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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
3 Reasons Trump's Net Worth Increased by Investing in Crypto — Should You Invest Too?
President Donald Trump's family's net worth has increased in recent months, with a significant chunk of that growth tied to cryptocurrency. A recent CBS News report estimated the Trump family's net worth rose by $2.9 billion, 40% of which came from crypto-related ventures. Read Next: Find Out: But financial experts warn that average investors may not be able to expect the same results. Here are three key reasons Trump profited from crypto and why those same factors might not apply to everyday investors. Trump didn't just invest in crypto; he created it. Much of the gains came from coins like $TRUMP and $MELANIA, which were launched and are largely owned by his companies. As reported by the State Democracy Defenders Fund, Axios estimated that 89% of Trump's net worth was comprised of $TRUMP at its peak. 'Trump's net worth rose because he held most of the $TRUMP coin supply. He minted it. His companies controlled 80% of the tokens,' said David Materazzi, CEO at Galileo FX. 'Price spiked, he gained.' In this case, Trump didn't bet on a crypto; he created one. Average investors who are simply buying crypto, on the other hand, may not see the same profits. Explore More: Trump also earns fees each time the tokens are traded. That means revenue keeps flowing in even if the coin loses value. 'Trump profits as a coin creator, earning fees regardless of the coin's performance,' said John Deaton, crypto law expert and founder of CryptoLaw. 'The TRUMP meme coin generated over $320 million in trading fees for its creators, with the Trump family's entities earning significant revenue even as the coin's value decreased.' While this boosted Trump's net worth, 764,000 investors lost money on $TRUMP coin, according to a CNBC report. Trump isn't the only one who saw an increase in net worth because of crypto investments. Many other coin creators have seen similar windfalls. For example, as reported by Vox, there are reports that the creator of bitcoin, whose real identity is unknown, holds as much as 1.1 million bitcoin. At bitcoin's May 28 trading price of about $108,900, that comes out to over $119 billion. 'This isn't unique to the Trump family,' Deaton said. 'Almost every meme coin ever created has benefited its creators and insiders, while retail investors have lost money.' While crypto can be lucrative for those who build and launch tokens, it can be a different story for the average person. Cryptocurrency is notoriously volatile, and average investors should practice caution and never invest more than they can afford to lose when buying any crypto. Editor's note on political coverage: GOBankingRates is nonpartisan and strives to cover all aspects of the economy objectively and present balanced reports on politically focused finance stories. You can find more coverage of this topic on More From GOBankingRates Mark Cuban Says Trump's Executive Order To Lower Medication Costs Has a 'Real Shot' -- Here's Why 6 Popular SUVs That Aren't Worth the Cost -- and 6 Affordable Alternatives This article originally appeared on 3 Reasons Trump's Net Worth Increased by Investing in Crypto — Should You Invest Too? Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
LeMonde
23-05-2025
- Business
- LeMonde
Trump and cryptocurrency: Serious suspicions of conflicts of interest
"America voted for corruption." That is how Walter Shaub, former director of the United States' Office of Government Ethics, described US President Donald Trump's initial actions to support the cryptocurrency sector, in January 2025. The latest example: a private dinner organized by The Trump Organization on Thursday, May 22, in Washington DC. With the US president attending, the event was billed as a gathering for the biggest buyers of the eponymous cryptocurrency $TRUMP. This influence operation has not gone over particularly well. "The American people deserve the unwavering assurance that access to the presidency is not being offered for sale to the highest bidder in exchange for the President's own financial gain," wrote Democratic senators Adam Schiff and Elizabeth Warren, denouncing the move. More and more such statements have been issued by Trump's opponents, all while these kinds of "crypto" projects − which directly benefit the president or his family − have proliferated. In a report published on April 23, the State Democracy Defenders Fund, a left-leaning US nonprofit organization, estimated that cryptocurrency-related assets now represent nearly 40% of Trump's total wealth.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘Very disturbing': Trump receipt of overseas gifts unprecedented, experts warn
