Annie Massa and Tom Maloney
When Donald Trump was sworn in for his second presidential term, his trove of financial assets already differed from when he first took the oath of office.
As he returned to power on a frigid day in January 2025, Trump had a social media company, a crypto platform he’d co-founded and even a new memecoin bearing his name — departures from the real estate projects and brand licensing deals that were long the main remit of the Trump Organisation.
One year on, the universe of the Trump family’s wealth has expanded even further, touching industries including firearms, rare earth magnets, artificial intelligence and prediction markets.
But the most notable change has been the growing concentration of the family’s net worth in cryptocurrencies: The Trumps have generated about $US1.4 billion ($2.1 billion) from crypto projects that are new to his second term, a Bloomberg analysis shows. These have gotten a boost from Trump’s own policies, as he has signed crypto legislation and appointed regulators who tossed out lawsuits against the industry.
Despite the new projects, the family’s overall net worth looks remarkably similar to last year at $US6.8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Even as crypto made the Trumps richer, the gains were offset by the plunging value of his social media company, Trump Media & Technology Group. Its shares are down around 60 per cent over the past 12 months, despite efforts to diversify into finance, crypto and most recently, fusion power.
The way the Trumps’ wealth is distributed now — particularly its concentration in virtual assets and public companies, some of which didn’t exist when he left office in 2021 — represents a sea change in how they’ll earn money for years to come.
Amid these shifts, Eric Trump, the president’s son and an executive at the Trump Organisation, signalled he hadn’t lost sight of real estate.
“We have the number one hospitality brand in the world and I’m incredibly proud of our unbelievable portfolio,” he said in a statement. “We look forward to another successful year.”
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said that through executive action and policy, “the administration is fulfilling the President’s promise to make the United States the crypto capital of the world by driving innovation and economic opportunity for all Americans.”
Here’s a look at how things have changed in the first year of Trump’s second term.
Crypto
Cryptocurrency projects became the key driver of the Trump family’s wealth last year. The president’s eldest sons, Eric and Donald Trump Jr., took top speaking slots at crypto conferences in Singapore, Dubai and Las Vegas. They frequently accused banks of severing ties with the family real estate firm, the Trump Organisation, casting the experience as a turning point that pushed them to pursue virtual assets.
“Having been cancelled by banks, out of political malice, led us to many incredible opportunities, as we redefine the future of finance,” Eric Trump said in a statement.
The family earns money from virtual currencies in several ways, including tokens and public and private companies involved in crypto. Three ventures stand out: a crypto platform co-founded by Trump and his sons called World Liberty Financial, a memecoin named after the president, and American Bitcoin Corp., an operation that seeks to “mine” Bitcoin, a way to earn the virtual currency by verifying transactions.
By March, World Liberty had sold about $US550 million worth of tokens, earning the first family roughly $US390 million, according to Bloomberg calculations. In August, in a transaction with publicly traded Alt5 Sigma Corp., the Trumps netted more than $US500 million. The family still owns founder tokens worth roughly $US3.8 billion at current prices, but they aren’t included in Bloomberg’s wealth calculation because they remain locked for the time being.
World Liberty also launched another kind of virtual asset in March. The product, called a stablecoin, is designed to mirror the value of a dollar. Circulation of USD1, as the coin is called, has grown to more than $US3 billion, and the business could be worth more than $US300 million based on the market value of publicly traded Circle Internet Group Inc., a stablecoin issuer.A spokesperson for World Liberty declined to comment.
Another project, a Trump memecoin, was launched days before his second inauguration. Bloomberg’s wealth index calculates that the family’s holdings of the coin and associated proceeds are worth about $US280 million. That’s after applying a large liquidity discount to their position and despite the token having lost most of its value since spiking last January.
Eric and Donald Trump Jr. also joined with crypto company Hut 8 Corp. to launch American Bitcoin about two months after their father’s inauguration. All of the equipment the company will use to mine Bitcoin came from Hut 8 in exchange for a majority position in the new business. Eric Trump owns about 7.4 per cent of the company, while Trump Jr. owns a smaller undisclosed stake. Although shares have tumbled around 80 per cent since a September peak, Eric’s stake is still worth roughly $US114 million.
Critics say the businesses introduce potential conflicts of interest, as buyers of the virtual tokens aren’t required to reveal their identities. In some cases acquirers have been open about their investments: Justin Sun, founder of crypto network Tron, spent about $US75 million on World Liberty tokens. A 2023 Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit charging Sun and his companies with securities fraud and market manipulation was put on hold in February, and in May he dined with Trump as a reward for being the top holder of the president’s memecoin.
“The media’s continued attempts to fabricate conflicts of interest are irresponsible and reinforce the public’s distrust in what they read,” said Leavitt, the White House press secretary. “Neither the president nor his family have ever engaged, or will ever engage, in conflicts of interest.”
Another crypto entrepreneur, Changpeng Zhao, was pardoned by Trump in October. Binance, the crypto exchange Zhao founded, provided technical assistance with the development of USD1, and Abu Dhabi state-backed investor MGX used it to fund the purchase of a $US2 billion stake in the business.
