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The Trump Family Is Going All-In on Crypto Projects, From Bitcoin Mining to Stablecoins

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The Trump Family Is Going All-In on Crypto Projects, From Bitcoin Mining to Stablecoins

(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump and his family have taken a interest in just about every corner of the crypto industry.

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There are nonfungible tokens and digital collectibles; a decentralized finance project; a proposed stablecoin; an effort at Bitcoin mining; and a pair of memecoins, one for the president and one for First Lady Melania Trump.

Taken together, the various projects are approaching $1 billion in paper gains even after accounting for the latest round of trade war-induced market gyrations, according to Bloomberg calculations based on publicly available data.

Donald Trump is already the richest person to have ever become US president, and his non-crypto holdings include significant investments in real estate. After his first election in 2016, Trump’s lawyers created a trust to handle his business affairs. That was managed by his two eldest sons and by Allen Weisselberg, the longtime chief financial officer of Trump’s real estate company.

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Eric Trump has emphasized that “there are no conflicts” related to the family’s crypto investments.

“I don’t work with the White House,” Eric Trump said during a Bloomberg TV interview in April. “We’ve believed in crypto for a long time.”

The president’s own public conversion to crypto is still relatively new. Trump called Bitcoin a “scam” as recently as 2021, telling Fox Business at the time that he didn’t like the token “because it’s another currency competing against the dollar” and that it should be regulated “very, very high.”

Trump’s relationship with the digital asset industry has evolved significantly since then. As a candidate, he courted and benefited from significant contributions to his reelection campaign from crypto executives and advocates.

In his second term, Trump has signed executive orders in support of his promise to make the US the crypto capital of the planet, installed David Sacks and Bo Hines to represent the interests of the industry, and continued to tout his memecoin with posts on Truth Social.

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“Trump and his family seem eager to establish a broad foothold in the sector prior to further regulatory actions that are likely to boost cryptoasset valuations,” said Eswar Prasad, professor of trade policy at Cornell University.

Here’s how the Trump crypto portfolio has evolved.

Nonfungible Tokens: Dec. 2022

Trump became a crypto convert after falling in love with his own digital collectibles, known as nonfungible tokens.

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Bill Zanker, a friend of Trump’s and the founder of adult-education company The Learning Annex, initially pitched him the idea. Since then, the Trump Trading Cards NFTs, which show him in a variety of poses and outfits (sometimes dressed as a superhero), have been spread out over four collections.

The president last year hosted dinners for fans who purchased his NFTs, which, according to financial disclosures, have brought in millions of dollars.

Decentralized Finance: Sept. 2024

The Trump family announced its crypto project World Liberty Financial ahead of the US election. Since its inception, the project has been buying up millions of dollars worth of other cryptocurrencies, including Ether and Tron, though has yet to offer promised DeFi services like lending crypto without any intermediaries.

A company affiliated with Trump receives 75% of net revenue as a fee, including the proceeds of token sales, according to offering documents. The Trump family owns 60% of the equity share of the World Liberty through their company DT Marks DeFi LLC.

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The company has raised $550 million in token sales after completing a second round last month.

Zach Witkoff, one of World Liberty’s co-founders, is the son of Steve Witkoff, who helped connect the president’s family to other World Liberty Financial’s participants. Since the platform’s token sale in October, observers have raised questions about its potential conflicts of interest for the Trump family, given the administration’s sway over regulations.

Trump’s sons, Donald Jr., Eric, and Barron, are all listed as “Web3 Advisors” to World Liberty Financial. The family actively promotes the project through social media and public appearances.

Memecoins: Jan. 2025

The day before Trump’s inauguration, he and his wife, Melania, launched their own memecoins, a highly speculative corner of crypto in which the asset doesn’t have much intrinsic value. After an initial surge, which likely generated more than $11.4 million in fees for entities linked to the president in January alone, prices have tanked.

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The foray was met with mixed reaction from the crypto industry, as many believed it hurt the push to appear more legitimate. Two Trump-linked entities — CIC Digital and Fight Fight Fight LLC — own 80% of the supply, a holding that will be unlocked over three years.

ETFs: Feb. 2025

Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. said in early February that it had applied to trademark brands for investment products with themes that track Trump’s priorities, including a “Truth.Fi Bitcoin Plus ETF.”

It has said it would work with Crypto.com to launch the ETF. The month before Trump’s election win, the SEC filed a notice that it intended to sue Crypto.com for operating an unregistered securities exchange. It closed its probe in March, according to the company.

Stablecoin: March 25

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World Liberty Financial announced plans to launch its own dollar-tracking stablecoin called USD1, which will be initially minted on the Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain blockchains. The token will be backed one-to-one by short-term US Treasuries, dollar deposits and other cash equivalents, according to World Liberty.

The move came just ahead of landmark stablecoin legislation that advanced through the House Financial Services Committee, with crypto companies pitching stablecoins as a way to make global financial transactions cheaper and faster.

Bitcoin Mining: March 31

The Trump family said it plans to launch a Bitcoin mining-focused venture with Hut 8 Corp. Bitcoin miners were early supporters of Trump’s reelection campaign. In June 2024, then-candidate Trump hosted several mining executives at Mar-a-Lago, telling them he’d be an advocate for them in the White House.

The Bitcoin mining sector in the US has morphed into a multibillion dollar industry.

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“Investing in crypto is no longer as simple as holding Bitcoin,” said Campbell Harvey, a professor of finance at Duke University. “There are many different crypto segments. Trump has a presence in lending, a future stablecoin, other cryptoassets, and now a mining operation.”

