Donald Trump’s ties to cryptocurrency tasks, his holdings and people of Trump-backed World Liberty Monetary have raised pink flags within the crypto neighborhood on a number of events. Because the Trump administration adjustments its stance from the U.S. President’s earlier time period and turns pro-crypto, a number of crypto firms with shut ties to Trump and his aides have gained or set their sights on gaining from affiliation.
Within the following analysis, we uncover Trump household companies, ties to crypto tasks, high five crypto tokens that could profit throughout the administration and unpack the controversy round all of it.
Trump’s crypto holdings and TRUMP meme coin
The forty fifth and forty seventh President of the US broke a couple of report when he was sworn in, on January 20, 2025. From being the primary head of state to launch an official meme coin three days earlier than becoming a member of the Oval Workplace to his NFT assortment and pro-crypto administration, Trump has saved crypto merchants on their toes this market cycle.
On-chain intelligence tracker Arkham Intel recognized a pockets related to President Trump and the holdings of the tackle are in step with Trump’s monetary disclosures when he was working for workplace in November 2024.
Whereas it was clear that Trump held Ethereum (ETH) in his crypto pockets, the date or common value of buy stays unclear, because the Presidential candidate on the time, was not required to reveal the identical.
On the time of writing, the Arkham Intel pockets exhibits $1.437 million price of crypto within the pockets, it contains meme cash in addition to stablecoins, tokens like Polygon (MATIC) and World Liberty Monetary’s WFI token.
Trump’s tryst with crypto isn’t a brand new one, earlier than his official meme coin TRUMP’s launch, the President dropped an NFT assortment, Official Trump Digital Buying and selling Playing cards (TRUMP). In an interview, the U.S. President stated he doesn’t know a lot concerning the coin however that it’s his official meme coin, and garnered criticism from crypto analysts and consultants.
Commenting on the tokenomics of TRUMP token, David Zimmerman, a K33 analyst said,
“There’s no sugar-coating this – these tokenomics are horrendous for a meme-coin.” The venture’s tokenomics information exhibits that 800 million TRUMP tokens, 80% of the entire provide, are owned by Trump-controlled entities.
The entities are free to promote their holdings at varied factors over the subsequent three years, beginning in April. On a mean, Trump’s firms can promote 24 million TRUMP tokens a month, on the present costs it quantities to $279.84 million of promoting strain a month, or $3.358 billion a yr. This information retains altering as TRUMP value fluctuates. On the time of writing, TRUMP is traded in opposition to 11.66 USDT.
TRUMP token ranks within the high 50 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.
These five crypto tokens held by World Liberty Monetary could rally subsequent
The Trump household holds crypto tokens, together with First Girl Melania Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, Eric and Barron Trump. Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump’s holdings usually are not clear from any on-chain pockets tackle tracker, nevertheless the 2 maintain crypto via World Liberty Monetary.
In an interview, the U.S. President stated his youngest son Barron Trump is the thoughts behind the World Liberty Monetary venture and holds crypto tokens in 4 totally different wallets. Nevertheless, no major sources have been recognized to determine his holdings.
Melania Trump holds the meme coin MELANIA (MELANIA), launched by her included firm MKT World LLC, a agency that powers varied ventures for the First Girl, together with promoting portraits of her throughout Trump’s earlier administration, based on a BBC report.
Particulars concerning the MELANIA token are restricted, however the official web site notes that the primary woman’s workforce has reserved 35% of the token’s provide, and this was locked for the primary 30 days post-issuance.
Criticizing Trump and the First Girl, Grzegorz Drozdz, market analyst at funding agency Conotoxia, was quoted by the BBC:
“The introduction of these cash throughout the presidential inauguration raises considerations about potential conflicts of curiosity and should undermine the dignity of the president and the primary woman.”
Norman Eisen, a former ethics adviser within the Obama administration informed the Washington Submit,
“This will symbolize the only worst battle of curiosity within the trendy historical past of the presidency.” Eisen believes that Trump’s crypto ties imply that the President stands to achieve from his pro-crypto administration and regulatory adjustments.
The highest five tokens held by Trump family-owned enterprise World Liberty Monetary are Ethereum, staked Ether (stETH), Transfer (MOVE), Tron (TRX) and WhiteRock (WHITE), based on on-chain data from Arkham Intel.
The World Liberty Monetary pockets reportedly holds over $77.8 million in crypto and their high holdings embody $15 million in Ethereum (7.931K ETH), $9.44 million in staked Ether (4.976K stETH), $9 million in Tron (40.178 million in TRX), $3.47 million in Motion (7.581 million MOVE) and $295.84K in Ondo Finance (342K ONDO).
With the Trump administration’s pro-crypto stance, fast-paced regulatory adjustments, govt orders and occasions just like the White Home Crypto Summit, the tokens of these crypto tasks are more likely to profit in the long run.
