Trump Crypto Products Cause $4.7 Billion in Investor Losses

A report from the government watchdog Public Citizen estimates that cryptocurrency products associated with Donald Trump caused investors at least $4.7 billion in losses. The largest portion of these losses, totaling $3.2 billion, resulted from a personal meme coin launched three days before Trump's second term began. The token reached a peak of over $73 before crashing to approximately $2, leaving 65% of wallets underwater.

While investors suffered, Trump earned $635 million in licensing fees from the meme coin last year. Additional losses include $1 billion from governance tokens issued by World Liberty Financial, a venture co-founded by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and $9.3 million from digital trading card NFTs. Trump earned $7.2 million in royalties and licensing fees from the NFTs.

Zach Everson, research director for Public Citizen’s Trump Accountability Project, noted that investors put money into virtual currencies backed by a man who had been convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records and had taken six companies into bankruptcy. Everson stated that despite these red flags, these investors "got screwed over nevertheless."