In just over a month, the crypto market has lost $1.2 trillion in value. Steady declines since mid-October have erased much of the gains made by investors large and small. Among the latter is a very well-known personality: American President Donald Trump, who is also partly responsible for the euphoria experienced by the sector until October.
But the Trump effect has completely disappeared, with digital assets falling back to levels seen before his term. His direct support of the sector and entry into the crypto business fueled short-term enthusiasm, but investors have now forgotten him. Today the debate focuses on the potential AI bubble and interest rate cuts. And the Trump business empire has suffered a reality shock: Since September, it has lost at least $1 billion of its fortune (from $7.7 billion in early September to $6.7 billion currently), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a drop largely due to the Trump family’s growing ties to crypto projects.
The Trump family went all-in on digital assets: launching tokens, creating companies, investing in the industry, pardoning convicted crypto tycoon Changpeng Zhao, and legislating in favor of the sector, pushing major cryptocurrencies to all-time highs. But in this market marked by extreme volatility and extreme speculation, no one is spared, not even the president. A good example of this is the launch, a few days before Trump’s inauguration, of the memecoin $TRUMP, a token without any support other than that linked to the tycoon’s image. Within minutes of its release, euphoria broke out and the token reached a value of over $15 billion. But like any speculative wave, the enthusiasm was short-lived and its price plunged up to 76% in a few hours.
Over the past few months, $TRUMP has been up and down, but since mid-August its declines have intensified and it has lost around 40% of its value; since its launch, it is down 85%. At present, the extent of the Trump family’s involvement in the project is unclear; according to Bloomberg estimates, his relatives hold around 40% of all tokens in circulation. At current prices, that stake is worth about $310 million, implying a loss of $117 million since the end of August.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the Trump family’s crypto empire. With their flagship project, the crypto platform World Liberty Financial, they issued the WLFI token, which has plunged 38% since the beginning of September: those close to the president hold an amount of tokens that reached a book value of around $6 billion at its peak, but are now worth half that – around $3.15 billion – according to Bloomberg data. These assets are, however, not taken into account in the agency’s calculations, because they are not traded on organized markets.
Not all of their operations resulted in losses. In August, the company sold part of those assets to Alt5 Sigma Corp, a biotech-turned-fintech company where Eric Trump is a board member. Through the sale, Trump’s company gained $750 million in cash plus an equity stake. Alt5 Sigma, on the other hand, has fared less well: its shares have plunged 78% since then.
World Liberty Financial was the springboard for Trump’s sons to enter the crypto ecosystem. Beyond this platform, they have extended their influence to other companies related to digital assets. In March, Eric Trump co-founded American Bitcoin, a crypto mining company where he serves as chief strategy officer and owns approximately 7.5% of the Nasdaq-listed company. Donald Trump Jr. also has a smaller stake, although the percentage is unknown. The company’s shares peaked on September 9, bringing the value of Eric Trump’s stake to $630 million. But since then, they have entered a free fall: they are down 53%, erasing more than 300 million dollars from Eric Trump’s wealth.
Along with Trump Media, founded by the president, the Trump family has also ventured into the crypto industry. In recent months, they have filed applications to launch three exchange-traded funds (ETFs): one linked to Bitcoin, another linked to Bitcoin and Ether, and a third that tracks the price of these two assets as well as others such as Solana, Cronos and XRP. The unprofitable company has spent about $2 billion on the leading cryptocurrency, according to a July statement, and holds about 11,500 bitcoins in its reserves — acquired when it was trading around $115,000 — implying a loss of about 25%. He also began purchasing units of Cronos (CRO), an obscure token issued by the Crypto.com exchange. At the end of September, it held approximately $147 million in this asset. Since then, CRO has lost 45% of its value, and Trump Media has followed in its footsteps: it is down 70% this year, and its shares are now near all-time lows.
Despite this, the Trumps’ confidence in the crypto market remains intact. Through his X account, Eric Trump has encouraged people to buy cryptocurrencies now that they are in crisis, although in a recent interview he advised staying out of cryptocurrencies “if you can’t handle the volatility.” In a market where strong fluctuations are the norm, it remains to be seen whether this belief will become a long-term strategy or will eventually become one of the greatest sources of volatility for their own empire, capable of testing the patience and temperament of the president, which is also very unpredictable.
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