Trump family assets reportedly increased by $1.3 billion after the launch of ABTC and WLFI

From campaign to $670 million profit

Launched in September 2024 amid Trump's presidential run, World Liberty Financial emerged as a DeFi powerhouse with the promise of " financial freedom without intermediaries ."

Co-founded by Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Barron Trump, and Steve Witkoff (currently Trump's Middle East envoy), the project raised over $550 million from private sales of its $WLFI governance token at 1.5–5 cents per token.

Trump himself is listed as an “Honorary Co-Founder,” with family entities controlling 60% of parent company WLF Holdco LLC and 22.5% of the total 100 billion WLFI tokens — equivalent to approximately 22.5 billion tokens.

The token, which was initially used to vote on protocol changes like code updates, was partially unlocked for trading on September 1, 2025, after a vote by investors in July allowed early investors to sell 20% of their holdings.

Launched on Binance, Coinbase, and OKX, WLFI spiked to $0.40 before settling at $0.23, bringing in $1 billion in trading volume in its first hour and a $7 billion market capitalization (31st largest cryptocurrency).

This values ​​the family's stake at $5.2 billion on paper, but Bloomberg's additional $670 million does not include locked-up founding tokens (vesting period to be announced later), focusing on unlocked ecosystem profits and revenue sharing.

A key deal in August amplified this surprise gain: WLFI partnered with Nasdaq-listed ALT5 Sigma Corp. (formerly a biotech company) to raise $1.5 billion through 200 million shares, which were earmarked for the WLFI acquisition — representing 7.5% of total supply.

Eric Trump joined the board of ALT5, Zach Witkoff (Steve's son) became chairman, and WLFI received $750 million in WLFI plus stock in exchange, giving the Trump family 75% of sales revenue (already over $500 million).

This “treasury strategy,” modeled after MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin strategy, positions ALT5 stock as a WLFI proxy for TradFi investors, potentially increasing in value amid Trump’s push for deregulation.

WLFI has also released USD1, a stablecoin pegged to the dollar and backed by US Treasury bonds, which is integrated for DeFi lending and payments—though the full implementation of the platform is still pending.

The governance cap limits any wallet to 5% of voting power, ostensibly to limit insider dominance, but this family's control raises red flags.

Eric Trump's $500 Million Mining Operation

Complementing WLFI’s DeFi focus, American Bitcoin Corp. (ABTC) represents the Trump family’s foray into Bitcoin mining, launching in March 2025—two months after taking office.

Backed by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, ABTC merged with Gryphon Digital Mining, a publicly traded mining company, and Hut 8 Corp. provided the infrastructure, allowing the Trump family to participate without upfront hardware costs.

ABTC relisted on US exchanges on September 3, spiking to $14 (having been halted five times due to volatility) before stabilizing at $7.36—a drop of more than 50%.

Eric Trump's stake was worth more than $500 million at its peak, contributing largely to the $1.3 billion gain.

As chief strategy officer, Eric oversees efforts toward a public listing and expansion, taking advantage of US energy policies that are favorable to miners.

With the Bitcoin halving behind us and institutional adoption on the rise, ABTC aims to hit a hash rate of 10 EH/s by 2026, but faces energy costs (up 15% YTD) and competition from giants like Marathon Digital.

This mining shift is in line with Trump's "buy Bitcoin now" slogan at the Bitcoin 2025 conference, echoing the strategy of Michael Saylor (formerly of MicroStrategy), whose $74 billion BTC stockpile has driven his stock price sky high.

Evaluation and Conclusion

This crypto foray cements the Trump family’s leadership in blockchain, outpacing real estate in speed (from steak to stablecoin). Globally, it has inspired copycats — Hong Kong’s SFC is targeting WLFI-like pilots — while fragmenting DeFi with its US-centric governance.

Economically, it drives retail investor FOMO into policy-aligned assets, potentially adding $10-20 billion in liquidity. But if a bear market occurs, a mass liquidation could tarnish the “Trump brand.” As ethics expert Ann Angel notes, layered entities protect Trump legally, but transparency lags.

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