Trump Family Earned ~$500M From Crypto Deal While Investor Company Faces Delisting
The Trump family collected approximately $500 million from a 2025 cryptocurrency deal involving World Liberty Financial and a publicly traded company called Alt5 Sigma (now AI Financial Corp.), while investors in that company have seen shares fall more than 90% and the firm now faces Nasdaq delisting. The Trump family is entitled to 75% of proceeds from World Liberty token sales, and a broader Reuters analysis found Trump-linked crypto ventures generated at least $2.3 billion for the family while over one million investors collectively lost a similar amount. The situation has drawn calls for SEC investigation and raised conflict-of-interest concerns, given the Trump administration's role in regulating the crypto industry.
In August 2025, Alt5 Sigma — a company that had previously cycled through identities as a recycler and biotech firm — announced a $1.5 billion deal with World Liberty Financial, the crypto venture co-founded by Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Barron Trump, and the Witkoff brothers. Alt5 acquired roughly 7.3 billion WLFI governance tokens, funded partly by selling $750 million in its own stock to investors at $7.50 per share; the Trump family, entitled to 75% of World Liberty's token-sale proceeds, received approximately $500 million from the transaction. Since then, Alt5 — rebranded as AI Financial Corp. — has seen its share price collapse from $8.97 to around 66 cents, a 93% decline, and the company has warned of substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern, with WLFI tokens losing roughly 72% of their value. The company has cycled through three CEOs and three outside auditors, borrowed $15 million from World Liberty in a failed attempt to prop up its share price, and now faces Nasdaq delisting if shares do not recover above $1 within 15 trading days. A broader Reuters investigation found that across four Trump-linked crypto ventures — World Liberty Financial, AI Financial, American Bitcoin, and the $TRUMP meme coin — the family generated at least $2.3 billion in profit while retail and institutional investors collectively lost approximately the same amount. Ethics experts and former officials, including former New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin, have called the situation a serious red flag warranting regulatory investigation, while the White House and Trump Organization deny any conflicts of interest and say neither Eric nor Donald Trump Jr. have any operational role in AI Financial.
What's missing
It remains unclear what, if any, regulatory actions the SEC or DOJ have actually initiated regarding AI Financial or World Liberty Financial; enforcement agencies do not typically confirm ongoing investigations. The precise exit timing and net profit or loss for institutional investors like Point72 and ExodusPoint — who may have hedged or sold portions of their positions — is not fully disclosed in public filings, making the true distribution of investor losses difficult to quantify with precision.
How coverage differed
CNBC and NDTV presented the story in largely neutral, fact-based terms focused on the financial mechanics and investor losses, while The Independent and The Daily Beast used more pointed framing — emphasizing that investors were 'left holding the bag' and that the Trump family 'scored a massive payday' — reflecting a slightly more critical editorial tone. Salon's included article diverges significantly, focusing on a separate but related Trump family business-dealing story involving Don Jr. and the Ambani family rather than the Alt5/AI Financial deal directly.
What different sources said
- CNBCCenter
Company that bet big on Trump-backed crypto says its fortunes have improved
- The Daily BeastCenter
Trump Family Scores Massive Payday as Company Falls Apart
- NewserCenter
Trumps Make Bank Off Crypto as Investors Lose Their Shirts
- SalonLeft
White House targeted Mukesh Ambani. Then, he went into business with the Trumps
- Sydney Morning HeraldCenter
The controversial deal feeding the Trump family’s biggest money-maker
- The IndependentLeft
Trump family ‘made $500 million from crypto coin deal’ — before the bottom fell out on individual investors
- NDTVCenter
Trump Family Made $500 Million In Crypto Deal Before Firm's Collapse Hit Investors
- GizmodoCenter
Trump Family Reportedly Made About $2.3 Billion on Crypto While Investors Lost About $2.3 Billion on Trump-Related Crypto
- Yahoo FinanceCenter
Riches to Rags: Buying This Crypto ETF Lost Investors 98% of Their Money
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