Donald Trump's Second Term Has Seen Three New Ways—Trump Media & Technology Group, World Liberty Financial and the $TRUMP Meme Coin—for Allies to Direct Money to His Business Empire

Trump maintains control over and can profit from his businesses while in office through a revocable trust, of which he is both the sole donor and sole beneficiary.

Donald Trump’s second term has seen three new ways—Trump Media & Technology Group, World Liberty Financial and the $TRUMP meme coin—for allies, favor seekers, foreign firms and governments and pretty much anyone else to direct money to the president’s business empire.

People walk past an advertisement featuring Donald Trump with Bitcoin in Hong Kong. (Photo by May … More James/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Key Facts

Trump maintains control over and can profit from his businesses while in office through a revocable trust, of which he is both the sole donor and sole beneficiary.

In his first term, those looking to support Trump financially could lend him money against his real estate, license his name, buy his assets, join one of his clubs or book a hotel.

Since leaving office in 2021, Trump’s business empire expanded into the digital realm, where the products are often intangible, but the revenue streams are real and more accessible: Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of the Truth Social platform; World Liberty Financial, a decentralized finance protocol; and the $TRUMP meme coin.

It’s just a few months into his second term, but people and groups are taking full advantage of the new opportunities: Chinese blockchain entrepreneur Justin Sun’s $30 million investment in World Liberty Financial, for example, helped the venture take off and the president and his family went on to net $400 million (by comparison, Forbes estimates it took a Chinese state-owned bank about four years to route $5.4 million to Trump via its Trump Tower lease).

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Forbes in a statement, “President Trump is compliant with all conflict-of-interest rules, and only acts in the best interests of the American public—which is why they overwhelmingly re-elected him to this office, despite years of lies and false accusations against him and his businesses from the fake news media.”

Spokespeople for the Trump Organization, Trump Media, the $TRUMP meme coin and World Liberty Financial did not respond to requests for comment.

Trump Media: Three Different Ways To Back His Media Business

Trump Media incorporated the month after Trump left the White House and went public in March 2024 through a merger with a blank check company. In addition to Truth Social, it runs the streaming service Truth+ and is expanding into financial services. Trump owns 115 million shares–about 52% of the company—worth $2.9 billion as of Friday’s close, held in his revocable trust. Buying shares directly from the company in a private sale would allow for the injection of large sums of cash, while open-market purchases help prop up the value of Trump’s stake. A Canadian credit union, a locality-run bank in Switzerland and a Japanese financial-services firm disclosed owning shares in Trump Media to the Securities and Exchange Commission, although the acquisitions were made prior to Trump’s inauguration. Advertising on Truth Social or Truth+ also offers ways to support the president. It doesn’t look like many big companies are taking advantage of this channel though: Trump Media reported just $821,000 in net sales for the first quarter in a filing on Friday. Its ad inventory currently appears to be dominated by the likes of MAGA retailers, conspiratorial pitches and promotions for Truth+ itself.

$trump Meme Coin Generates Millions In Transaction Fees

Trump launched his meme coin–a cryptocurrency with no intrinsic value that’s typically based on internet jokes and hype–three days before taking office, encouraging his 100 million followers on social media to “join my very special Trump Community” and “celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING!” (The coin quickly reached a $15 billion market cap, though it has since dropped to around $2.8 billion.) CIC Digital, a Trump Organization partner behind the meme coin and another company named Fight Fight Fight retained ownership of 80% of the coins, meaning rising demand boosts the value of their holdings. The plan is to release those holdings over the next three years. The companies also collect a transaction fee of 0.1% to 10% of each trade—an arrangement that generated almost $100 million in the first two weeks, Reuters reported, citing three crypto data firms. And last month, the companies launched a contest promising a black-tie-optional dinner with Trump at his D.C.-area golf club for the top 220 holders. The announcement spiked the coin’s price by 70%, but it has since settled to around $14. More than 70% of the largest holders appear to be based outside the United States, according to crypto researcher Molly White.

World Liberty Financial ($wlfi): Hundreds Of Millions From Sales

Trump serves as the chief crypto advocate and “inspiration” for this decentralized finance platform that debuted in September 2024. The protocol functions