A new Reuters investigation reveals a scale of presidential enrichment unseen in modern U.S. history. Published Tuesday, a special report titled “Inside the Trump family’s global crypto cash machine” shows that the Trump family’s fortune surged in 2025. The summary reads:
The U.S. president’s family raked in more than $800 million from sales of crypto assets in the first half of 2025 alone, a Reuters examination found, on top of potentially billions more in unrealized “on paper” gains. Much of that cash has come from foreign sources as Donald Trump’s sons have touted their business on an international investor roadshow.
When President Trump’s term ends, he is expected to regain full control of a business empire now swollen with foreign capital and turbocharged by a crypto market shaped by his own administration’s policies.
The findings draw on official disclosures, property and court records, crypto trade information, and interviews. They outline a complex network of token sales, offshore investors, and regulatory changes that together fueled the company’s explosive growth. Reuters described the arrangement as “legal, but not ethical.”
Reacting to the report, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) struck a relaxed tone:
As long as [the president] disclose[s] the income and sources, I think that’s acceptable.
But the story Reuters pieced together suggests something deeper — a presidency and a family fortune advancing in parallel, powered by the same crypto engine.
The Dubai Pitch
The money trail begins in Dubai. In May, Eric Trump met with Chinese businessman Guren “Bobby” Zhou and others on the sidelines of a cryptocurrency conference, pitching World Liberty Financial, Inc. (WLFI), the family’s crypto business.
Buy at least $20 million of “governance tokens,” he said, and join a venture that would “embody the future of finance.” The technology behind the project appeared “rudimentary,” one attendee told the outlet. Yet, within weeks, Aqua1 Foundation, a state-linked Abu Dhabi investment group, announced a $100 million purchase — the largest known buy of WLFI tokens.
Reuters identified Zhou as being under investigation by Britain’s National Crime Agency for money laundering. He has also been linked to multiple money-laundering probes and civil court judgments in China. Aqua Labs Investment LLC, an affiliate of Aqua1, confirmed the deal as a “commercial decision consistent with advancing regulated digital-asset ecosystems.”
The Windfall
Dubai was only one stop on the Trump brothers’ investment tour. Reuters wrote:
In Europe, the Middle East and Asia, they have been promoting World Liberty and other ventures that funnel investors’ cash to Trump family businesses, known collectively as the Trump Organization.
The results were staggering. In the first half of 2025, Trump Organization income soared to $864 million, up from $51 million a year earlier. Over 90 percent came from crypto ventures, including token sales through WLFI.
Traditional businesses paled by comparison: golf clubs and resorts brought in $33 million, while name-licensing added $23 million. More than half of total income — about $463 million — came from sales of the family’s $USD1 tokens, including as much as $75 million from Aqua1 Foundation alone. WLFI’s website confirms that a Trump entity receives 75 percent of all token-sale revenue.
Turning Power Into Profit?
WLFI’s true value appears to lie not in its technology but in its name. The company has advertised an app for crypto deposits and loans. Yet, says the report,
The venture has yet to unveil what it heralded last year as its core business: a peer-to-peer financing platform capable of challenging traditional banks.
“Without the Trump name, you wouldn’t see World Liberty Financial raising this kind of money,” said Seoyoung Kim, finance professor at Santa Clara University. She described the appeal as “being part of the club.”
That “club” has proven lucrative. In August, Alt5 Sigma, a Nasdaq-listed blockchain firm, raised $750 million from investors “to help buy 7.5 percent of all World Liberty tokens,” a deal Reuters estimated netted roughly $500 million for the Trump family. The report concluded:
Thanks to continuing token sales, the Trumps’ crypto income is now approaching and could even exceed $1 billion.
Foreign Money
Blockchain analysis found that of the 50 wallets holding the largest WLFI token amounts, 36 belonged to foreign buyers, with combined holdings worth $804 million.
Among them was Justin Sun, a Chinese-born crypto billionaire charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2023 with fraud and unregistered securities sales. However,
With Trump back in the White House, the commission paused the case in February, just weeks after Sun announced he had increased his total purchases of World Liberty tokens to $75 million. Under the terms of World Liberty’s cash distribution agreement with its co-founders, Sun’s token purchases would have sent $56 million to the Trump family.
In May, MGX, a state-controlled Abu Dhabi fund, used the Trump-issued $USD1 stablecoin to buy a $2 billion stake in Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange. Just last week, Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, who pleaded guilty to money-laundering violations in 2023, received a presidential pardon. Binance U.S. has since promoted $USD1 on its social channels.
Another major investor, Nexo, a Cayman-based crypto lender previously fined $45 million by the SEC, reportedly paid $10 million for a three-year sponsorship of a Trump-owned golf course. The company said the partnership was unrelated to any political access.
Is It Legal?
Reuters concluded that WLFI operates in a legally permissible but ethically questionable space. Most investors remain anonymous, and several identified ones have regulatory histories. Many were attracted by the Trump brand’s political clout rather than its technological innovation.
Several foreign investors told Reuters they sought partnerships because of the brothers’ proximity to the president. Dorji Rabten, CEO of Oddiyana Ventures, admitted:
In the first moment we saw the project, we thought it’s going to be very huge, given that it’s a president’s sons taking up that project.
Ethics experts called the situation unprecedented in modern presidential history. Kathleen Clark, a Washington University law professor, said investors appear motivated by “freedom from legal constraints and impunity that only the president can deliver.” Still, no laws are violated unless political favors are explicitly promised. “It’s legal but unethical,” said Richard Painter, former White House ethics lawyer under George W. Bush.
The White House said Trump cut business ties upon taking office. Still, as a trust beneficiary, he will regain access to profits later. The Trump Organization, Eric Trump, and Donald Trump Jr. declined to comment. Family attorney Timothy Parlatore called allegations of impropriety “a complete lie.”
Bidens and Clintons
The revelations inevitably invited comparisons to the Clinton Foundation and Hunter Biden’s business ventures. Each case revolves around influence, proximity to power, and money.
Hunter Biden’s finances have been under congressional investigation for years. House Oversight records show “the Bidens and their associates have received over $20 million in payments from foreign entities.” IRS whistleblowers traced more than $8 million in foreign-linked income, and Hunter was later convicted of failing to pay $1.4 million in federal taxes between 2016 and 2019.
The Clinton Foundation, meanwhile, operated on a more institutional scale. The Associated Press found that 85 donors who met with Hillary Clinton while she was secretary of state had collectively contributed up to $156 million to the foundation.
Both cases drew Republican criticism for blurring public duty and private gain, while Democrats dismissed the charges as partisan. Still, the parallels are striking: In Washington, influence seems to be the only investment that always pays.
Oversight
Fast-forward to today. Congressional oversight is unlikely, as signaled by James Comer. That is the same lawmaker who has spent much of the past few years probing the Bidens’ finances, and rightfully so. Yet when asked about the Reuters findings on the Trumps’ enrichment and whether he would investigate it, Comer appeared markedly less forceful. Speaking with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Comer explained:
Like you, we are trying to digest it. The difference between the Biden and the Trump family is that they [the Trumps] are admitting they are doing this. The president campaigned as a business guy. I’m not defending the policy … As long as you disclose your income and disclose the sources, I think that’s acceptable.
Online reactions were far less forgiving. The prevailing sentiment was blunt: “Admitting corruption doesn’t make it right.”
Between 2021 and 2025, Donald Trump moved from dismissing crypto as a “scam” to treating digital assets as one of the core elements of his administration’s economic agenda.
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