Crypto, Bibles and watches: how Trump made over $2bn last year – The Latest

Summary

Podcast Summary: Crypto, Bibles and Watches – How Trump Made Over $2bn Last Year

Podcast: Today in Focus (The Guardian)
Episode: The Latest – July 1, 2026
Host: Lucy Hoff
Guest: Aisha Down (Guardian reporter)

---

Overview:

This episode explores the staggering financial gains made by Donald Trump and his family during his second presidential term, focusing on revenue streams from cryptocurrency, licensing deals, and merchandise. Host Lucy Hoff and Guardian reporter Aisha Down dissect Trump’s business model, institutional enablers, and the unprecedented conflict of interest raised by his presidency.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights:

Trump’s Crypto Empire

• Government Disclosure:

  • Trump disclosed earning over $1 billion from four main crypto ventures in a 927-page mandatory government filing.
    Timestamps: 01:40–02:13

• Main Crypto Interests:

  • World Liberty Financial: A Trump-owned company selling crypto products.
  • Trump Meme Coin: Made approx. $635 million for Trump, though the coin’s value is “tanking”.
  • Bitcoin mining and related ventures.
    “He’s got four crypto ventures. More than a billion dollars that he’s made through that.” – Aisha Down [01:40]
    “Trump Coin […] made him a whopping figure of $635 million. Although I now understand the coin is…” – Lucy Hoff [03:12]

• How Trump Profits:

  • Primarily through licensing his image or brand rather than developing the underlying technology or taking direct financial risks.
  • Earns fees on every transaction involving his cryptocurrency and related merchandise, regardless of the product’s success.
    “Trump charges transaction fees on the Meme Coin. Just as Trump’s family or company on World Liberty Financial, they get a cut of every transaction made.” – Aisha Down [04:09]
    “Trump is selling Trump and his personality and everyone else is taking on the risk. If they win, he wins. If they lose, he still wins.” – Aisha Down [00:43] & [09:49]

• Risk Structure:

  • Trump’s business model insulates him from losses – he profits off the infrastructure (via images and fees), while others shoulder risks.
    “You’re selling the pickaxes and shovels to the gold rush.” – Aisha Down [04:21]

---

Merchandise and Licensing Bonanza

• Key Products:

  • Trump Bibles
  • Trump Sneakers (gold, reminiscent of Converse)
  • Trump Watches (alone netted $4.7 million)
  • Trump Phone (manufactured in Taiwan, gold-plated, marketed as “American made”)
    Timestamps: 05:03–05:56

• Licensing Model:

  • Trump’s approach mirrors that of his crypto ventures; he licenses his brand and images, allowing outside companies to handle production, risk, and logistics.
    “He licenses his image through one of his companies. He licenses image to another company that made the Meme Coin.” – Aisha Down [04:55]
    “It's not like Trump has a sneaker company giving jobs to hard working sneaker employees in Arizona…What that is, is Trump doesn’t take the risk of the sneaker failing or not failing.” – Aisha Down [05:56]

---

Regulatory Evasion & Institutional Weakening

• Regulatory Capture and Defunding:

  • Trump undermined institutions tasked with providing oversight, including the SEC and CFTC, through funding cuts, removals, and intimidation, leading to a collapse in enforcement of conflict-of-interest standards.
    “He’s just run roughshod or defunded or threatened kind of all institutions that could stop him from doing this and brought them under his control.” – Aisha Down [07:59]

• Notable Example – CFTC:

  • CFTC officials trying to regulate Trump-tied prediction markets were sidelined, and the agency’s former chair went to work for Polymarket.
    Timestamps: 06:56–07:27

---

Unprecedented Presidential Profiteering

• Historical Comparison:
  • The contrast with past presidents (e.g., Jimmy Carter selling his peanut farm to avoid conflicts of interest) underscores Trump’s unprecedented self-enrichment while in office.
    “Jimmy Carter gave up his beloved peanut farm to avoid any perception that there might be a conflict of interest…It is totally unprecedented.” – Lucy Hoff [07:27]

---

MAGA Base Perception & Political Fallout

• Loyalty Despite Losses:

  • Many Trump supporters view his business success as a sign of competence and resilience, rationalizing his practices even when personally losing money.
  • The MAGA base sees him as “our guy” fighting corrupt institutions, echoing “with us or against us” sentiments.
    “I think the MAGA base views it as like, yes, Trump may be corrupt…He’s our guy…You may call that corruption. But maybe he was just fighting dirty against a dirty system.” – Aisha Down [09:12]

• Potential Backlash:

  • Those who feel personally duped may become disillusioned, but overall loyalty remains high.

