On June 11, crypto research firm 137 Labs cited two investigative reports by Reuters, documenting that since the Trump family’s return to the White House, it has generated approximately $2.3 billion in cumulative revenue through World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the TRUMP meme coin, AmericanBitcoin, and ALT5Sigma. Losses among participating investors are also close to $2.3 billion.
WLFI: Reuters confirms about $1.6 billion in revenue brought by the Trump family
According to Reuters’ investigation, World Liberty Financial (WLFI) is the business with the highest estimated earnings within the Trump family’s crypto portfolio. Reuters’ report cites publicly disclosed documents stating that Trump-linked entities hold key economic interests in the WLFI project and receive a high share of token-sale proceeds.
The governance tokens issued by WLFI do not have free-trading attributes; after investors buy them, they remain locked up for the long term and cannot circulate freely in public markets. WLFI also separately launched a stablecoin, USD1. Its business model is similar to USDT and USDC—using the dollars deposited by users to buy low-risk assets such as U.S. Treasury securities, and profiting from interest income.
Reuters’ report confirms that investor losses related to WLFI have already reached a scale of hundreds of millions of dollars.
<a data-currency='TRUMP' href='/trade/TRUMP_USDT'>$TRUMP Meme coin: Reuters confirms the token has fallen more than 97% from its all-time high
Based on Reuters’ investigation, Trump-linked entities benefited by more than $600 million from the TRUMP meme coin business through holding reserved tokens and receiving related fee revenue. Reuters also recorded that the TRUMP meme coin business generated more than $600 million in profit. Reuters also recorded that the TRUMP token has cumulatively dropped more than 97% since its all-time high.
The report recorded loss cases involving multiple retail investors; some interviewees said their investment decisions were based on trust in the Trump brand and the presidential identity, rather than on technical analysis of the project. Public records cited by Reuters’ investigation also show that Trump repeatedly expressed skepticism toward Bitcoin between 2019 and 2021, and publicly said that Bitcoin “looks like a scam.” His stance shifted to support the crypto industry during the 2024 presidential campaign.
American Bitcoin and AI Financial: valuation changes after the listed merger
American Bitcoin is a Bitcoin mining company that achieved public trading through merging with a listed company. Reuters’ report records that after the Trump family’s involvement, the market assigned it a valuation significantly higher than the average level for mining companies, and the book value of Trump-linked holdings rose accordingly.
ALT5 Sigma renamed to AI Financial; its business covers digital payments and crypto-asset settlement. After the renaming, the company stacked three market labels—artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, and Trump—its stock price surged sharply at one point, before showing a clear decline afterward.
FAQ
In Reuters’ investigation, does “$2.3 billion in family profits, $2.3 billion in investor losses” mean a direct one-to-one correspondence?
The investigation analysis clearly states that the two sets of $2.3 billion figures do not represent a strict one-to-one correspondence, but instead respectively reflect the estimated cumulative earnings of the Trump family across four businesses during the same period, as well as the overall unrealized losses on investors’ books for participation in these projects.
How does the USD1 stablecoin business model of WLFI differ from mainstream stablecoins?
Reuters’ investigation shows that USD1’s business model is similar to USDT and USDC: both use dollars deposited by users to buy low-risk assets such as U.S. Treasury securities, with interest income as the source of profits. The differences mainly lie in the contract arrangements of Trump-linked entities in WLFI, as well as the distribution structure and lock-up mechanism of WLFI governance tokens.
Have the Trump family or the parties behind the related projects made any public response to Reuters’ report?
In this article and in the 137 Labs analysis piece, no official public response from the Trump family or the project parties of the four businesses above regarding Reuters’ investigative report is recorded.
