Trump disclosure shows crypto brought in USD 1.2 billion, surpassing property

President Donald Trump reported nearly USD 1.2 billion in revenue from his crypto businesses last year, according to a federal disclosure released on Tuesday, as the new ventures overtook much of the income from the property empire he spent decades building. The filing showed more than USD 500 million from World Liberty Financial, which sold new crypto products including "governance tokens", and more than USD 600 million from CIC Digital LLC, which sold Trump-themed meme coins.

The 927-page annual disclosure report filed with the Office of Government Ethics also listed tens of millions of dollars from overseas property deals, a sharp rise in revenue from Mar-a-Lago in Florida, and income from Trump-branded products such as Bibles, sneakers and watches. The filing gave revenue figures, not profits, while the value of the Trump-linked crypto tokens and coins later fell steeply for investors.

These crypto businesses were startups when Trump took office last January, and their expansion was helped by billionaire investors as well as his administration's shift away from the Biden-era crackdown on the industry. Trump has said his sons manage his finances through a trust, but that arrangement does not follow the conflict-of-interest protections adopted by some recent presidents. Forbes has estimated his net worth at USD 6 billion, up from USD 2.3 billion in 2024.

Property remained a major source of revenue. Trump took in tens of millions of dollars in fees from new hotel, resort and condominium deals overseas, in what the filing described as the biggest property expansion in the family business's history. A property in the United Arab Emirates generated USD 10.4 million, one in Saudi Arabia brought in USD 9 million, and projects in Bucharest, Romania, and Qatar sent USD 5 million each.

Many of those countries were also in talks with the US over tariffs, military aid and other major matters. For a new Trump resort in Vietnam, the report showed Trump received USD 5 million last year after the ruling Communist Party sent its deputy prime minister to approve the deal and, according to The New York Times, farmers were pushed off the land for the construction. The report did not establish whether these business deals influenced US policy, though it noted that Vietnam later received tariff relief, Qatar got access to advanced US technology that had previously been off limits, and Saudi Arabia got US fighter jets it had sought for years.

At home, Mar-a-Lago recorded strong growth. Trump reported USD 77 million in revenue from the Florida property, up 50 per cent from the previous year, as heads of state and business people visited it in his new term. He also received millions of dollars from smaller branded products, including USD 4.7 million from Trump-branded watches alone, along with income from Bibles, sneakers and other items.

Trump said on Wednesday that most of his gains last year came from the stock market. "We're all profiting," he said. "I'm profiting because I have a lot of money and a lot of cash." Even so, crypto was the biggest driver of revenue, helped by his administration's industry-friendly policies and the reversal of the Biden administration's regulatory crackdown.

Before World Liberty began selling governance tokens, regulators had warned that such crypto assets do not give buyers an ownership stake in the issuing company in the way shares do, but only voting rights on certain corporate policies, and that they are hard to value. Buyers still invested heavily, including Chinese billionaire Justin Sun, who spent USD 75 million on the tokens and USD 200 million on the meme coins. In February last year, a federal lawsuit accusing him of duping investors was paused before it was settled with a USD 10 million fine.

Sun has repeatedly denied that his spending on Trump businesses was linked to his federal case, while World Liberty has rejected suggestions of a conflict of interest. The White House has repeatedly said Trump is not involved in business decisions because his holdings are in a trust managed by his sons. "Neither the President nor his family has ever engaged - or will ever engage - in conflicts of interest," spokeswoman Anna Kelly said. "All actions by President Trump and his administration are taken in the best interest of the American people." The Trump Organisation has also said its overseas deals were with private companies, not governments.

Even as the new businesses lifted Trump's disclosed revenue, investors in the Trump-linked crypto assets have taken heavy losses. The price of World Liberty tokens has fallen 80 per cent since trading began in September, while the Trump meme coin, which rose above USD 74 in the days after its launch in January 2025, was trading at USD 1.68. Overall, the disclosure showed crypto had become Trump's biggest revenue source within a wider business portfolio that also included expanding property deals, Mar-a-Lago and Trump-branded consumer products.

With PTI Inputs