Former White House lawyers, diplomatic protocol officers and foreign affairs experts have told the Guardian that Donald Trump's receipt of overseas gifts and targeted investments are 'unprecedented', as the White House remakes US foreign policy under a pay-for-access code that eclipses past administrations with characteristic Trumpian excess. The openness to foreign largesse was on full display this week as the US president was feted in the Gulf states during his first major diplomatic trip abroad this term, inking deals he claimed were worth trillions of dollars and pumping local leaders for investments as he says he remakes US foreign policy to prioritise 'America first' – putting aside concerns of human rights or international law for the bottom line of American businesses and taxpayers. But quite often, the bottom line also has benefited Trump himself. His family's wealth has ballooned by more than $3bn, according to press estimates, and the reported benefits from cryptocurrencies and other investment deals such as plans for new Trump-branded family properties may be far larger. Deals for billions more have been inked by business associates close to Trump, meaning that their political support for the White House can translate into lucrative contracts abroad. Related: US and Qatar sign defense and aviation deal as Trump doubles down on luxury aircraft gift 'When we're negotiating with other countries, the concern is that our negotiating position will change if someone does a favor or delivers a gift to the president of the United States,' Richard Painter, the chief White House ethics lawyer in the administration of George W Bush, said. 'Whether it's trying to resolve the Russia-Ukraine war, or the Middle East or anything else. You know the the impression is given that the position of the United States can be swayed and even bought.' Others argue that the message being sent by the White House is that American foreign policy is being sold to the highest bidder. 'Trump has put a for-sale sign out front of the White House,' said Norm Eisen, the executive director of the legal advocacy group State Democracy Defenders Fund and a White House 'ethics czar' and ambassador to the Czech Republic under Barack Obama. 'Of course you're going to see Qatar and UAE as like a bidding war. Qatar says: 'I'll give you a $400m plane,' and the UAE says: 'Hold my beer, I'll give your crypto company $2bn.'' In a particularly eye-catching incident this week, Qatar offered to give the US Department of Defense a $400m Boeing 747-8 that Trump had suggested could be used as Air Force One and then passed on to his presidential library after he leaves office. The plane has become a lightning rod among US Democrats, and critics have argued it violates the emoluments clause of the constitution that prohibits the president from receiving gifts from foreign entities. Trump had called the plane a 'great gesture' from Qatar and said that it would be 'stupid' for him not to accept the gift. A Democratic lawmaker had called the plane a 'flying palace', and even diehard Maga supporters such as the commentators Laura Loomer and Ben Shapiro have criticised it publicly. Painter suggested that it would be similar to King George III gifting George Washington a copy of the royal stagecoach for his use in office. 'You think the founders wouldn't have considered that a bribe?' he said. Related: Trump 2.0 takes quid pro quo fears to new heights with $400m flying grift But Gulf states have offered other incentives, including a $2bn investment from a UAE-controlled funds into a Trump-linked stablecoin that could incentivise the president to shape foreign policy in favour of Abu Dhabi. An advisory sent to congressional Democrats this week and seen by the Guardian said: 'President Trump and the Trump family have moved at breakneck speed to profit from a massive crypto scam on the American people.' The gifts, and in particular the potential gift of a jet, have led to a series of denunciations on Capitol Hill as they seek to build momentum for a legislative push. 'This isn't America first. This is not what he promised the American people. This is Trump first,' said Chris Murphy, a Democratic senator from Connecticut. 'He is willing to put our nation's security at risk, take unconstitutional bribes, just so he can fly himself and his Mar-a-Lago golf buddies around the world in gold-plated luxury planes gifted to him by foreign governments.' But is it illegal? As Qatar would give the jet to the Department of Defense, some experts have said that it may not directly violate the emoluments clause or other laws, even if Trump were to make use of the plane while in office. 'Never seen it before,' said Scott Amey, the general counsel of the Project On Government Oversight, a non-profit government watchdog group based in Washington. 'Is it allowed? I'm still uncertain.' Past administrations would have run from the perceived conflicts of interest being welcomed by Trump. The former White House ethics advisers described crises such as when a Gulf state tried to present a Rolex to a national security adviser, or when the Boston Red Sox tried to gift the White House chief of staff a baseball bat signed by all the players (the addressee was forced to pay its estimated market value, said Painter). Eisen said that he forbade Obama from even refinancing the mortgage on his house in Chicago because of his capacities to influence the market. 'The status quo has been saying no, because it's an actual and apparent conflict of interest, and it could jeopardize our domestic and foreign policies,' said Amey. 