The cryptocurrency market crash is eroding the wealth of the Trump family and their supporters
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The cryptocurrency market crash is eroding the wealth of the Trump family and their supporters
The Trump family's wealth has shrunk by $1 billion, with ordinary investors becoming the biggest losers.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsBy: Tom Maloney, Annie Massa
Translation: Luffy, Foresight News
Digital assets have reshaped the Trump family's wealth landscape during Donald Trump’s second presidential term. Now, the Trumps and their followers are experiencing firsthand the inherent volatility of cryptocurrencies.
Since August, a memecoin named after Trump called TRUMP has lost about a quarter of its value; Eric Trump (the president’s second son) has seen his stake in a bitcoin mining firm drop nearly 50% from its peak; and Trump Media & Technology Group, which began accumulating bitcoin this year, has seen its stock price fall to near historic lows.
Eric Trump speaks at the U.S. Bitcoin Corp. Nasdaq bell-ringing ceremony on September 16
The recent sell-off is part of a broader collapse across the cryptocurrency market, wiping out more than $1 trillion in total crypto market capitalization. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the Trump family's wealth has declined from $7.7 billion in early September to around $6.7 billion, with the drop largely tied directly to the family’s growing portfolio of crypto-related investments.
These investments involve complex transactions that go far beyond simple bets on digital currencies. Ordinary investors now have greater access to Trump-linked crypto projects—and potentially face steeper losses. For example, anyone who bought TRUMP at its peak following its announcement during Trump’s inauguration weekend would have lost almost all of their investment by this month.
Eric Trump says he remains confident. He has repeatedly urged investors to double down, maintaining this stance even as the broader crypto market declines.
“This is an incredible buying opportunity,” he said in a statement to Bloomberg News. “Those who buy the dip and embrace volatility will ultimately win. I’ve never been more optimistic about the future of Bitcoin and the modernization of our financial system.”
To be sure, since its creation in 2009, Bitcoin has suffered multiple sharp downturns but eventually recovered over time. However, the Trump family’s crypto holdings come with built-in safeguards. Even as their tokens and shares in crypto-linked companies decline significantly, they still profit through other mechanisms within the industry.
Take World Liberty Financial, the crypto venture co-founded by the family: although the paper value of the associated token they hold has shrunk, they are entitled to a proportional share of revenues from token sales regardless of price fluctuations.
“Retail investors can only speculate,” said Jim Angel, a finance professor at Georgetown University, “but the Trumps don’t just speculate—they issue tokens, sell tokens, and profit from those transactions.”
Below is an overview of how the Trump family’s crypto-linked assets have fared during this latest downturn.
Trump Media & Technology Group: $800 Million Loss
Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social, hit a new low on Wednesday. Part of the decline may stem from poorly timed cryptocurrency investments.
Since September, the value of Trump’s stake in the company has dropped by approximately $800 million. He is the largest shareholder, holding his stake through a trust managed by his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.
Trump Media & Technology Group stock has plunged 66% over the past year
The unprofitable Trump Media has been experimenting with new ventures, including in cryptocurrency. According to a July announcement, the company has spent about $2 billion on bitcoin and options. It holds approximately 11,500 bitcoins, purchased at an average cost of around $115,000 each, resulting in a cumulative loss of about 25% so far.
In addition, the company has started accumulating CRO, a niche token issued by Singapore-based crypto exchange Crypto.com. As of the end of September, Trump Media’s holdings of CRO were valued at about $147 million—since then, the token has lost nearly half its value.
Trump Media is also partnering with Crypto.com on other initiatives, including launching a prediction market platform called Truth Predict, which will allow users to bet on sports events and political outcomes.
World Liberty Financial: Nearly $3 Billion in Paper Losses
The Trump family’s flagship crypto project, World Liberty Financial, launched its own token, WLFI. The token has fallen from about 26 cents in early September to around 15 cents.
The Trump family’s holdings of WLFI tokens were worth close to $6 billion at their peak, but have since declined to about $3.15 billion. (These tokens are not included in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index’s valuation of the family’s wealth because they are currently locked and non-tradable.)
Official website of World Liberty Financial
In August, the company sold a portion of its tokens to small public firm Alt5 Sigma Corp. The timing proved fortuitous: World Liberty Financial received $750 million in cash and equity from the deal.
But Alt5’s investors may not have been as lucky. Since the transaction was announced, Alt5’s stock has dropped about 75%.
The Trump family’s equity stake in Alt5 via World Liberty Financial has lost about $220 million in value, yet they still profited from the deal. According to Bloomberg calculations, the Trumps received about 75% of the proceeds from the WLFI token sale, earning $500 million from the Alt5 transaction alone and another $400 million earlier from WLFI sales.
“Cryptocurrency is here to stay,” said a spokesperson for World Liberty Financial in a statement. “We have long-term confidence in the rapidly maturing technologies underpinning digital assets and believe they will revolutionize the financial services sector.”
American Bitcoin: At Least $330 Million Loss
About two months after Trump’s inauguration, his family entered another new crypto venture. Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. executed a series of complex deals with crypto firm Hut 8 Corp.: Hut 8 exchanged its own bitcoin mining equipment for a majority stake in the newly formed American Bitcoin Corp.
Eric Trump holds about 7.5% of American Bitcoin, which is now publicly traded on Nasdaq under the ticker ABTC. Donald Trump Jr. holds a smaller, undisclosed stake.
ABTC shares peaked at $9.31 in early September, when Eric’s stake was worth about $630 million. Since then, the stock has dropped by more than half, reducing the family’s wealth by over $300 million. Still, this deal remains one of the clearest examples of the Trump family generating hundreds of millions in new wealth through recent crypto-related business activities.
An investor who bought ABTC shares at launch would now be down about 45%. A spokesperson for ABTC did not respond to requests for comment.
Trump Memecoin: Nearly $120 Million Loss, $220 Million in Tokens Unlocked
This memecoin has been in steady decline since it was announced during the president’s inauguration weekend, losing another 25% since late August.
The scale of the Trump family’s holdings in the coin is opaque. Risk modeling firm Gauntlet found that months after launch, crypto wallets linked to the issuance held nearly 17 million tokens, while another 17 million were transferred to exchanges. In July, an additional 90 million tokens were unlocked into circulation. Based on the Trump family’s stake in World Liberty Financial, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index attributes 40% of the total supply of this memecoin to the family.
At current prices, these tokens are worth about $310 million, down approximately $117 million from the end of August.
However, according to the index, the family’s holdings have substantially increased due to unlocks. A portion of the tokens held by insiders and issuers had been locked and are being gradually released over three years.
Data from crypto research firm Messari shows that after the July unlock event, insiders gained access to nearly 90 million additional Trump memecoins, about 40% of which the Bloomberg wealth index attributes to the Trump family.
These newly unlocked tokens are worth about $220 million, meaning the total value of the family’s holdings has actually risen overall. It is unclear whether the Trump family has sold any of these tokens since July.
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