---

Notable Quotes

• “Trump is selling Trump and his personality and everyone else is taking on the risk. If they win, he wins. If they lose, he still wins.”
  – Aisha Down [00:43], echoed throughout

• “Trump licensed his image to the sneaker company just like he licensed his image to the Meme Coin.”
  – Aisha Down [00:55]

• “He’s just run roughshod or defunded or threatened kind of all institutions that could stop him from doing this and brought them under his control.”
  – Aisha Down [07:59]

• “It is totally unprecedented.”
  – Lucy Hoff [07:27]

• “You're selling the pickaxes and shovels to the gold rush.”
  – Aisha Down [04:21]

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:40] – Trump’s four main crypto interests and billion-dollar profits
• [03:12] – Trump Meme Coin’s $635 million yield and its recent decline
• [04:09] – Transaction fees structure and profit insulation
• [05:03] – Overview of Trump merchandise (Bibles, sneakers, watches, phone)
• [06:56] – CFTC regulatory conflict and aftermath
• [07:27] – Historical context and erosion of conflict-of-interest norms
• [09:12] – MAGA base perspective on Trump’s profiteering

---

Memorable Moments

• Lucy’s humorous skepticism:
  “I would be amazed if Trump is a blockchain.”
  [04:53]

• Highlighting the licensing model’s lack of risk for Trump:
  “No, like the licensing fee model means that, you know, Trump is selling Trump and his personality and everyone else is taking on the risk.”
  [05:56]

---

Conclusion

The episode delivers a concise yet revealing look at Trump’s tactics for amassing personal wealth during his presidency—from crypto schemes to gilded sneakers—while insulating himself from risk and diluting institutional checks. Despite widespread losses among some supporters and mounting criticism, Trump's branding power and control over regulatory bodies have ensured his position as the primary beneficiary in these ventures.

---

For more: Read Aisha Down’s reporting at guardian.com.

Transcript

[Lucy Hoff]

This is the Guardian.

[Advertisement Voice]

Close your eyes. Summer smells like sunshine, fresh citrus and salty air. What if your living room could feel just like that? With Pura's new summer collection, it can restore your sense of well being. With fragrances designed to move with your day. From bright, energizing mornings to soft, relaxing evenings. Make the invisible unforgettable, forgettable. This season, visit Pur.com to find your new favorite summer scent.

[Aisha Down]

You know, Trump is selling Trump and his personality. And everyone else is taking on the risk. If they win, he wins. If they lose, he still wins.

[Lucy Hoff]

Well, you know why I'm profiting?

[Aisha Down]

Because the stock market's going up.

[Lucy Hoff]

Everybody's profiting.

[Aisha Down]

Trump licensed his image to the sneaker company just like he licensed his image to the Meme Coin. Trump has just run roughshod over any kind of institutions that could check him

[Lucy Hoff]

from the Guardians today. In focus, this is the latest. With me, Lucy Hoff. So at the start of 2025, Donald Trump, the US president, announced that he wanted the US to be the crypto capital of the world. A year later, we've learned the extent to which that he has made that a reality for himself and for his family. Aisha down, your Guardian reporter. We've had these figures released on how much Trump has made from crypt crypto and also his other business ventures, which we'll come to. But what have we learned about crypto in particular?

[Aisha Down]

So he's got four crypto ventures, more than a billion dollars that, that he's made through that. It's a little, it's actually a little strange because this was a mandatory government disclosure where he had to kind of come out with all of his.

[Lucy Hoff]

That applies to every other president.

[Aisha Down]

Yeah, it was a 927 page disclosure.

[Lucy Hoff]

Right.

