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Trump Denies Knowing About $1.4B Crypto Haul, Defends Family's Deals
Trump says he didn't know about the $1.4B crypto income in his financial filing but defends the earnings. The disclosure renews ethics debate as the CLARITY Act faces shrinking window in Congress.
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President Donald Trump said he was unaware of the at least $1.4 billion in cryptocurrency income disclosed in his latest financial filing, while insisting the earnings were legal and refusing to distance himself from his family’s digital asset projects.
Trump's comments came during a CNBC interview days after the Office of Government Ethics released his 2025 financial disclosure. The filing showed the president earned at least $1.4 billion from licensing agreements tied to the Official Trump (TRUMP) meme coin and token sales from Trump-backed World Liberty Financial (WLFI).
“I don’t know about the money,” Trump said. “I could know if I wanted to know. There’s nothing illegal about it.” The remarks were his first direct response to the crypto income since the disclosure went public.
The bulk of the reported earnings came from royalty streams attached to the TRUMP token, which launched in January and quickly surged to a peak above $70 before collapsing. WLFI, the governance token for the Trump-linked DeFi platform World Liberty Financial, also contributed to the figure. Both tokens, along with the separately issued MELANIA coin, now trade well below their all-time highs.
Critics have long argued that the Trump family’s expanding crypto footprint creates a conflict of interest while the president shapes U.S. digital asset policy. Democratic lawmakers pointed to the disclosure as evidence that the administration’s crypto-friendly posture directly enriches the president and his family.
Senator Elizabeth Warren said the filing “raises serious questions about whether Trump is using the presidency to pump his family’s crypto holdings.” Other lawmakers have called for an independent ethics review.
Trump rejected that framing in the interview. He described the meme coin launch as a business decision and said his family had every right to participate in the crypto industry. He did not commit to any divestment or blind trust arrangement for the holdings.
Separate criticism has focused on the structure of the TRUMP and MELANIA token launches. Opponents alleged the projects extracted liquidity from retail investors in a setup that resembled pump-and-dump mechanics. Token prices fell sharply within weeks of their debuts.