The administration has denied that the Trump family’s crypto businesses present a conflict of interest, and Trump said he didn’t know who Zhao was after issuing the pardon.
1789 Capital
Another portal to new business opportunities came from venture capital firm 1789 Capital, which was co-founded by former Bank of America executive Omeed Malik to back “patriotic” companies. After his father’s re-election in 2024, Donald Trump Jr. announced he was joining the firm as a partner.
By early 2026, the firm had raised about $US2 billion from investors, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who requested anonymity because the company’s finances aren’t public. The firm has so far invested about $US800 million of that total, one of the people said. Its portfolio includes more than a dozen startups.
Trump Jr.’s economic interest in 1789 isn’t public, though it’s common for a partner at an investment fund to hold an ownership stake. In addition to Malik, the firm lists as its founders Republican donor Rebekah Mercer and Christopher Buskirk, a conservative media personality who also leads a MAGA donor group called the Rockbridge Network co-founded by Vice President JD Vance.
1789 has invested in Elon Musk’s SpaceX, one of the world’s largest privately held companies, as well as smaller concerns, including a hard seltzer business and the Enhanced Games, an athletic event that allows competitors to use performance-enhancing drugs.
On at least one occasion 1789 also invested in a startup where the US government later took a stake.
The firm added Vulcan Elements, a rare-earth magnet company, to its portfolio last year. Months after 1789 participated in a fundraising round, the Department of Defence extended a $US620 million loan. The company also received $US50 million in federal incentives from the Chips Act, with the Department of Commerce taking an equity interest in Vulcan as a result of the deal.
A spokesperson for Trump Jr. said that he hasn’t contacted his father’s administration on behalf of 1789’s portfolio companies. “Donald Trump Jr. does not interface with the federal government on behalf of any of the companies he’s advising or invested in,” the spokesperson said.
Trump Media
Trump Media remains one of the biggest pieces of the family’s fortune. Though its shares have lost about two-thirds of their value over the last 12 months, it continued to command attention with a parade of announcements.
The way the Trumps’ wealth is distributed now represents a sea change in how they’ll earn money for years to come.
When Trump returned to office, the company’s main product was Truth Social, the social media platform he created after being banned from Twitter and other sites following the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol.
It has since blasted out a series of new business ventures, ranging from a prediction market for sports betting to hoarding a stockpile of virtual assets to funds focused on security and defense, energy security and real estate in red states.
Trump Media capped 2025 with perhaps its unlikeliest deal yet: a tie-up with a nuclear fusion company called TAE Technologies. Trying to harness the process that powers the sun as a source of clean energy is a vision that generations of scientists have worked toward, though none have produced commercially viable results.
Despite these new businesses, Trump Media remained unprofitable, securities filings show. The president is its largest shareholder, with his stake held in a trust managed by Donald Trump Jr.
Advisory positions
Since he was elected a second time, Trump’s family members have taken roles in a dizzying array of businesses, including an investment bank, an online gun retailer, a Japanese hotelier-turned-Bitcoin stockpiler, a digital pharmacy, a marketplace for “anti-woke” products and two prediction markets.
A connection with the Trumps generally resulted in a significant share price pop for publicly traded companies, Bloomberg found. The maximum closing price increase among companies in the five days after they disclosed a new relationship — such as an investment adviser position or directorship — averaged 135 per cent.
The effect was typically short-lived, with most now trading below the share prices they had before the Trump-related announcements.
Real estate
In his first term, Trump handed leadership of the Trump Organisation to Eric and Donald Trump Jr., with the former managing the business day-to-day. The pair have remained at the helm in his second term, with some changes.
When Trump first took office, the company said it would not pursue any new foreign deals to manage potential for conflicts of interest. That approach has shifted. In a new ethics agreement last year, the company promised only to avoid deals with foreign governments. It has enlisted a new outside ethics adviser, Karina Lynch.
Under its new arrangement, the Trump Organisation is working on licensing deals for towers, golf courses and other luxury properties all around the world, and added several new locations and partners to its broadening portfolio.
One of its most recent undertakings is Trump International Hotel Maldives, where customers can buy virtual tokens connected to the project’s development — a first for the company. The family also pursued new territories, including Trump Tower Bucharest in Romania’s capital. These licensing deals show a continued appetite to pursue new partnerships abroad.
Looking ahead
In 2026, the first family is positioned to continue accumulating wealth from its projects. Eric Trump said last year in an interview with Bloomberg News that he’d be interested in pursuing real estate deals in France, Austria and Argentina. At the time he also mentioned the Maldives, which the Trump Organisation is already crossing off its wish list. As the Maldives property underscores, the Trump Organisation has an appetite for projects that combine real estate and virtual assets.
Elsewhere in crypto, World Liberty’s leadership is seeking consent from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a new chartered trust bank. Full authorisation would give it the ability to perform some banking functions — such as safeguarding assets — while adding a coveted seal of regulatory approval.
Finally, Trump Media has a litany of new projects based on the business plans it unveiled last year. The most formidable may be building a nuclear fusion power plant with TAE Technologies. Trump Media already says it’s hunting for a site, with CEO Devin Nunes telling the New York Post, “We’re only going to be building this in a red state.”
Bloomberg
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