By
Michael Kaplan
Reporter and Producer
Michael Kaplan is an award-winning reporter and producer for the CBS News Investigative Unit. He specializes in securing scoops and crafting long-form television investigations. His work has appeared on "60 Minutes," CNN and in The New York Times.
Zak Hudak
/ CBS News
President Trump earned more than a billion dollars from crypto-related ventures alone last year, according to a financial disclosure released Tuesday, including from his meme coin business and his family's cryptocurrency exchange.
Mr. Trump reported $635 million in royalties from a company that issues $TRUMP, a crypto token that he launched three days before taking office for his second term.
The "meme coin" — a type of crypto asset typically used for commemorative purposes or comedic value, not as a currency — reached its peak value of $74.24 within a day of launching. On Tuesday evening, its price was $1.67, according to Coinbase.
The president also reported more than $500 million in income from token sales by World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency company backed by the president and his family, and around $65 million from equity sales in the firm that controls World Liberty Financial. Some $196 million in equity sales of Stablecoin Holdco LLC are also listed.
A crypto exchange and issuer of tokens, World Liberty Financial was launched during the 2024 presidential campaign. It was co-founded by the president, his sons Eric and Donald Jr. and Zack and Alex Witkoff, the sons of U.S. special envoy and longtime Trump friend Steve Witkoff.
World Liberty Financial's ventures include USD1, a "stablecoin" pegged at $1 per coin that's designed to serve as a store of value. It also sells another crypto product, $WLF tokens, and takes 75% in net revenue from those token sales, according to the company's public reports.
The company drew scrutiny last year, after an Abu Dhabi government-owned wealth fund used the USD1 stablecoin to facilitate a multibillion-dollar investment in the massive crypto exchange Binance. The co-founder of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, received a pardon from Mr. Trump for financial crimes. Mr. Trump has denied any connection between the pardon and the World Liberty Financial transaction, telling CBS News last year: "I don't know who he is."
In response to questions about the financial disclosure, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told CBS News "there are no conflicts of interest."
"This is the same, tired narrative that Democrats have pushed against President Trump, his family, and his administration for a decade," Kelly said. "President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public – which is why they overwhelmingly re-elected him to this office, despite years of lies and false accusations against him and his businesses from the fake news media."
