Trump reports $57M earnings from World Liberty Financial

US President Donald Trump has revealed earning $57 million from World Liberty Financial (WLF), a cryptocurrency venture he is involved in alongside his sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.

According to a more than 200-page financial disclosure filed with the US Office of Government Ethics, Trump also holds 15.75 billion governance tokens in WLF—granting him significant voting power within the company.

The disclosure shows that WLF was Trump’s single largest income source among hundreds of assets, surpassing revenue from his books and real estate holdings.

The filing is expected to intensify scrutiny over Trump’s growing ties to the crypto sector, with critics raising concerns about possible conflicts of interest.

Trump earns significant income amid his pro-crypto stance 

World Liberty Financial announced in January that it has sold 21 billion tokens in a public sale, hitting its target of raising $ 1 billion. A filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in 2024 described the special envoy for Trump, Steve Witkoff, as a promoter for WLF.

Public support from Trump has helped fuel a rally in crypto markets, sending the price of Bitcoin to over $100,000 a coin. In addition, under chair Paul Atkins, the SEC has dismissed several high-profile cases against crypto groups.

Interestingly, Trump has often promoted his $TRUMP meme coin on social media. He also hosted a gala dinner for its largest holders last month.

Last week, the Trump family media company said it was planning to launch its own exchange-traded fund to hold Bitcoin directly, and in May, it said it would raise $2.5 billion to establish a “Bitcoin treasury.”

During a Bitcoin conference in Las Vegas in May, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr revealed that cryptocurrencies were cheaper, faster, more secure, and more transparent than traditional fiat currencies.

The White House did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

World Liberty reveals Trump’s family as its major shareholder

World Liberty, launched last fall, aims to make financial services reachable to people in cryptocurrencies without intermediaries like banks—a concept known as decentralized finance (DeFi). However, it has yet to release a public platform, and according to a review of the project, it has only a small staff.

Nonetheless, World Liberty said in mid-March that it had raised $550 million by selling “governance tokens.” According to reliable sources, most sales occurred following Trump’s victory in November.

The tokens, denoted by the symbol $WLFI, entitle holders to vote on proposed changes to a project’s underlying code and signal their perspective on its vision and future road maps. Still, they cannot be traded.

It is worth noting that while World Liberty Financial took in more than half a billion dollars, President Donald Trump’s family seized control of the crypto venture and much of that money with it. This is supported by governance rules that industry experts believe disproportionately favor insiders.

This was revealed after World Liberty announced in January that the Trump family had acquired the business as its fundraising gained momentum.

Two of the co-founders of World Liberty, crypto entrepreneurs Zak Folkman and Chase Herro, have been replaced as the main leaders by a group with a 60% ownership stake from the Trump family. 

The Trump family claims 75% of the profits from token sales and 60% from World Liberty’s operations once they begin. This setup means the Trump family is set to receive around $400 million in fees. 

Following the mid-March sales, after the co-founders took their share, World Liberty only retained 5% of the $550 million raised to develop the platform.

Trump’s family faces criticism over their shareholder capacity in WLF

The way this project is organized, especially with the Trump family’s large share of revenue and the fact that governance tokens cannot be traded, makes World Liberty quite centralized compared to others in the industry. 

This conclusion comes from a review of practices at the five biggest DeFi lending platforms and interviews with four US professors who study crypto. 

Jim Angel, an associate professor at Georgetown University who focuses on DeFi regulation, said he finds it hard to see any financial advantage for those holding these tokens. 

Additionally, David Krause, a finance professor at Marquette University in Milwaukee who recently studied World Liberty, noted that the project’s structure effectively keeps public investors or token holders from having any real financial involvement. 

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