Crypt Off
Donald Trump finally found a business he could succeed at. Presidential Corruption. While he’s been lining the Oval Office walls with gold, he’s been giving his pockets the same treatment. In what is certainly an undercount, Trump reported $2.2 billion in revenue during his first year back in office, and a whole lot of that came from crypto payoffs. “One of his biggest hauls in 2025 came when an investment firm tied to the United Arab Emirates bought nearly half of the Trump family’s main crypto company, World Liberty Financial, a transaction that blurred the line between foreign policy and private enterprise.” Blurred is doing a lot of work there. The line has been obliterated. And I don’t mean obliterated like Iran’s nuclear arsenal, I mean like, the line is really gone. From pardons to legislation to international deals, there’s always a money-making angle, and it will likely take us years to account for all the ill-begotten gains. NYT (Gift Article): Trump’s Moneymaking Run: Unrivaled in Presidential History. “Never before in American history has there been anything like Donald J. Trump, a president who in his first year back in office has collected about $1.4 billion in new revenues from cryptocurrency businesses that directly benefited from his actions as president.”
+ As recently as 2021, Trump called Bitcoin “a scam.” So, I guess you can see the attraction. And Trump isn’t the only leader who’s getting in on the action. WSJ (Gift Article): How a crypto exchange became a major hub for illicit Iranian cash.
+ It’s not all about crypto; there are also some bucks stopping here. And many of those are coming from a combination of Trump’s two long-favored side gigs. Attacking media. And Suing. Trump Is Making Bank Off Suing News Organizations.
+ In an act of perfect symmetry, we’re getting this accounting on the same day that Trump is taking his first voyage on the plane gifted to him by Qatar. “The new jet will only temporarily be in the nation’s service, as Boeing is expected to deliver in 2028 long-delayed planes that will permanently serve as Air Force One. Trump … has said in the past that the Qatar plane would end up in a presidential library.” (Anyone wanna bet some crypto that’s not where the plane ends up?)
