Former President Donald Trump holds over $1 million in Ether (ETH) according to his latest financial disclosure report. The $1.3 million in ETH, a number corroborated by blockchain analytics tool Arkham Intelligence, comes along with $1 million in Wrapped Ether and $370,000 in TROG, a coin with a mascot of a frog wearing a MAGA hat.
The report also showed that Trump made $7.15 million in a licensing deal with NFT INC. Previously, financial disclosure documents had revealed that Trump made between $500,001 and $1 million in sales of his NFT collections, which were popular during the bear market of 2022-2023. Melania Trump, the former First Lady, has made around $330,000 from sales of her NFT collections.
According to Forbes, Donald Trump has a net worth of $7.5 billion, making his cryptocurrency holdings less than 1% of the total. However, they do indicate a shift in his viewpoint. Years ago, he called Bitcoin a scam and cryptocurrency a total disaster. Since then, and after meeting with industry leaders, he has seemingly changed his tune, adopting the technology for financial gain.
His family is warming up to crypto as well. Donald Trump Jr., the former President’s son, recently posted on X that he had fallen in love with crypto and decentralized finance (DeFi), later announcing that he will be launching a DeFi exchange.
These shifts have been a welcome change in rhetoric compared to the Biden administration, which industry leaders have accused of orchestrating ‘Operation Choke Point 2.0,’ a policy that aims to use regulatory pressure to quietly phase out crypto in the U.S. Crypto leaders have responded accordingly to Trump’s newfound positivity about crypto, publicly supporting the 2024 presidential candidate.
Trump Doubles Down on Crypto
Although Trump did not mention crypto in his interview with Elon Musk on X this week, he has shown remarkable change in accepting the new technology. In a speech, he said Bitcoin is like the steel industry 100 years ago and that he would fire Gary Gensler on Day 1 if elected to the presidency. There are other signs he has begun to take crypto more seriously. Here are some of the headlines.
- Trump Bitcoin Sneakers Sell Out in Minutes, Pop on eBay
- Donald Trump to Give Keynote at Bitcoin 2024 Conference in Nashville
- Former President Trump to Release 4th NFT Collection
- Donald Trump Hosts Dinner at Mar-a-Lago for NFT Buyers
- Trump Gifts Limited Ordinals To People Who Purchase 100 NFTs
And Melania has made her own waves in the space too.
- Melania Trump Unveils Mother’s Day NFT Collection
- Melania Trump Unveils Independence Day NFTs on Solana
Time will tell if Trump’s enthusiasm about Web3 is genuine — he may just be trying to court the crypto lobby and vote after all — but for now it’s giving the community hope that things would be different under a second Trump presidency.
And after four years of regulatory battles, that would be a nice change.