Trump's Crypto Empire: How the President Turned Policy into Personal Profit

When Donald Trump cuts the ribbon in his new golf course in Scotland, or receives another private jet from the Qatari government, the imagery may seem familiar. However, those personal endeavors have become side shows. Nearly 3/4ths of Trump's net worth, around 11.6 billion out of his 16 billion, comes not from his hotels, licensing deals, or merchandise but from his cryptocurrency holdings. The U.S. presidency has been used to deregulate and promote the very industry in which he is one of the largest stakeholders.

In 2019, Trump's opinion on Bitcoin and other currencies was very different, stating that Bitcoin was "not money" and "highly volatile and based on thin air." He further warned that such assets could help to facilitate illegal markets. Today, Trump has transformed into the most influential president for deregulating currencies, signing bills such as the GENIUS Act, and planning to create a governmental "Strategic Bitcoin Reserve." As a result of his actions and his promotion of meme coins such as $TRUMP, he has earned billions.

Just days after Trump signed his "Big Beautiful Bill" into law, cutting health care and food support for millions of low-income Americans, and raising the deficit by four trillion under the guise of "the American people", he immediately pushed bills to make it easier to pad his own net worth by allowing for lower federal supervision of his own crypto schemes. Policy is no longer about the public good; rather, it has been about Trump's Coinbase account.

After coming to the presidency in January, Trump launched his $TRUMP meme coin on Solana, with his own companies retaining an astonishing 80% of all tokens(for context, Bitcoin's owner owns around 5%.) After Trump promoted the coin, he gained hundreds of millions, while retail investors lost millions as Trump-affiliated organizations profited from their staggering fees. Later, World Liberty Financial, controlled by Donald Trump Jr, unveiled a "USD1" coin backed by both foreign capital and the United States government. As a result, anonymous overseas investors influenced a president whose personal wealth is connected directly to the coin. The more the President's wealth depends on these anonymous investors around the world with financial agendas unknown to the American people, the greater the risk of foreign influence. Recently, at a dinner for the largest $TRUMP coin holders at Mar-a-Lago, these same foreign investors were seen communicating with officials in the Trump administration. Exerting influence on our government through pure wealth has never been easier. When drafting the GENIUS Act, the White House leaned heavily on the same language provided by industry lobbyists seen at the dinner, outsourcing legislation to crypto venture capitalists to enrich Trump's portfolio.

The excuse from the administration has been laughable. Press secretary Karolina Leavitt dismissed allegations of Trump's conflict-of-interests as "fake news," stating that Trump simply had a vision to make the U.S. the "crypto capital of the world.' But far from democratizing finance and giving retail traders an opportunity, Trump's policies reward billionaires with industry connections while leading to billions in losses for the everyday investor. Because $TRUMP coin(and meme coins in general) are so volatile, his promotion of the coin presented a lot of danger. As a result of their investment, almost 750,000 ordinary Americans lost money, totaling billions in reductions for these traders.

Trump's crypto presidency isn't one of the American people, but exploitation for political goals. By turning policy into a means of turning his portfolio green, Trump has both exposed our people to financial instability and shown how foreign manipulation is shaping our government.