How Trump's crypto ventures made billions, while retail investors suffered losses

President Donald Trump's cryptocurrency ventures generated more than $1.4 billion in 2025, making it his most profitable business year on record.

This windfall came even as many retail investors who backed Trump-linked crypto projects and other Trump-branded investments suffered steep losses.

A Reuters analysis of Trump's latest financial disclosures filed with the US Office of Government Ethics found that the president significantly increased his holdings of traditional assets such as stocks and bonds during the same period that his family's cryptocurrency ventures generated billions in proceeds.

While Trump's rapidly expanding crypto empire generated financial success for the Trump family, individual investors who bought into the assets incurred sharp losses.

Crypto profits flowed into traditional investments

According to Reuters, Trump received more than $1.4 billion in 2025 from family-backed crypto projects, including World Liberty Financial and the Trump meme coin.

The president's financial disclosures show his holdings of stocks and bonds increased at least fourfold over the past year.

His portfolio of traditional financial assets stood between $703 million and $2.6 billion at the end of 2025, compared with between $225 million and $608 million a year earlier.

Because disclosure forms report assets in value ranges rather than precise figures, Reuters said it could not determine exactly how much of Trump's crypto earnings were shifted into conventional investments.

Trump also continued expanding his digital asset exposure.

The filings show he owned 15.75 billion World Liberty governance tokens valued at more than $50 million.

Companies managing Trump's interests in World Liberty Financial and the Trump meme coin also held at least $160 million worth of bitcoin and ether, along with up to $6 million in other digital tokens.

The Trump Organization said the disclosures demonstrate the company maintains "a strong financial position, supported by world class, valuable assets, substantial liquidity and a conservative balance sheet."

The White House stated that Trump's assets are held in fully discretionary accounts managed by independent third-party financial institutions.

World Liberty spokesman David Wachsman said, "World Liberty has been built for the long-term and we strongly believe the future of financial services will be architected with digital asset technology."

Trump's family became prominent crypto advocates

Trump's sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., have played leading roles promoting the family's cryptocurrency businesses while overseeing the trust that manages the president's assets.

Eric Trump repeatedly described bitcoin as "the greatest asset" of modern times and predicted it would eventually reach $1 million.

The family's crypto expansion accelerated after the launch of World Liberty Financial during the 2024 presidential campaign.

The Trump administration adopted a significantly more crypto-friendly regulatory approach from the previous administration.

Bitcoin reached record highs in 2025 as the administration eased industry oversight and reduced enforcement efforts.

Retail investors absorbed heavy losses

The strong financial performance enjoyed by the Trump family contrasted sharply with the experience of many individual investors.

Reuters previously reported that retail investors in four major Trump-backed crypto projects had collectively lost $2.3 billion as of April.

The Independent cited crypto analytics firm Nansen, which estimated that roughly two-thirds of investors who bought Trump's meme coin lost money. It reported cumulative losses of $3.81 billion by late June among holders of the token.

Another Nansen analysis found that approximately 85% of investors in one World Liberty token were also sitting on losses.

Reuters reported that a California software engineer who invested approximately $2,000 in Trump's meme coin saw its value decline to less than $120 within five months.

Broader collapse across Trump-linked investments

A separate Forbes investigation examined five Trump-family investment ventures that reached public investors between 2021 and 2025: Trump Media, World Liberty Financial, Trump's memecoin, Melania Trump's memecoin and American Bitcoin.

According to Forbes calculations, the Trump family realized approximately $1.9 billion through cash sales and remains ahead in their investment by roughly $3.1 billion overall.

Meanwhile, supporters who invested in those ventures have collectively lost an estimated $7 billion.

Several Trump-linked assets have experienced dramatic declines from their peak values.

Trump Media shares are down 89% from their highs, World Liberty tokens have fallen 82%, Trump's memecoin has declined 98%, Melania Trump's memecoin has dropped 99%, and American Bitcoin shares have lost 95%.

Forbes interviewed several retail investors whose losses extended well beyond crypto.

Washington truck driver Vadim Fistikan invested as much as $205,000 in Trump Media after postponing plans to purchase a Florida home. According to Forbes, his investment has fallen to roughly $30,000.

Another investor, Nick Pinto, increased his Trump memecoin position to approximately $480,000 after qualifying for a Trump-hosted dinner for major token holders. He later sold most of his holdings, locking in losses of roughly $250,000.

Ryan Kenney invested nearly $98,000 in American Bitcoin following its public listing announcement. Forbes reported that the position is now worth about $9,000.

Even billionaires have shown regret after dipping into Trump's ventures. Tron's founder Justin Sun invested $45 million in World Liberty Financial tokens after Trump won the 2024 election.

Sun also invested $100 million in Trump memecoin in July 2025.

Things took a turn when Sun filed a lawsuit against World Liberty Financial in April, alleging that the venture asked him to increase his investments and froze his assets when he refused.

World Liberty countersued Sun and said it had the right to freeze Sun's tokens.

Sun also claimed that World Liberty began taking risky loans after sending money to Trump and other insiders.

Sun's suit argued that the company's recent actions have increased concerns that it is on the “brink of collapse and potential insolvency.”

Sun has tried not to blame Trump in the lawsuit and said the fault lies with certain individuals on the World Liberty project team.

While Trump's crypto ventures delivered record financial gains for the president and his family, media reports highlight a starkly different outcome for many individual investors.