Daily News 19

Tag: Public Citizen

  • Trump Family Crypto Schemes Cost Investors Over $4.7 Billion

    Trump Family Crypto Schemes Cost Investors Over $4.7 Billion

    Trump Family Crypto Ventures Cost Investors Over $4.7 Billion, Public Citizen Report Finds

    A new report from the watchdog group Public Citizen reveals that investors in cryptocurrency schemes launched by the Trump family have collectively lost more than $4.7 billion. The findings, published Thursday, arrive as President Donald Trump urges the Senate to pass crypto market structure legislation next month.

    Official Trump Memecoin Drives $3.2 Billion in Investor Losses

    The Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin stands as the primary source of losses, accounting for $3.2 billion. The president unveiled the token three days before beginning his second term. According to Public Citizen, the token surged to a trading price above $73 within two days of its launch before collapsing. It currently trades below $2, as reported by Cointelegraph and Raw Story.

    Public Citizen emphasized that the $3.2 billion figure represents wealth transferred to early insiders rather than vanished funds. Data shows that 1% of wallets captured 80% of gains, while 65% of holders remain underwater, collectively nursing the $3.2 billion loss.

    President Trump did not lose money on the venture. He neither invested nor spent cash on his wallet, which is valued at $271 million. Additionally, he earned $635 million in licensing fees from the token last year, according to Raw Story.

    World Liberty Financial Tokens and NFT Trading Cards Add to Losses

    World Liberty Financial’s governance token—linked to the project founded by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.—accounts for at least another $1 billion in total losses. The token peaked at $0.33 in September 2025 and now trades below $0.06. Public Citizen notes that private purchasers who bought in at $0.015 or $0.05 are up 15% to 283%, while public market buyers near the peak may be down 83%.

    The 2022 Trump NFT trading cards, initially sold at $99 each, saw overall value plummet from $12.3 million to $3 million, leaving holders nearly $9.3 million in losses. Trump collected $7.2 million in licensing fees and royalties from the cards.

    One asset avoided significant harm. Public Citizen says that buyers of World Liberty’s USD1 stablecoin haven’t suffered major losses.

    Trump’s Crypto Earnings Top $1.4 Billion Amid Investor Losses

    The report tallies the former president’s earnings across these projects:

    • $7.2 million from NFT trading cards
    • $600 million-plus from World Liberty token sales and equity position
    • $635 million from memecoin licensing fees
    • $197 million in capital contributions to World Liberty

    These figures align with Trump’s 2025 crypto-related earnings totaling $1.4 billion, excluding his equity positions in the companies.

    The White House did not immediately respond to a Cointelegraph request for comment. Spokesperson Anna Kelly previously stated there were no conflicts of interest regarding Trump’s crypto assets.

    Public Citizen Urges Ethics Provisions in CLARITY Act

    Zach Everson, research director for Public Citizen’s Trump Accountability Project and the report’s author, urged critics not to mock buyers. Trust me, I get the desire to sneer, he wrote in a Thursday post, before arguing that buyers got screwed over nevertheless.

    Public Citizen used the findings to renew its call for ethics provisions in the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, arguing that the president’s policy choices and personal portfolio cannot be separated and that any market-structure law should force a sitting president and his family to divest from the industry.

    Legislative Timing and Senate Hurdles

    The timing is deliberate. Trump met with crypto executives last week and called for a fair version of the CLARITY Act to pass once the Senate reconvenes. The bill faces a cloture vote on September 15 and requires at least 60 senators to advance.

  • Trump Crypto Ventures Leave Investors $4.7 Billion Underwater, Report Shows

    Trump Crypto Ventures Leave Investors $4.7 Billion Underwater, Report Shows

    Public Citizen estimates that investors in five Trump-linked cryptocurrency ventures have suffered at least $4.7 billion in combined losses through 2025, while former President Donald Trump personally generated approximately $1.4 billion in crypto-related income during the same period, according to the nonprofit watchdog’s analysis and the president’s financial disclosures.

    Breakdown of Estimated Investor Losses Across Trump Crypto Products

    The $4.7 billion figure aggregates both realized and unrealized losses across the following assets:

    • Official Trump memecoin ($TRUMP): $3.2 billion
    • World Liberty Financial governance token ($WLFI): At least $1 billion
    • Trump Media digital-asset treasury: $450 million
    • Trump Digital Trading Cards (NFTs): $9.3 million
    • World Liberty $USD1 stablecoin: No major loss assigned

    Public Citizen noted that $USD1 is designed to maintain a $1 peg and has not experienced a sustained de-pegging event. The organization emphasized that unrealized losses reflect current market values for holders who have not sold, meaning final totals could shift if prices recover or decline further.