It’s price noting that Sui (SUI), Solana (SOL) and Ondo sponsored Trump’s inauguration occasion. Eric Trump reportedly holds Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and Sui, based on a Cointelegraph report.
Since Trump’s inauguration,
- Ethereum value dropped by 41%
- stakedEther is down over 42%
- TRX is down 7.22%
The highest five tokens held by World Liberty Monetary are at the moment down in double-digits for the reason that day of inauguration, aside from TRX.
With these tokens within the agency’s pockets there’s a chance of their restoration and gains within the later a part of the market cycle, due to this fact sidelined merchants can do their analysis and think about taking a place in ETH, TRX, ONDO, MOVE and WHITE or think about including the cryptos to their portfolio whereas they commerce inside the purchase zone within the dip.
PayPal mafia and their ties with Trump and crypto
Trump’s ties with crypto run deeper and deeper even when executives within the administration are thought-about. Writer Jimmy Soni’s guide, “The Founders: the Story of PayPal and the Entrepreneurs Who Formed Silicon Valley,” examines PayPal’s founders, and that is the place Soni coined the time period PayPal mafia.
Of the group, David Sacks (AI & Crypto Czar in Trump’s administration), Elon Musk (head of the Division of Authorities Effectivity) and Peter Thiel (supporter of Trump and Vice President J.D.Vance) are the distinguished figures on this market cycle.
Trump’s decide for AI & Crypto Czar, Sacks, has been touted as a Solana bull for a very long time within the crypto neighborhood. On investigating the ties of the manager with the crypto venture, it’s clear that PayPal needs to make funds on Solana via its PYUSD stablecoin. Solana has discovered a spot in Trump’s govt order for Strategic Crypto Reserve, and the venture funded Trump’s inauguration.
PayPal can also be related to Layer Zero and Aptos (APT) for his or her funding within the tasks.
Curiously, Solana is amongst one of many tokens held by Eric Trump, as talked about earlier within the story.
Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, a enterprise capital agency, invested $200 million and purchased Bitcoin and Ethereum later summer time to early fall of 2024. Whereas it’s clear that the VC agency acquired the 2 cryptocurrencies, there isn’t any details about the common buy value.
Founders Fund began shopping for BTC when the value was $30,000, based on a Reuters report from February 2024.
Thiel is a particular point out amongst shut aides of the Trump administration for the reason that PayPal founder stated on the Joe Rogan podcast that he would do all the things in his capability to help Trump besides to endorse him. Thiel’s VC agency has since invested in almost half a dozen crypto tasks, Helius DEX on Solana, and the Pudgy Penguins NFT assortment, amongst others.
Musk has been in murky waters with regulators for his affiliation with Dogecoin, his feedback on X and his contact with the event workforce since 2019. The DOGE division is a nod to the ticker image of the biggest meme coin within the crypto ecosystem.
Why Ethereum could rise from the grave
Ethereum has been declared lifeless for the reason that token’s drop beneath the $1,800 help, the bottom stage since November 2023. The $2,000 stage was thought-about a key psychological help stage for Ether, and shutting beneath this stage, the altcoin quashed hopes of a restoration in March 2025.
Whereas Ethereum is in a state of decline, it might be inappropriate to declare Ether lifeless simply but. With Ethereum rating because the highest-valued holding in WLF’s crypto pockets, the biggest altcoin is probably going poised for a restoration, even when it comes a cycle behind Bitcoin.
To help the thesis, it’s key to notice that Vitalik Buterin just lately commented on adjustments inside the Ethereum Basis. The entity addressed the rumours and hypothesis surrounding the Basis’s dissolution, and Buterin shared an optimistic imaginative and prescient for the venture.
On the Based mostly Rollup Summit, Buterin reminded the neighborhood of Ethereum’s core goals and stated the venture continues to concentrate on offering a decentralized community that prioritizes openness, censorship resistance, and safety. The foundational ideas proceed to information Ethereum’s growth because the chain prepares to scale for additional adoption.
https://twitter.com/taikoxyz/standing/1899431277767332234
Unpacking the story of Trump household’s curiosity in a stake in Binance
Wall Road Journal reported on Thursday that the Trump household is seeking to purchase a stake on this planet’s largest centralized crypto alternate, Binance. The story defined founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao’s function and said details that CZ has since denied.
The story says CZ was pardoned for his 2023 responsible plea as discussions for stake in Binance’s U.S. arm superior. CZ treats the contents of the story as allegations and denies it in a tweet on X, telling the crypto neighborhood of merchants that no a part of it’s true.
https://twitter.com/cz_binance/standing/1900194883891322948
In his following tweets, CZ explains how most components of the story are merely not true and says the WSJ publication is harking back to the earlier administration’s “battle on crypto.”
Disclosure: This text doesn’t symbolize funding recommendation. The content material and supplies featured on this web page are for academic functions solely.