[Aisha Down]

Where, you know, his four main crypto interests, which include World Liberty Financial, which is a crypto company owned by Trump that, you know, sells crypto products, the Trump mean quote, Meme Coin and a bitcoin mining, more than a billion.

[Lucy Hoff]

Right.

[Aisha Down]

Worth noting here. Like Trump was always a crypto president first term. Trump was like crypto's a scam. But there was sort of the Biden administration, at least this is sort of how I understand it went hard into regulating crypto. Made a lot of problems for a lot of the crypto, you know, enterprises, billionaires, among them the founder of Binance cz.

[Lucy Hoff]

Yeah.

[Aisha Down]

And they in a way turned to Trump or Trump saw an opportunity to make money by, by rescuing them, which he's basically done in his past administration.

[Lucy Hoff]

The start of a very Beautiful friendship for all involved. Aisha, it's worth saying that it's not just Trump, but it's also his wider family. Right. It's his sons in particular. I'm just wondering how he has made all this money from crypt and from what sources? Because it's both his own coin, Trump Coin, which we gather from this over 900 page disclosure, has made him a whopping figure of $635 million. Although I now understand that the coin is.

[Aisha Down]

The coin is tanking.

[Lucy Hoff]

Some bad news for the Trump Warehouse. But where's it all coming from? Is it loans, is it donors, Is it his own coins?

[Aisha Down]

It's actually, and this is, this is, I think, a key thing for not just his crypto, but for his other merchandise. He holds the crypto and just to kind of, you know, backup for crypto in the room. What is crypto? Crypto is a virtual unregulated currency. It's traded in a special way and managed in a special way so that in theory, you know, it's not controlled by a central note or, you know, a Federal Reserve who can sanction a country or an individual, but whatever. Virtual currency.

[Lucy Hoff]

Yeah.

[Aisha Down]

Now, if Trump were a crypto purist, you could kind of argue that he would hold a lot of his own crypto. And I think indeed he does. But things like the Meme Coin, it's actually, I think there's been reporting that kind of calls into question how much of Trump's meme coin Trump still has.

[Lucy Hoff]

Right.

[Aisha Down]

What all this mean? Trump charges transaction fees on the Meme Coin. Right. Just as Trump's family or company on World Liberty Financial, they get a cut of every transaction made. And so backing up what that means, World Liberty Financial can go up or down. As long as there's volume being traded in there, he's going to make money. You're selling the pickaxes and shops levels to the gold rush. Right. You're running the infrastructure, I think, for the, the Meme Coin. He, he didn't even set up that infrastructure. Now, I don't mean to get wonkish here, but you do need like a blockchain and whatever, blah, blah, blah, to run a virtual currency. He didn't make that. That's not even his company.

[Lucy Hoff]

I would be amazed if Trump is a blockchain.

[Aisha Down]

No, he didn't. No, he didn't. He licenses his image through one of his companies. He licenses image to another company that made the Meme Coin.

[Lucy Hoff]

Yeah.

[Aisha Down]

And then he gets a licensing fee.

[Lucy Hoff]

But it's not just crypto. Is it because it's also his very lucrative merchandise business, which is, I think very unique to the Trump presidency as a concept. I've just had the pleasure prior to our conversation of having a look through what's available on the, on the Trump Merch site. We've got Trump bibles, we've got Trump sneakers, which sort of kind of resemble Converse sneakers, but are very bright gold. We've also got watches, which we understand alone of an emma profit of $4.7 million. So that's forming part of this picture. I mean, how on earth is this able to happen?

[Aisha Down]

So how is one question, but I think worth just noting here. The phone and the sneakers are a good metaphor. The phone, The Trump phone.

[Lucy Hoff]

Yeah, tell me about the phone. I didn't actually know about the phone.

[Aisha Down]

Okay, the Trump phone, it was supposed to be made in America, right?

[Lucy Hoff]

Yeah, American made.

