“In the Trump crypto ecosystem there are four different teams, all interrelated, but all kind of separate, that are all doing their own crypto stuff with Trump’s imprimatur,” explained Weiss.
The first of these businesses launched in December of 2022, well before Trump embraced crypto more broadly at a Bitcoin event on the campaign trail. It consisted of Trump NFTs and, following his election last November, has expanded to encompass Trump’s personal memecoin, which currently has a market cap of over $1 billion. All of these operations are overseen by Bill Zanker, a longtime confidant and business partner of the president.
While Zanker’s NFT and memecoin operation as well as World Liberty Financial serve as vehicles to make money for the Trump family, the two entities have at times clashed. Weiss explained that one clash arose a few months back when Zanker announced plans to launch a crypto wallet only to be rebuffed by Trump’s sons, who have wallet plans of their own.
The third corporate vehicle for the president’s crypto ambitions is Trump Media & Technology Group, which once existed primarily to run the Truth Social platform, but has since expanded to operate a Bitcoin holding company akin to Michael Saylor’s Strategy. This business has also entered tie-ups with third-party firms like Singapore-based Crypto.com.
Finally, there is American Bitcoin, a crypto mining operation. This most recent venture came about after the Trump operation absorbed the mining operations of a firm called Hut 8. Overseen by Eric Trump, the operations now run under the new American Bitcoin name and benefit from the Trump family’s branding.
While all four of the Trump crypto entities are bringing in money for the family—billions by most estimates—their product lines and business purposes are often changing and evolving.
“The way I think about a lot of these Trump crypto ventures is, what was Trump’s business play before he became president? He took his name, lent it out, and got money for lending it out. Right? He put it on steaks, he put it on classes—he did a bunch of different things. That’s kind of what’s happening here,” said Weiss.
