Trump earned over Ksh129B from Crypto in 2025 financial disclosure
By BBC, July 1, 2026US President Donald Trump made more than Ksh129.6 billion (about £750 million)last year from business dealings in cryptocurrency, according to his mandatory financial report for 2025.
In a 927-page disclosure, he reported Ksh82.3 billion in royalties from an entity called Celebration Coins, thought to be behind the $TRUMP meme coin which has plunged in value since he launched it days before taking office.
He also reported over Ksh64.8 billion in income from World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm founded by his own sons and the children of his special envoy, Steve Witkoff.
The White House denied he was profiting from the presidency. Trump said on Wednesday that “everybody” was profiting from rising stock markets, and that he doesn’t get involved with his personal finances.
The earnings from his latest financial disclosure, which come to at least Ksh285.1 billion, far outpace the previous ones for 2024, when Trump disclosed over Ksh77.8 billion of income.
But the White House, which has repeatedly emphasised that Trump has placed his businesses in a trust managed by his sons, again denied any conflict of interest.
White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said the president had proudly made the US “the crypto capital of the world”.
“Neither the President nor his family has ever engaged – or will ever engage – in conflicts of interest,” she said in a statement.
She added: “All actions by President Trump and his administration are taken in the best interest of the American people – and any so-called ‘reporters’ pushing otherwise are recycling the same, tired, false narrative that Democrats and the legacy media have been pushing for a decade.”
The president himself has also highlighted that he is not subject to federal conflict of interest laws. Trump told reporters on Wednesday: “You know why I’m profiting, because the stock market’s going up, everybody’s profiting.”
He said: “I don’t get involved in my personal [finances], we have funds that run my money. “I’ve made a lot of money before I became president, and they invest my money, and I don’t talk to them.”
Critics raise conflict of interest concerns
Trump once criticised cryptocurrency, famously calling Bitcoin a “scam” in 2021 and a “disaster waiting to happen”.
But, during his presidential campaign three years later, Trump said he wanted to make the US the “crypto capital of the planet”. One of his first actions when he returned to the White House last year was an executive order to “support the responsible growth” of the crypto industry.
Richard Painter, the former chief White House ethics lawyer under George W Bush, told the BBC it was “extraordinary”, that Trump had made $1bn from crypto. “Of course it’s a conflict of interest,” he said.
Will Walker-Arnott, director of private clients at Raymond James Wealth Management, said: “His approach, I suppose, is in contrast to previous presidents in terms of money making.
“Jimmy Carter put his peanut farm into a blind trust and George W Bush sold his interest in the Texas Rangers before becoming president, but Trump seems to be operating in a very different manner and seems to be making a lot of money through this family crypto company.”
Real estate and brand ventures remain lucrative
Tuesday’s disclosure shows his crypto earnings far overshadow income from his real estate business, which first catapulted him to fame.
Trump earned around Ksh10 billion from his Mar-a-Lago club and Ksh15.8 billion from his golf club in Doral, Florida. He also earned more than Ksh3.9 billion each from golf clubs in Bedminster, New Jersey, Jupiter, Florida, and Turnberry, Scotland.
Trump also earned millions from other business ventures, according to the financial disclosure. These included Ksh609.1 million in royalties from Trump-branded watches, along with Trump-branded Bibles, trainers, fragrances and guitars.
First Lady Melania Trump also listed her income from 2025 in the disclosure. She made Ksh1.39 billion from a “license agreement” related to the documentary about her that was released last year.
Another Ksh777.6 million in income is listed for her from the sale of NFTs, which are digital images sold online. The president listed some Ksh11.2 billion of income in settlements from various legal actions.
These included Ksh2.07 billion from a lawsuit against ABC, Ksh2.07 billion from CBS Broadcasting and CBS Interactive, Ksh3.18 billion from Meta, Ksh2.85 billion from YouTube and Ksh1.04 billion from X.
But the White House has said most of that money went towards Trump’s future presidential library or a nonprofit dedicated to the upkeep of park sites in the Washington DC area.
Wealth grows as administration backs crypto industry
According to a list of the world’s richest people compiled by Forbes magazine, Trump has an estimated fortune of Ksh777.6 billion – up from Ksh298.1 billion in 2024. Bloomberg’s Billionaire’s Index puts the president’s net worth at Ksh985 billion.
After his return to the White House, Trump adopted a friendly approach to the crypto industry, even as companies linked to his family issued digital tokens. The Trump-appointed head of financial regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission, is also seen as an ally of the crypto industry.
Since taking office in April 2025, Paul Atkins has shifted the agency away from the strict, regulation-by-enforcement approach of his predecessor. Last July, the president signed the GENIUS Act into law, to make “make America the undisputed leader in digital assets”.
At more than 900 pages, Trump’s annual filing dwarfs those of his predecessors. For example, Joe Biden’s financial report for his last full year in office was 11 pages long.