    $TRUMP Memecoin: Wealth Transfer from Late Buyers to Early Insiders

    Launched on January 17, 2025 — three days before Trump returned to the White House — the $TRUMP token surged from under $1 to an all-time high of $73.43 before surrendering most of those gains. Citing blockchain intelligence firm Nansen, Public Citizen reported that approximately 1 million retail wallets (65% of those analyzed) were underwater by a combined $3.2 billion.

    Only about $400 million of that total represented realized losses through sales. The top 1% of profitable wallets captured roughly $2.7 billion (80% of all gains), while wallets that entered during the token’s first two days collected nearly 90% of profits.

    In July, crypto.news reported Nansen’s finding that nearly 989,000 wallets accumulated $3.81 billion in realized and paper losses through June 30. Public Citizen attributed the discrepancy to different wallet filters and measurement dates.

    Trump’s Estimated $1.4 Billion in 2025 Crypto Income

    While investors absorbed losses, Public Citizen calculated Trump’s proceeds from the ventures:

    • $635 million in licensing fees from $TRUMP (via CIC Digital LLC, a Trump-owned company that licensed its brand rather than investing directly)
    • $557 million from $WLFI token sales ($527 million in 2025 + ~$30 million in late 2024)
    • $65.6 million from an equity transaction tied to World Liberty Financial
    • $7.2 million+ from digital trading card licensing and royalties

    Two project-affiliated companies retained 80% of $TRUMP’s 1 billion-token supply, scheduled to unlock over three years, and also earn trading-fee revenue regardless of token price direction.

    Trump’s June 2026 annual financial disclosure placed his 2025 crypto-related income above $1 billion, with some calculations nearing $1.4 billion. The filing also listed a cold-wallet Bitcoin position worth over $50 million, a smaller Ethereum holding, and ~$1.8 million in ether staking rewards, along with ongoing exposure to $WLFI and $USD1 (often reported in value ranges per federal ethics rules).

    $WLFI Token: Peak Buyers Down Over 80%

    $WLFI hit a record $0.3313 on September 1, 2025, but Public Citizen valued it at $0.05744 at report time — an 83% decline for peak buyers.

    The largest estimated loss came from AI Financial Corporation (formerly ALT5 Sigma), a Nasdaq-listed firm that acquired 7.28 billion $WLFI tokens for ~$1.46 billion in August 2025. By June 2026, the position was valued at $421 million, implying a ~$1.04 billion paper loss.

    Among ~31,000 likely retail wallets purchasing $WLFI via Ethereum DEXs, Nansen found 25,000 (82%) underwater as of August 3, with $54 million in losses versus $24 million in gains. Centralized exchange activity was excluded due to lack of public account-level data, making the $1 billion estimate a minimum.

    Trump Media Shareholders Face $450 Million Treasury Loss

    Public Citizen attributed a $450 million loss to Trump Media shareholders tied to the company’s digital-asset treasury, noting investors bought shares in a publicly traded U.S. corporation that later allocated corporate funds to cryptocurrencies.

    White House Denies Ethics Concerns

    White House spokesperson Anna Kelly denied that the president’s business interests create an ethics problem. She stated that “neither Trump nor his family has engaged in conflicts of interest,” and the White House maintains that “the president does not participate in the management of his companies.”

    CLARITY Act and Renewed Push for Presidential Divestiture

    Following its loss estimate, Public Citizen called for the CLARITY Act to require a sitting president and immediate family members to divest from crypto ventures, arguing that federal digital-asset policy and the president’s private financial interests “cannot be separated.”

    The bill would:

    • Establish federal categories for digital assets
    • Divide oversight between the SEC and CFTC
    • Impose registration, custody, disclosure, and customer-asset rules for firms serving U.S. investors

    Ethics restrictions remain a key dispute in Senate negotiations, alongside DeFi rules and stablecoin yield provisions. Democratic lawmakers have pressed for limits on crypto holdings by elected officials; the White House rejects claims that Trump’s ventures influence policy.

    Senate Investigation Requests and Upcoming Procedural Vote

    Senators Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal separately asked the SEC in August to investigate whether the $TRUMP token facilitated fraud or improper enrichment after its price fell ~98% from peak. Their request did not establish securities fraud, and the SEC would first need to determine whether federal securities laws apply to the token.

    Trump met with crypto executives and federal regulators at the White House on August 19, urging lawmakers to approve a “fair version” of the legislation. Attendees included leaders from Coinbase, Robinhood, Kraken, Ripple, and other digital-asset firms.

    The Senate’s scheduled procedural vote is set for September 15 at 2:15 p.m. Eastern. Sixty senators must support cloture to begin debate; passage would still leave amendments, a final Senate vote, and reconciliation with the House-approved text.