Trump’s crypto empire is growing. Is it pro-crypto or pro-Trump? 

Investors should ask themselves who’s really winning here.

4 Min Read
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Donald Trump has never been shy about mixing business with politics, but his crypto playbook is fast blurring the line between personal profit and presidential policy.  

And people are taking notice. Just look on social media, where he’s getting called out for being a shameless grifter.

While Trump’s positioned himself as crypto’s loudest cheerleader, his growing web of financial entanglements is raising some serious ethical alarms. 

Gone full crypto 

The latest venture? Truth.Fi, a fintech spin-off from Trump Media (the same people behind Truth Social) that’s set to launch this year. 

The company plans to invest $250 million under Charles Schwab’s management into ETFs, Bitcoin, and other crypto assets. 

The move wasn’t exactly shocking — Trump Media had already filed for a trademark for such a platform back in November.  

And let’s not forget: last month, Trump shifted his 114.75 million shares — worth nearly $4 billion — to a trust controlled by one of his sons, Donald Trump Jr. 

Read more: Trump’s crypto policy is a pivot without a punch  

Sure, Trump has come out of the gate swinging against the hostility crypto faced during the Biden era, promising to make the US the “crypto capital,” and the industry has showered him with $$$ in return.  

But Trump’s crypto antics could just as easily end up backfiring — taking both his brand and Bitcoin prices along for the ride. 

Questionable trades? 

Three days before taking office, Trump dropped $TRUMP, a memecoin that, according to its website, was purely “for fun” and decidedly not an investment.  

Investors didn’t care — it skyrocketed from less than a cent to a peak of $73 in a matter of hours. We’re talking about one of the fastest-growing memecoins in history.  

Even the First Lady got in on it, launching $MELANIA, which hit a $2 billion market cap at its peak. 

Trump has acted as if he barely knows about his namesake token, but conveniently, two companies tied to him hold 80% of the supply, worth billions at peak valuation. 

Watchdogs, like Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, are ringing alarm bells. “A large investor could manipulate the new Trump coin’s worth to buy influence with the president,” the group warns. 

On-chain data is already showing signs of shady activity. Just one minute after launch, a wallet bought $5.9 million in $TRUMP, flipped it for $20 million, and funneled the profits through multiple wallets.  

If this were Wall Street, it would be front-page insider trading scandal material.

And Trump’s turning it into a brand. His merch websites — GetTrumpSneakers, GetTrumpWatches, and GetTrumpFragrances — are all accepting $TRUMP as payment. 

Family tie$ 

Trump’s financial moves don’t stop with memecoins. His sons have joined World Liberty Financial, a DeFi project where Trump himself is listed as Chief Crypto Advocate.  

The project has hoarded over $413 million in various crypto assets, from ETH to LINK to wrapped Bitcoin and more

And they’re not just passively holding — some analysts suggest they’re strategically buying assets that could gain from Trump’s policies.  

Trump’s in a position to shape the industry in real-time and pocket profits from $TRUMP, says RepresentUs, an anti-corruption watchdog, “while the Trump family maintains ties to crypto firms that stand to benefit like World Liberty Financial.” 

Who’s watching the watchmen? 

Trump may have onboarded more retail investors into crypto than any politician ever, but critics — including Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Jake Auchincloss — want regulators to investigate his involvement, particularly with the memecoins. 

The lawmakers, though, wrote to acting heads of agencies that Trump himself appointed.   

That’s given rise to concerns that Trump is appointing agency heads who set crypto policies, while he profits from them. 

Read more: A $TRUMP memecoin ETF is in play. What could go wrong?🙄  

That’ll put Trump in a position to both influence market valuations and ensure lax regulations to avoid scrutiny, the lawmakers have warned. 

Even former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s parents are now lobbying Trump for a pardon. A surreal full-circle moment considering FTX’s collapse was a major catalyst for the US crypto crackdown that Trump now wants to undo. 

So where does Trump’s interest really lie? Is he actually pro-crypto, or just pro-bags? Either way, investors should ask themselves who’s really winning here. 

Edited by Ankush Chibber. If you have any tips, ideas or feedback, please get in touch: talk-to-us@moniify.com