'It certainly doesn't pass the sniff test for a lot of Americans.' The lavish gifts and other investments come as Trump is reshaping America's policy in the Middle East, skipping Israel and turning toward the Gulf states in a flurry of deal-making that could benefit both sides handsomely. And Trump's family and other advisers, such as Steve Witkoff, with interests in the Gulf states are closely involved. 'When the first Trump administration came in, I saw that people in the Gulf said, 'Finally, an American administration we understand. He sends us his son-in-law to talk to us,'' said Dr F Gregory Gause III of the Middle East Institute, a former professor of international affairs at the Bush School. 'It's a startling change in American norms … the notion that Trump family private business and US government business walk hand in hand is remarkable.' While potential gifts like a jet cannot be hidden, the potential to move billions of dollars in cryptocurrency secretly has watchdogs, the political opposition and other foreign observers deeply concerned. 'We're talking about billions of dollars, almost infinite money, that can be paid by anyone,' said one senior European diplomat. One little-known China-linked firm with no revenue last year bought $300m of a Trump meme coin this week, raising further concerns of dark foreign money moving into US politics. Related: Chuck Schumer says he'll obstruct Trump's justice department picks over Qatar jet gift Senate Democrats have called for rewriting the Genius Act, Trump-backed legislation that they say would provide for far-too-lax regulation of so-called stablecoins, in order to ban him from benefiting. 'If Congress is going to supercharge the use of stablecoins and other cryptocurrencies, it must include safeguards that make it harder for criminals, terrorists, and foreign adversaries to exploit the financial system and put our national security at risk,' said the memo. The flood of foreign money has left former officials who used to carefully track the giving of gifts and other goods from foreign government infuriated. The rules can be 'annoying and sort of stupid, but it is what separates the good guys from the bad guys, as it relates to corruption and good governance', said Rufus Gifford, a former head of protocol for the state department, which also tracks gifts to US officials from foreign governments. 'And I think that Trump just has no respect for those institutions that have been set up for a very specific purpose, which is to root out corruption. 'It is very, very disturbing that a president of the United States could be in a position to profit off the office in which he holds,' he continued. 'And that is, again, something that is never supposed to be able to happen. And it's really quite extraordinary.'
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump Family-Linked Firms Profited $320M on Memecoin Despite 87% Decline Since Day One
CORRECTION (May 9, 11:58 UTC): Corrected headline, first bullet to say Trump-family linked firms profited millions from TRUMP token. Added details in the 11th paragraph about the creators of the token and their ties to trading revenue. U.S. President Donald Trump has come a long way since he said the value of crypto was 'based on thin air' in 2019. So much so that he is now one of the sector's largest proponents, foraying into memecoins, DeFi, NFTs, and even stablecoins. A new report by the State Democracy Defenders Fund estimates that Trump's family has increased their net worth by $2.9 billion thanks to crypto, and that now 40% of that net worth is being held in crypto assets. His deepening ties to the industry have reverberated across the political landscape, to the point that a broadly bipartisan stablecoin bill failed in a key vote Thursday after Democrats expressed concern about the extent to which he is profiting off the sector. Trump's support helped spark a continued bull market after his election victory in November, a market that's been dominated by two trends: memecoins and institutional adoption of bitcoin via ETFs. While the latter is the province of, generally, institutional investors and providers, it's the memecoin business that puts retail investors at risk and is potentially ripe for exploitation. On Thursday, Solidus Labs claimed that 98% of memecoins issued on the token creation platform were rug pulls or pump-and-dump schemes. The platform had since refuted the report's claims. Another analysis by Chainalysis, cited by CNBC, suggested that the vast majority of TRUMP token holders lost money. A memecoin is a type of crypto token with no inherent value, often based, as the name suggests, on a meme or cartoon character. Popular examples of this are dogecoin (DOGE), shiba inu (SHIB) and pepe (PEPE). The craze reached a climax in January when Trump touted his own TRUMP token on social media, followed by MELANIA— named after his wife. TRUMP, which hit a day-one peak of $77.26, is now trading at $10.80, down a whopping 86%. MELANIA slumped even further, losing more than 97% of its value in four months to trade recently at 33 cents. The hype around Trump's social media post led to a flurry of trading activity. Data from Chainalysis reveals that 760,000 wallets, mainly belonging to retail investors, lost money on the TRUMP token. A