Trump reports over £1 billion in earnings from cryptocurrency ventures in financial disclosure

President Trump earned more than a billion dollars from crypto-related ventures alone last year, according to a financial disclosure released Tuesday, including from his meme coin business and his family’s cryptocurrency firm.

Mr. Trump reported $635 million in royalties from a company that issues $TRUMP, a crypto token that he launched three days before taking office for his second term.

The “meme coin” — a type of crypto asset typically used for commemorative purposes or comedic value, not as a currency — reached its peak value of $74.24 within a day of launching. On Tuesday evening, its price was $1.67, according to Coinbase.

The president also reported more than $500 million in income from token sales by World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency company backed by the president and his family, and around $65 million from equity sales in the firm that controls World Liberty Financial. Some $196 million in equity sales of Stablecoin Holdco LLC are also listed.

A crypto firm and issuer of tokens, World Liberty Financial was launched during the 2024 presidential campaign. It was co-founded by the president, his sons Eric and Donald Jr. and Zack and Alex Witkoff, the sons of U.S. special envoy and longtime Trump friend Steve Witkoff.

World Liberty Financial’s ventures include USD1, a “stablecoin” pegged at $1 per coin that’s designed to serve as a store of value. It also sells another crypto product, $WLF tokens, and takes 75% in net revenue from those token sales, according to the company’s public reports.

The company drew scrutiny last year, after an Abu Dhabi government-owned wealth fund used the USD1 stablecoin to facilitate a multibillion-dollar investment in the massive crypto exchange Binance. The co-founder of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, received a pardon from Mr. Trump for financial crimes. Mr. Trump has denied any connection between the pardon and the World Liberty Financial transaction, telling WTX US News last year: “I don’t know who he is.”

Mr. Trump told reporters early Wednesday that he doesn’t get involved in his personal financial dealings, and “we have funds that run my money well.” He added that he doesn’t speak to any institutions about his money, saying, “I’ve had a great career in business.” 

When asked about potential conflict of interest and critics who say he’s profiting off the presidency, he replied that the stock market is going up, “so we’re all profiting.”

“If you ever, you have a 401k, how’s your 401k doing?” Mr. Trump said. “It’s been up 85%. Thank you, President Trump. So, we’re all profiting — I’m profiting because I have a lot of money and a lot of cash, and I give it to institutions. I don’t know if they know what they’re doing or not, but they buy a vast array of things.”

Many of the president’s cryptocurrency earnings last year appeared to hinge on his ties to various crypto ventures, unlike gains from the stocks or bonds that make up most Americans’ retirement funds. Many congressional Democrats have criticized his crypto wealth and pointed to the Trump administration’s support for easing regulations on the industry.  

In response to questions about the financial disclosure, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told WTX US News on Tuesday that “there are no conflicts of interest.”

“This is the same, tired narrative that Democrats have pushed against President Trump, his family, and his administration for a decade,” Kelly said. “President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public – which is why they overwhelmingly re-elected him to this office, despite years of lies and false accusations against him and his businesses from the fake news media.”

Mr. Trump’s crypto-related income vastly eclipsed his earnings from many of the real estate businesses that helped make him famous. Those included around $77 million in income from his Mar-a-Lago club, $122 million from his golf club in Doral, Florida, and upwards of $30 million apiece from golf clubs in Jupiter, Florida, Bedminster, New Jersey, and Turnberry, Scotland.

The filing offers a detailed accounting of the various other ways the president’s name generates money. An ethics official noted that Mr. Trump received a 45-day extension to file the report and “paid late filing fees related to transactions not previously reported” on earlier disclosures

He reported $4.7 million in royalties from “Trump Watches,” along with payments from Trump-branded sneakers, fragrances and guitars. Trump Restaurants LLC, a New York-based entity wholly owned by one of the president’s holding companies, reported nearly $2.9 million in food and beverage sales, according to the filing.

And his books continued to pay out — including roughly $1.9 million from “Save America” and smaller sums from “The Art of the Deal,” “Letters to Trump,” “A MAGA Journey” and an edition of the Bible in collaboration with singer Lee Greenwood.

First lady Melania Trump’s ventures also appear. The filing lists more than $10.7 million in net proceeds from a license agreement tied to the film “Melania,” about $6 million from the sale of NFTs and other collectibles and additional proceeds from her memoir.

The president listed several of his legal settlements with tech and media companies, including $16 million from a lawsuit against ABC, $16 million from WTX Broadcasting and WTX Interactive, $24.5 million from Meta, $22 million from YouTube and $8 million from X. Most of that money was paid to his future presidential library or the Trust for the National Mall, not to the president personally. WTX Broadcasting and WTX Interactive are owned by Paramount Skydance, which is the parent company of WTX US News.

As with last year’s financial disclosure, Mr. Trump listed several court judgments against him as liabilities, including a penalty in a civil fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James and two multimillion-dollar judgements owed to E. Jean Carroll, who accused the president of sexual abuse and defamation. (Mr. Trump denied those allegations.)

The civil fraud judgment was tossed out last year by a panel of appellate judges who found the requirement for him to pay nearly $527 million in fines plus interest was “excessive,” though they left non-financial penalties intact. The Supreme Court this week declined to hear Mr. Trump’s appeal of the jury verdict in the Carroll cases.