Family affair: President Trump teamed up with his sons Barron (left), Don Jr. (middle) and Eric (right) to launch World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture that has brought in more than a half billion dollars.
Photo by Kevin Lamarque – Pool/Getty Images
One of Donald Trump’s companies reduced its stake in World Liberty Financial, a key crypto venture for the president, from 60% to 40% at some point in the last 11 days, according to an analysis of fine print on World Liberty’s website. The change, which came with zero fanfare, is the latest indication that the president—or someone working on his behalf—continues conducting backroom deals while he serves in office.
Donald Trump unveiled World Liberty Financial in September, when he was entering the final stretch of his presidential campaign. The project offered vague promises of a “financial revolution” and hawked tokens that could not be resold, with 75% of proceeds after the first $30 million going toward Trump and his family members.
The Trumps set up a series of companies to collect the money. The president changed the name of an entity he created in 2016, DT Tower II LLC, transforming it into DT Marks DEFI LLC. Donald Trump had owned 100% of DT Tower II LLC, but his family members—presumably Don Jr., Eric and Barron—took a 30% interest in DT Marks Defi LLC, leaving their father with 70%. In July 2024, someone registered three new companies in Delaware using the initials of Don Jr., Eric and Barron—DJT Jr DEFI LLC, ET DEFI LLC and BWT DEFI LLC.
The Trump family’s umbrella company, DT Marks Defi LLC, held a 75% interest in World Liberty Financial, according to a financial disclosure report that summarized the president’s business, apparently as of the end of December.
Things changed in the new year. Leading up to the Jan. 20 inauguration, business took off, with the Trumps and their partners selling more than $200 million of World Liberty tokens in a 29-hour stretch. The structure of the business changed, too. By Jan. 24, World Liberty’s website said that DT Marks DEFI LLC owned “approximately 60%” of World Liberty Financial, down from the 75% the Trumps apparently held just a few weeks earlier.
Also around the time of the inauguration, a monitor who had been appointed to oversee the Trump Organization’s finances as part of a fraud suit received word that the Trumps planned to sell a partial stake in one of their companies, apparently DT Marks DEFI LLC. The letter specified did not specify who intended to purchase the stake or how much money was involved. Representatives for the Trump Organization and World Liberty did not respond to questions when asked about the sale last week.
In March, World Liberty announced that it had sold $550 million worth of tokens. About a week later, the company unveiled another endeavor, a cryptocurrency meant to track the U.S. dollar. A firm created by the president of the United Arab Emirates gave that stablecoin a strong start, agreeing to use it to make a $2 billion investment in a major crypto exchange.
Then, on June 5, a stablecoin issuer not affiliated with Trump named Circle went public on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares shot up immediately, nearly tripling on their first day, showing just how much public-market investors love stablecoin businesses. If World Liberty were valued similarly to Circle, Trump’s stablecoin venture might be worth $1.7 billion today.
With numbers like that, it makes sense that the Trumps might have wanted to take some money of the table. Sometime after June 8, the language on World Liberty’s site changed again—this time showing that DT Marks DEFI LLC owns about 40% of the business, down from 60%. Again, details on the transaction are scant. Given the volatility of Circle’s stock, it’s difficult to guess how much the Trumps might have received in a sale. But if the business were valued like Circle was on Friday, the Trump family might have cleared $190 million, with an estimated $135 million of that going to the president.
Representatives of the Trump Organization and World Liberty did not respond to requests for comment, which makes sense, given that broadcasting divestments could theoretically damage the value of Trump’s remaining crypto holdings.
The Trump family may be looking ahead to bigger sales in the future—enhanced by powerful people in Washington. The U.S. Senate passed a regulatory framework for stablecoins on Tuesday, which the crypto industry cheered. Shares of Circle, the publicly traded stablecoin issuer, surged 34% the next day.
Good news for the president.
-With additional reporting by Zach Everson.
