Trump's Cryptocurrency Scheme Rakes in $1.4 Billion While Investors Lose $4.7 Billion

A cryptocurrency project associated with former U.S. President Donald Trump has turned into a super meat grinder for investors. According to a report by the nonprofit watchdog organization Public Citizen, investors in Trump-related cryptocurrency projects are currently facing losses of at least $4.7 billion, while Trump himself is expected to pocket over $1.4 billion from these ventures by 2025.

The Public Citizen report indicates that the majority of the $4.7 billion loss is classified as "unrealized losses" (i.e., paper losses where assets have significantly depreciated but have not yet been sold at a loss); however, it also includes "realized losses" (actual losses tracked through on-chain transaction data).

Among all of Trump's cryptocurrency projects, the most severe losses stem from the meme coin $TRUMP, which was launched just three days before his inauguration on January 20, 2025.

Data shows that there are as many as 1.6 million retail wallets that purchased $TRUMP on decentralized exchanges (DEX), with about 1 million wallets trapped, resulting in total paper losses nearing $3.2 billion; the losses realized through token sales amount to approximately $400 million.

According to CoinGecko market data, $TRUMP hit an all-time high of $73.43 in January 2025, but as of the time of writing, it has plummeted to $2.41, a drop of 96.7%.

Public Citizen states that the $TRUMP token distribution feast has primarily benefited the earliest participants, with wallets that bought in two days before the launch capturing nearly 90% of the total profits, while the biggest winner is undoubtedly Trump himself.

The report bluntly states: "Trump's tokens are directly allocated to his companies rather than purchased with cash, and he can continue to extract royalties through brand licensing. These projects require no personal investment from Trump, meaning that nearly all of his earnings are pure profit."

In addition to the meme coin, the DeFi project "World Liberty Financial ($WLFI)" led by the Trump family has also caused investors to incur losses of at least $1 billion, which includes significant paper losses for the Nasdaq-listed AI Financial Corp., which spent $1.46 billion in August 2025 to purchase 7.28 billion $WLFI tokens, currently facing a paper loss of about $1.04 billion. Since partnering with World Liberty Financial, the company's stock price has plummeted from $7.04 to $0.642, a drop of 91%.

Moreover, the Trump Media Technology Group's "Bitcoin Treasury" has also suffered significant losses. The report notes that as of June 30, the company held 9,477 bitcoins, with a purchase cost of approximately $1.006 billion, but this has now shrunk to about $557 million, resulting in a paper loss of $450 million.

The report adds that buyers of three previously issued "Trump Digital Trading Cards" (NFT collectibles) have also endured at least $93 million in losses; the only stablecoin, USD1, has maintained its peg to $1 and has not caused losses for holders.

Despite the heavy losses for a large number of investors, Trump's latest personal financial disclosure indicates that he earned at least $1.4 billion in cash and royalty income from various cryptocurrency ventures in 2025.