[Aisha Down]

Okay, America doesn't make those silicon chips. I'm sorry, but maybe it makes some intel. Anywho phone was made in Taiwan and then it was plated with gold. Okay, the sneakers and the Bible. Right. It's not like Trump is, has a sneaker company giving jobs to hard working sneaker employees in Arizona. Right. Trump licenses image to the sneaker company just like he licensed his image to, to the Meme Coin. What that is, is Trump doesn't take the risk of the sneaker failing or not failing. He doesn't take the risk of like, I don't know, getting sued because the sneakers turn out to be made of asbestos. Right. Or they catch on fire. No, no, like the licensing fee model means that, you know, Trump is selling Trump and his personality and everyone else is taking on the risk just like those, those investors are buying the coin and actually owning World Liberty Financial and the Trump Meme Coin. Whereas his money, like, if it goes down, they lose. But Trump, because he's taking a cut on the transaction fees, he wins anyway. He wins no matter what.

[Lucy Hoff]

Yeah.

[Aisha Down]

How has he accomplished this kind of naked corruption? I mean, a good one came out in the New York Times recently where I think the cftc, one of the US regulators, my Futures Trading Commission, they were supposed to regulate a bunch of prediction market companies tied to Trump. So polymarket among them. All the people kind of investigating those were put on internal leave or, you know, investigated internal, basically saw their careers end.

[Lucy Hoff]

Oh, goodness.

[Aisha Down]

And then the chair of the CFTC then later went to work for polymarket.

[Lucy Hoff]

I think it's just worth saying, I mean, it's easy to lose track of how unprecedented this is from a sitting U.S. president. I mean, I was thinking about Jimmy Carter, who gave up his beloved peanut farm to avoid any perception that there might be a conflict of interest there. I don't know if he was able to make any profit on the resale of his tattered cardigans. I assume not, but it is totally unprecedented. So why are the safeguards, why are the protections against conflicts of interest not applying to this presidency?

[Aisha Down]

I mean, we've just seen. It's kind of hard for, I think, you know, U.S. reporters, any reporters who follow this, to kind of characterize the depth and the extent through which Trump has just run roughshod over, you know, any kind of institutions that could check him. So, you know, the sec, I think he cut funding from that agency. I think a number of people were sacked. The CFTC as we. CFTC as we just went into. But he's. He's just run roughshod or defunded or threatened kind of all institutions that. That could stop him from doing this and brought them under his control.

[Lucy Hoff]

Yeah, I mean, it's been a very bruising year for Trump, hasn't it, with a very, very unpopular war in Iran that has sent his approval ratings absolutely spiraling downward. I'm just wondering how this sort of profiteering during a goes down with his MAGA base, Like, is it perceived as an astute businessman who knows what he's doing and a family that is good at making money and therefore that represents something about the American dream? Or do you think there are increasing numbers of people within that mega base who feel like, actually, this isn't sitting well with me?

[Aisha Down]

I imagine the people who have been personally ripped off, some of them may have reconsidered, but I think the MAGA base views it as like, yes, Trump may be corrupt, or he may have this sort of thing. He's our guy, you know, the democratic elite, the institutions, everyone else is also corrupt, like Elon Musk. You may call that corruption. But maybe he was just fighting dirty against a dirty system. It's a very with us or against us kind of thing. And I think, you know, many of them who've probably lost a lot of money with Trump, one thing maybe they thought is that Trump owns the Trump coin too. Trump owns WLF1 too. So therefore, you know, we're with him. If he. This is something he's betting on. If we're betting with him will win. If he loses, we lose. But of course, the way he structured it is if. If they win, he wins. If they lose, he still wins.

[Lucy Hoff]

So it sounds like there is the potential for a lot of people to lose but one certain winner, which is Donald Trump. Aisha, thank you so much for your time.

[Aisha Down]

Thank you for having me. My pleasure.

[Lucy Hoff]

That's it for today. My huge thanks again to Aisha Down. You can keep up with all her reporting [e-mail] and before we go, I just want to remind you that the Guardian's award winning football weekly podcast has now turned into Cup Daily. You can join Max Rushton, Barry Glendenning and the team as they discuss every big match and every big moment every day of the World Cup. Listen now wherever you get this podcast or watch on YouTube. Thanks for listening to this episode of the latest Today in Focus. We'll be back in your feeds tomorrow morning. The latest will be back tomorrow night. This episode was produced by Hannah Williams and Leo Schick. The senior producer was Ran Ram Gobin. The executive producer was Zoe Hitchcock. This is the Guardian.