U.S. President Donald Trump has earned an estimated $2.4 billion from cryptocurrency-linked ventures since entering the sector in 2022, according to a report by The New Yorker. The windfall reflects the growing diversity of Trump’s crypto income streams — and is drawing fresh scrutiny over potential conflicts of interest as his administration shapes industry policy.
The report estimates Trump has made roughly $14.4 million from non-fungible token (NFT) collections, $412.5 million from token sales via World Liberty Financial, $243 million from crypto deals with the United Arab Emirates, $13 million from Bitcoin mining company American Bitcoin, $1.3 billion from Bitcoin treasury firm Trump Media and Technology Group, and $385 million from the Official Trump memecoin.
Combined, the ventures represent 43.5% of the wealth Trump has amassed during his political career, according to The New Yorker. While many of these projects bear Trump’s name, they are often operated by advisers or family members, the report noted.
The surge into digital assets marks a sharp turn from Trump’s earlier skepticism. In 2019, he publicly criticized cryptocurrencies for volatility and potential links to illicit finance.
Political Backlash
The scale of Trump’s crypto-related earnings prompted renewed criticism from Democratic lawmakers, some of whom called for investigations and even impeachment — though the latter remains improbable in the Republican-controlled legislature.
In May, Trump invited top holders of his memecoin to a private dinner in Washington, D.C., a move that prompted two Democratic senators to warn the offer could violate federal bribery laws and the U.S. Constitution’s emoluments clauses.
“It also raises the troubling prospect that foreign actors are using the memecoin as a vector to buy influence with President Trump and his associates without needing to disclose their identities publicly,” the senators said.
Meanwhile, a little-known entity calling itself Aqua 1 Foundation emerged as the largest publicly disclosed backer of former President Donald Trump’s crypto venture after buying $100 million worth of its tokens in late June.
The group, which says it operates out of the United Arab Emirates, made the announcement in a brief press release but provided few details about its funding sources or the identity of its founding partner, Dave Lee. Attempts by Reuters to verify Aqua 1’s corporate registration or contact Lee directly were unsuccessful. A listed media contact, Dora Lee, responded with a general statement declining to share more information.
Under Trump’s administration, regulators have taken a softer stance toward the crypto industry. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dropped several enforcement actions and investigations — including against Coinbase and Uniswap — and there has been a broader push to curb the “debanking” of crypto firms nationwide.