solana NFTs to wallets of users who participated in the “Dinner with Trump” event—now appearing to be a form of pre-launch promotion for the “Trump Wallet App.”
From left to right: Slingshot founder Clinton Bembry Jr., MagicEden founder Jack, MagicEden Chief Business Officer Chris Akhavan
The mastermind behind the $TRUMP dinner held in Washington in May 2025 was Bill Zanker, a longtime friend of President Trump. Bill Zanker is the authorized person ("authorized person") of Fight Fight Fight LLC, the company behind the $TRUMP token. Together with CIC Digital LLC, this entity controls 80% of the $TRUMP memecoin supply—worth billions of dollars.
Zanker and Trump co-authored the book *Think Big and Kick ASS in Business and Life* in 2007. They also co-founded the ill-fated crowdfunding platform FundAnything in 2013, which Zanker funded with $1 million of his own money. A year later, Trump distanced himself from the project, having only posted a few tweets, saying, “Raising funds took too much of my time and energy,” after which the project quietly died. It wasn’t until 2022 that Bill Zanker revived the idea with the concept of “Trump NFTs,” reigniting their partnership in the cryptocurrency space.
Photo of Bill Zanker with Donald Trump
CIC Digital LLC was founded in 2021 by John Marion, one of Trump’s lawyers, and former advisor Nick Luna. As an affiliate of the Trump Organization, CIC Digital LLC collaborates with Fight Fight Fight LLC to operate the $TRUMP token website and earns revenue from transactions.
CIC Digital LLC authorizes the use of Trump’s name and likeness for NFT projects such as Trump Digital Trading Cards. Bill Zanker is considered a key promoter of Trump’s NFT initiatives. CIC Digital LLC licenses Trump’s brand to NFT INT LLC (a Delaware-registered company), with Zanker playing an organizational and promotional role, although he does not directly own NFT INT LLC.
Magic Eden, a well-known NFT platform, previously collaborated with the Trump Digital Trading Cards project. In March 2024, the Trump card NFT project announced its migration to Magic Eden, noting that Magic Eden “has formed a dedicated team to assist users in managing their collections of Trump digital cards.”
Besides Bill Zanker, David Sacks—chairman of Trump’s crypto council—is widely believed to play a leading role in $TRUMP. Best known as a co-founder of PayPal, Sacks gained fame after selling Yammer to Microsoft for $1.2 billion. In crypto circles, he is recognized primarily as an investor at Multicoin Capital and a staunch Solana maximalist.
Shortly after the launch of $TRUMP, Melania Trump’s namesake token $MELANIA was also released. Ryan Selkis, founder of Messari, tweeted urging Trump to fire those responsible for launching the $MELANIA project: “The team lacks professional competence, risks significant financial and reputational damage, and made decisions without adequately considering Trump’s interests.” Selkis pointed out the flaws in the $MELANIA initiative.
Compared to $TRUMP, the $MELANIA launch was far more haphazard—front-end code incomplete, images uncompressed, the website built only one day before launch, and legal texts poorly drafted. Many netizens speculated that $MELANIA and $TRUMP were handled by entirely different teams due to the stark operational differences.
Just as $TRUMP and $MELANIA previously overlapped in timing, after MagicEden announced its collaborative crypto wallet with $TRUMP, Trump’s eldest son announced that WLFI would also launch its own official wallet. However, unlike memecoins, there can only be one legitimate “Trump Wallet” application—leading to today’s chaotic “Two Monkeys Claiming Kingship” incident.
Eric Trump escalated the dispute by sending a series of text messages to The New York Times, stating the Trump family would pursue legal action against the “$TRUMP Wallet,” despite the product being promoted on social media by an account linked to Bill Zanker, part of the “Trump interest group.” “No agreement was reached for this product,” wrote Eric Trump. “It has not been approved.”
WLFI was established on September 16, 2024, shortly after then-president-elect Donald Trump returned to X. The company was founded by real estate magnate Steve Witkoff and his son Zach Witkoff, with Trump’s sons Eric Trump and Donald J. Trump Jr. participating as team members.
Justin Sun (left), Zach Witkoff (center), and Eric Trump (right) attend the Token2049 crypto conference in Dubai
Zach Witkoff, co-founder of the crypto venture World Liberty Financial and son of Steve Witkoff, announced at a conference in Dubai that the company had reached an agreement with Tahnoon’s enterprise to purchase $2 billion worth of USD1, a stablecoin issued by World Liberty. The Witkoffs and the Trump family are expected to receive tens of millions in annual profits—“The Trump family holds 60% of World Liberty Financial.”
Since last fall, the Trump family has launched multiple separate cryptocurrency projects: American Bitcoin, $TRUMP, $MELANIA, World Liberty Financial, and Trump Media & Technology Group. Recently, their crypto-related activities have not slowed down. Beyond today’s wallet fiasco, Trump’s social platform Truth Social has filed an application for a Bitcoin ETF, Melania Trump’s official meme coin $MELANIA has partnered with Wintermute for liquidity provision, and WLFI has airdropped 47 USD1 tokens to its token presale participants—suggesting progress in the stablecoin arena.
Yet at this juncture, the teams behind $TRUMP and Trump NFTs, seemingly having exhausted their market appeal and unable to draw further liquidity, may be gradually drifting away from the core of the “Trump Group.”
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