–With assistance from Annie Massa, Kyle Kim (News), Muyao Shen and Dave Liedtka.

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XRP Stalls Despite Bullish Developments and Ripple’s Institutional Momentum

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XRP Stalls Despite Bullish Developments and Ripple’s Institutional Momentum
XRP is consolidating near a key level as Ripple expands its regulated global finance footprint, signaling patience in price action while adoption, institutional integration, and regulatory clarity quietly strengthen the crypto asset’s long-term foundation.
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This Popular Cryptocurrency Could Soar by 177% in 2026, According to Wall Street Analyst Tom Lee

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This Popular Cryptocurrency Could Soar by 177% in 2026, According to Wall Street Analyst Tom Lee

Key Points

  • Ethereum is the leading platform for developers who want to build decentralized software applications, which are popular in areas like gaming and finance.

  • Ether, which is Ethereum’s native cryptocurrency, set a new record high during 2025, but it ended the year in the red.

  • Wall Street analyst Tom Lee thinks Ether could soar in the early stages of 2026, and he chairs a company that owns over $13 billion worth of coins.

Cryptocurrencies had a tough year in 2025, with most popular coins and tokens suffering losses. Not even the industry leaders like Bitcoin and Ethereum(CRYPTO: ETH) were spared, ending the year down 5% and 11%, respectively.

But 2026 is here, and Wall Street analyst Tom Lee recently came out with a set of very bullish forecasts. He thinks Ether, which is the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum network, could soar to $9,000 per coin early in the year, implying a potential upside of 177% from where it’s trading as I write this.

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Lee founded Fundstrat Global Advisors, but he’s also the chairman of BitMine Immersion Technologies(NYSEMKT: BMNR), which owns approximately $13.4 billion worth of Ethereum, so he certainly has some skin in the game. How realistic is his latest forecast?

Image source: Getty Images.

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What is Ethereum?

Ethereum is a platform where people develop decentralized software applications, which are increasingly popular in industries like gaming and financial services. These apps are governed by smart contracts, which are pieces of computer code that live on the Ethereum blockchain. They typically can’t be changed, so no person or company can manipulate the app’s core set of rules, ensuring it stays decentralized.

The Ethereum network itself is also completely decentralized. Instead of using one large data center, it’s hosted on thousands of nodes (computers) all over the world that store an updated copy of its blockchain. Therefore, the network won’t be compromised even if some nodes go down, and that’s how Ethereum has boasted 100% uptime over the last decade.

Ether is like the fuel that makes the Ethereum network function. Every time a person activates a smart contract by using an app, or even transfers a crypto token built on Ethereum, they incur a fee that is payable in Ether. Therefore, the larger the network grows, the more demand there is for Ether, and the more valuable the coin becomes (in theory).

Thousands of decentralized apps have been built on Ethereum so far. Uniswap, for instance, is a popular exchange where people can trade their cryptocurrencies for other cryptocurrencies. Pricing and execution is handled entirely by smart contracts with no intermediaries, creating a lightning-fast and cost-effective experience. Users don’t even need to create an account, because they can connect their crypto wallets directly to Uniswap and immediately start transacting.

How realistic is Lee’s target?

Tom Lee thinks decentralized apps will take over the financial industry, and as the largest platform of its kind, he’s betting Ethereum will lead the transition. The world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, is already exploring plans to tokenize some of its exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by moving them onto the blockchain, where they can trade more efficiently compared to using traditional stock exchanges.

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That is just one example suggesting Lee could eventually be right. But the growing adoption of stablecoins — many of which are built on Ethereum — is another sign. These cryptocurrencies are designed to maintain a stable value (hence their name), and they can be sent anywhere in the world practically instantly. Therefore, they are far more efficient than traditional payment rails that often take several days to move money across borders.

According to Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment Management, over $15 trillion in payment volume was processed using stablecoins in 2024, which was more volume than both Visa and Mastercard processed.

But could all of this send Ether soaring by 177% to $9,000 per coin in the early stages of 2026? I’m not so sure. Ether climbed to a record price of $4,946 per coin in 2025, which was a win for investors, but it was the first new high in four years. Plus, the coin has already lost 32% of its peak value, so I’m not sure if it can muster enough momentum to almost triple in value in the next few months like Lee predicts.

With that said, $9,000 per coin would give Ether a market capitalization of around $1.08 trillion, so it would still be much smaller than Bitcoin, which has a market cap of $1.85 trillion. Therefore, I wouldn’t rule out Lee’s target, especially if the decentralized revolution continues to gather momentum, but I would certainly be cautious about the timing. Plus, it’s important to remember Lee chairs the BitMine Immersion Technologies company, which owns 4.1 million Ether coins, so he has a vested interest in putting forward highly bullish targets.

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Anthony Di Pizio has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin, Ethereum, Mastercard, and Visa. The Motley Fool recommends BlackRock. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Fed ‘Sweet Spot’ Sends Signal for Bitcoin as Jobs Data Quietly Sets Stage for $100K BTC

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Fed ‘Sweet Spot’ Sends Signal for Bitcoin as Jobs Data Quietly Sets Stage for 0K BTC
Bitcoin’s march toward $100,000 is gaining momentum as cooling U.S. labor data, shifting Fed policy expectations, and geopolitical tensions converge, setting the stage for renewed price discovery and a possible breakout beyond prior all-time highs.
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