“From a criminal court standpoint, things like that, he did nothing wrong,” Nathan C. Goldman, a professor at the Poole College of Management at NC State University of President Donald Trump’s soaring wealth in a recent interview with Audacy.
A report issued this week by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics revealed that the Trump family received over $1.4 billion in income in cryptocurrency ventures last year, the first of his second non-consecutive term in office. This report came around the same time as another report from UBS suggested that typical Americans have experienced a major decline in wealth since the start of the decade.
News of Trump’s fast-growing wealth also comes as Americans continue to deal with inflation, high prices at the pump due to the war in Iran and decades of sluggish wage growth that hasn’t kept pace with inflation. Goldman noted that report was more than 900 pages, compared to reports under 20 pages for other high-ranking members of the government.
“From a more from a, like, ‘does it feel icky?’ type standpoint, it definitely does,” said Goldman of Trump’s crypto income. “He clearly profited off of his name, image and likeness, he profited off his loyal band of followers that were going to invest in stuff when he said you should invest in this.”
Trump’s new wealth comes in part from “meme” coins that use his name and face. They are part of a world of digital assets called cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is the most well-known of these assets, and it is made up of digital blockchain, with its worth entirely dependent on supply and demand. Since no central bank regulates crypto all of these assets – including Trump’s crypto – function that way, Goldman explained.
While crypto has been at times used to buy and sell goods (Goldman mentioned that Tesla at one point accepted Bitcoin and that it was used in one notable case to buy a pizza) it is often considered an investment. Per a Reuters article on the government report, Trump got more than $500 million from his World Liberty Financial business selling new crypto products, including “governance tokens,” and another crypto business, CIC Digital LLC, took in more than $600 million from sales of souvenir-type “meme” coins stamped with his face.
When Trump ran for office, he promised to roll back crypto regulations, and Goldman said he followed through on that promise. With those roll backs, “it’s really become a lot easier for companies or individuals to sort of take advantage of the system,” he added.
Crypto has overshadowed Trump’s signature real estate business when it comes to income, the Associated Press noted. However, crypto income hasn’t been the only win for Trump since he returned to the White House. According to CNN, “his two premier Florida resorts [Mar-a-Lago and Trump National Doral] have also delivered record-breaking surges in revenue,” and Trump- raised the Mar-a-Lago membership fee to $1 million shortly before the 2024 election.
“In total, it appears that Trump added about $2.2 billion to his net worth in 2025 – by far his most lucrative year in the presidency, and far more than in 2024, when he reported earning about $600 million,” said Mother Jones.
