As recently as 2021, he described cryptocurrency as "a disaster waiting to happen” and a "scam." But digital, decentralized currency made Donald Trump well over $1 billion (€878 million) in 2025 alone, according to annual financial disclosures released on Tuesday.
Most of the profits came from his World Liberty Financial business selling new crypto products ($500 million) and sales of so-called "meme coins" ($600 million).
It comes at a time when the US president's policies on crypto have become increasingly favorable, with regulation cut and federal rules for stablecoin introduced.
Trump is not alone in backing crypto as the future of finance. Over in the United Kingdom, populist leader Nigel Farage is facing a public backlash threatening the seemingly unstoppable rise of his Reform UK party over a £5 million ($6.6 million/€5.8 million) personal "gift" from Thailand-based British crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne. Reform, too, has a pro-crypto stance, with Farage promising to "bring crypto in from the cold" should he win power.
Elsewhere in Europe, Pavel Blazek resigned from his position as justice minister in Czechia last year after accepting 468 bitcoins worth $45 million from convicted criminal Tomas Jirikovsky, while Spanish right-wing MEP Luis "Alvise" Perez Fernandez has also been accused of taking crypto financing from a convicted fraudster.
