Trump Owns Crypto, But Bad News for Bitcoiners

A new financial disclosure confirms Donald Trump does own cryptocurrency—but the details might not impress Bitcoiners.

As the 2024 presidential campaign enters its final stretch, 250 pages of the Republican's investments, income and interests have been published by the Federal Election Commission.

It reveals that the 78-year-old is the proud owner of a "virtual Ethereum key," held in cold storage, that's worth anywhere between $1 million and $5 million.

But despite Trump's breathless efforts to court BTC enthusiasts—by speaking at their conferences and suggesting all remaining coins should be mined in the U.S.—there's no mention of him owning a single sat of the world's biggest cryptocurrency.

At best, this might be an oversight by an entrepreneur with hundreds of business interests around the world. At worst, you could argue it's a sign that the former president's rhetoric on Bitcoin is rather empty.

After all, let's not forget that Trump described BTC as a "scam against the dollar" just a few short years ago.

NFT Payday

The disclosure goes on to reveal that Trump has received $7,156,385 in licensing fees from NFT INT, LLC after releasing a flurry of digital art to his supporters—giving us an insight into the financial performance of his surreal collectibles.

Given the extreme volatility seen in the valuation of these tokens, with many blue-chip collections plummeting in value of late, the disclosure goes on to warn that the value of this agreement is "not readily ascertainable."

It's been suggested that Trump's enthusiasm for NFTs was fueled by flattering illustrations depicting him as a cowboy or a superhero (and in some cases, both at the same time.)

A total of 45,000 NFTs, in varying levels of rarity, were initially sold for $99 a pop—and those who snapped up the collectibles in large volumes received perks including an exclusive dinner in Mar-a-Lago.

Even if Bitcoin is nowhere to be seen in his financial disclosure, the mere fact that a presidential candidate invests in crypto at all is significant. Only a small number of politicians in Congress—including the likes of Ted Cruz and Cynthia Lummis—have confirmed owning BTC in the past.

Trump's running mate, JD Vance, also holds a substantial amount of Bitcoin. Back in 2022, his investment was valued between $100,000 and $250,000—a sum that's likely to be considerably higher now.

By contrast, bean counters scrutinizing the financial disclosures of Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, and her vice presidential pick Tim Walz, have universally summed up their portfolios in one word: boring.