small group of people, however, was immune to those losses. The Chainanalysis data show 58 wallets made profits in excess of $10 million. The token's creators netted a whopping $320 million in trading fees, although it's worth noting that around 5% of the fees went to the decentralized exchange Meteora, which hosted the launch. CIC Digital LLC, an affiliate of The Trump Organization, and Fight Fight Fight LLC collectively own 80% of the TRUMP token's supply, subject to a 3-year unlocking schedule, according to the official website. CIC Digital LLC and Celebration Cards LLC, the owners of Fight Fight Fight LLC, will also receive revenue derived from trading activities of the token, the website said. MELANIA was allegedly scooped up by a group of insiders before it was advertised on social media in a technique known as 'sniping.' This group of insiders made $100 million on MELANIA tokens by swapping tokens for USDC after its price doubled, according to an investigation by the Financial Times. One insider with access to the tokens before they went live was Kelsier Ventures' Hayden Davis, who revealed his involvement during an interview in February. Davis was also the brains behind the botched LIBRA stablecoin that brought political chaos to Argentina. In an interview with Coffeezilla in February, Davis said: 'This is going to put me in a lot of danger. Which is fine, I'll answer. I was a part of it [MELANIA]. I think the team did want to snipe it because of how big the snipe was on TRUMP. We definitely weren't the big sniper, that was what we were trying to avoid. We didn't take any liquidity out, zero.' Trump's foray into crypto isn't limited to memecoins. The U.S. president's family is also behind World Liberty Financial, a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform that raised around $590 million across two pre-sale rounds earlier this year. It raised funds at a time when the market was resting around all-time highs, so that figure of raised crypto is now much less. Arkham Intelligence data suggests that World Liberty Financial holds around $103 million worth of crypto. Trump also attempted to ride the coattails of non-fungible token (NFT) hype in 2022, releasing a series of cartoons depicting the president as a superhero or a cartoon character. Trump made around $8 million from rolling out these NFTs, according to financial disclosures. Most recently, there was the crypto dinner event, which saw Trump host a group of 25 TRUMP holders to a private dinner and tour of his Virginia golf club. A Bloomberg report reveals that 19 of those 25 holders were either foreign entities or used an offshore exchange banned in the U.S. He's set to host another dinner for the top 220 holders of his token later in May. U.S. Senators Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass. called for Trump's impeachment, asking the U.S. Office of Government Ethics to investigate whether Trump violated federal ethics rules by inviting top investors. The Trump family did not immediately respond to CoinDesk's request for comment.
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former GOP lawmakers, officials oppose Trump use of Alien Enemies Act for deportations
A group of former Republican lawmakers and officials is opposing President Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act for deportations. The group of conservatives, along with the State Democracy Defenders Fund, filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court to oppose the Trump administration's use of the 18th-century wartime law. The brief was filed with the high court to oppose the Trump administration's emergency application asking the justices to allow the administration to continue using the act for deportations. In the brief, the group argues that the administration's use of the law, which has been invoked three times since its passage in 1798 and not since World War II, is 'unwarranted and violates constitutional limits on executive power.' It also challenges the administration's argument that the act cannot be reviewed by the courts. Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act on March 15 to deport more than 200 alleged members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang. The move has since become the center of a legal battle that has shone a light on the tensions between the executive and judicial branches. District Judge James Boasberg ordered that the deportation flights not leave the U.S. and, after authorities failed to turn the planes around, accused the administration of defying his ruling. The administration has argued that the flights had already left U.S. airspace by the time Boasberg issued a written order and were not required to return. Trump officials have also levied repeated attacks against the judge, with the president explicitly calling for his impeachment. Chief Justice John Roberts responded with a rare public statement rebuking the president. The amicus brief has been signed by 32 former Republican officials, including conservative former federal judge J. Michael Luttig, conservative lawyer George Conway, former Trump administration attorney Ty Cobb and several former GOP lawmakers. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
