Crypto: Trump Makes $1.4B as Investors Lose $4.7B

On August 27, 2626, the NGO Public Citizen published a report revealing the extent of the damage caused by Donald Trump’s crypto products. The contrast is particularly striking: the US president pockets 1.4 billion dollars in 2025, while the losses of his investors amount to more than 4.7 billion dollars.

A damning report on crypto investors’ losses

The report is titled “Thin Air, Real Money” and was written by Zach Everson, research director of the Trump Accountability Project at Public Citizen. It scrutinizes 5 families of digital assets:

• The Trump Digital Trading Cards NFTs;
• The WLFI token launched in August 2025;
• The memecoin $TRUMP;
• The USD1 stablecoin;
• Trump Media’s crypto treasury.

The result is unequivocal: together, these crypto products have caused holders to lose at least 4.7 billion dollars. The memecoin $TRUMP still concentrates the majority of losses with 3.2 billion dollars vanished. An analysis conducted by Nansen at the request of Public Citizen even reveals that 65% of wallets currently show a negative balance. At the time of writing this article, this crypto asset trades around $2.70 (far from the $73.43 peak reached just two days after its launch).

Meanwhile, the WLFI governance token shows nearly one billion dollars in losses. Moreover, its value has dropped more than 80% since its all-time high in September 2025. The NFTs, meanwhile, have lost nearly three quarters of their initial value since 2022. The report published by Public Citizen states a cumulative deficit of $9.3 million.

The only notable exception? The stablecoin USD1. Overall, it retains its value.

Trump’s $1.4 billion gain reignites debate on conflicts of interest

In his 2025 financial statement (certified June 30, 2026), Donald Trump claims $1.4 billion in income from his crypto activities in 2025. The report is all the more shocking as the US president asserts he did not invest a single cent of his own money.

The numbers reveal a very different reality:

• $7.2 million via royalties on NFT cards;
• $557 million from the sale of the $WLFI token;
• $635 million in licensing fees on the memecoin $TRUMP;
• $197 million in capital contributions made to World Liberty Financial.

Co-founded with his sons Donald Jr. and Eric, this DeFi project also guarantees him a continuing share in the platform’s future revenue.

Of course, these amounts in no way mean that Trump profited from the latent losses of his crypto investors. Nevertheless, they reignite the debate on conflict of interest. In this context, Public Citizen co-chair Lisa Gilbert accuses the president of turning his office into a tool for enrichment. An accusation, of course, denied by the White House!

The Public Citizen report comes at a critical moment for crypto regulation in the United States

According to the schedule, the Senate is to vote on the CLARITY Act on September 15. Strongly supported by the Trump administration, this bill aims to clarify the status of digital assets. However, Public Citizen condemns its insufficiency on ethical issues.

Specifically, the NGO calls for a law clearly prohibiting a sitting president from launching, holding, and even less promoting a crypto asset subject to his own regulation. In this regard, Zach Everson stated:

The president’s policy choices and his personal portfolio cannot be separated.

The report also highlights the international connections of these crypto products. Indeed, part of the USD1 stablecoin is held by interests based in the United Arab Emirates. The crypto exchange Binance plays a central upstream role in the circulation of several of these assets.

In any case, this case shows how celebrity, power, and crypto can become intertwined. For the crypto market, a fundamental question arises: how to guarantee the integrity of rules when the primary regulator is also a major player in the sector?