US President Donald Trump has made $US1.4 billion ($2b) from cryptocurrency previously 12 months.
$US635 million got here from celebration coins royalties and $US236m got here from cryptocurrency “token gross sales”, whereas the remainder of his earnings got here from assorted cryptocurrency wallets.
His celebration coin earnings is linked to meme coins he launched earlier than returning to workplace, particularly $TRUMP.
However what are meme coins and has anybody aside from the Trump household profited?
Meme coins
Cryptocurrencies are a sort of digital asset, not in contrast to a inventory, which can be utilized as an exchangeable type of cash on-line.
Very similar to paper currencies because the gold normal was ended, crypto has worth as a result of buyers collectively agree it does, partly on account of its safety and shortage.
Meme coins then again are a bit more durable to pin down.
“Meme coins are cryptocurrencies that leverage well-liked memes or web developments to create a community-driven, usually playful method to digital foreign money,” based on crypto dealer Blockchain.com.
Meme coins haven’t any inherent worth and, in contrast to Bitcoin, have various limits of shortage, rendering the worth of any coin weak to the rise and fall in reputation of no matter meme or development impressed the merchandise.
For example Hailey Welch, an American girl, launched her personal model of meme coin after she rose to web fame in June 2024.
The $HAWK coin launched in December 2024 reached a market capitalisation of $500m earlier than it crashed to $25m by late January.
Traders have since sued $HAWK.
The $TRUMP coin
The $TRUMP coin is valued at $US1.65 as of July 1, 2026. (Provided: GetTrumpMemes.com)
Mr Trump’s personal meme coin $TRUMP launched days earlier than his second inauguration, additionally in January 2025.
At its peak it bought for nearly $US75 a coin, however by the tip of February its worth had plummeted to about $US20 and as of July 1, 2026 its worth sits at $US1.65.
That is the place the majority of Mr Trump’s $US635m in royalties and $US236m in token gross sales are believed to have come from.
In April 2026, Democratic Senator for California Adam Schiff stated he and different senators could be investigating a Mar-a-Lago convention which invited the highest 297 $TRUMP token holders to attend and supplied VIP entry to Mr Trump.
In a press release he stated CIC Digital and Battle Battle Battle LLC, which managed 80 per cent of $TRUMP provide, acquired buying and selling income from all $TRUMP exercise.
“The announcement of the convention ‘set off a fast however transient run-up within the worth of the $TRUMP meme coin, which reached $3.08 earlier than tumbling again down,'” the senators highlighted.
“President Trump financially advantages from the market worth and exercise of the $TRUMP cryptocurrency.“
Mr Schiff and his fellow senators asserted “not all” buyers of $TRUMP and the equally branded first women meme coin, $MELANIA, benefited from their funding.
“Based on latest experiences, $TRUMP, and the First Girl’s meme coin, $MELANIA, “erased an estimated $4.3 billion in retail wealth,” they stated.
“Insiders, nonetheless, reportedly made a fortune: 45 ‘early-deployment wallets’ earned $1.2 billion off the meme coins, which means that for each greenback insiders earned, retail buyers misplaced $20.”
World Liberty Monetary, one other Trump family-linked enterprise which distributed Mr Trump’s royalty and token sale income, supplied him with an extra $65m in earnings.
Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr are concerned in its administration and it was co-founded by Zach Witkoff, the son of Mr Trump’s particular envoy to the Center East Steve Witkoff.
Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump with Zach Witkoff. (Reuters: Eduardo Munoz)
Mr Trump’s $236m in token sale income is a marked leap in earnings collected in comparison with Mr Trump’s 2025 disclosure which solely reported $US57m from token gross sales.
World Liberty Monetary launched one other cryptocurrency in Could, 2025 referred to as USD1.
USD1 rose to US$1.016 after launch and is now valued at $U0.99.
It was additionally used to pay bonuses to UFC fighters performing on the White Home in June.
On July 1, after his disclosure got here out, Mr Trump stated his wealth was the results of the US inventory market’s success.
“”You understand why I am profiting? As a result of the inventory market’s going up, everyone’s profiting,” Mr Trump stated, based on Reuters.
