Watchdog: Trump Crypto Ventures Cost Investors $4.7 Billion

The bulk of the financial damage stems from Trump's personal meme coin, launched just three days before his second term began. After peaking at over $73 per token, the asset has cratered to approximately $2. Data shows a stark disparity in outcomes: 1% of wallets captured 80% of the gains, while 65% of investors currently remain underwater, facing a collective loss of $3.2 billion. Despite the collapse, the president earned $635 million in licensing fees from the project last year and holds a stake valued at $271 million, having invested no capital of his own.

Additional losses are linked to World Liberty Financial, a venture co-founded by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump. Governance tokens for the platform dropped from a peak of $0.33 in September 2025 to less than $0.06. While early private-sale investors secured profits of up to 283%, public-market buyers have seen their holdings plummet by as much as 83%, resulting in at least $1 billion in losses. The report also notes that Trump-branded NFTs, initially marketed as digital trading cards, have seen their aggregate value fall from $12.3 million to $3 million, even as Trump continued to collect $7.2 million in royalties.

Zach Everson, the report's author, warned against dismissing the victims of these schemes. While acknowledging the temptation to mock those who invested in ventures backed by a man with a history of bankruptcies and legal convictions, Everson emphasized that these individuals were systematically exploited.