With Donald Trump now championing a decentralized finance platform while pledging to make America the “crypto capital” of the world, all eyes are focused on the growing digital-asset efforts of the former president’s family and associates.

In recent weeks, the Republican presidential nominee and two of his sons have been promoting World Liberty Financial, a decentralized finance project that aims to eliminate intermediaries such as banks through the use of software-driven applications. Trump just put his fourth collection of nonfungible tokens (NFTs), which represent unique ownership of assets like images depicting him riding a motorcycle or as a boxer. Melania Trump’s upcoming memoir can be purchased with a digital collectible, according to her website.

While five years ago, Trump said he was “not a fan of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies,” his family and associates have clearly since wholeheartedly embraced crypto — and already made millions off of it.

For several years now, Donald Trump has been making money by lending his name or likeness to crypto-related products, much as he has done throughout his life for everything from real estate to steaks to menswear.

Trump’s CIC Digital LLC, which earned $7.2 million through licensing his image on NFTs, held a crypto wallet with at least $1 million in Ether, according to 2024 disclosures. In August, 1,000 Trump-branded “Crypto Sneakers” became available for pre-order for $499 through CIC Ventures LLC. CIC Ventures is connected to Trump lawyer John Marion IV, according to registration documents in Florida. Marion has represented Trump in Florida, where he argued the former president could live at Mar-a-Lago full-time, according to NPR.

Trump is working on the NFT collections with Bill Zanker, a friend of 30 years who co-wrote a book with him, “Think Big and Kick Ass,” published in 2007. Zanker used to book Trump as a speaker through his Leaning Annex business before suggesting to the former president that he should start selling NFTs about two years ago.

Melania Trump had put out several NFT collections, and even sold a gold Mother’s Day necklace with a related NFT on the Solana blockchain. Just how successful the collections have been is unclear: The source of funds for the winning bid in the former first lady’s first NFT auction appeared to be the creators of the project themselves.

Eric and Don Jr., along with their father, began promoting the DeFiant Ones Telegram channel for World Liberty Financial in August.

In an unusual twist, disgraced entrepreneur Martin Shkreli claimed — while offering no evidence — that Barron Trump, the president’s youngest son, was behind the Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. (DJT) token. The coin debuted in June, and its price has since dropped by more than 97%. The Trump Organization didn’t reply to a request for comment.

Trump son-in-law and former presidential adviser Jared Kushner advocated for a U.S. digital dollar in 2019, according to documents obtained by CoinDesk. Earlier this year, Donald Trump said that he is against creating a central bank digital currency.

And than there is Steve Bannon, the chief executive of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, key adviser and chief strategist at the start of his administration.

Several years ago, Bannon supported Himalaya Coin and a namesake exchange, whose website has since been seized by the FBI. Three people have been charged with soliciting more than $1 billion in investments using false statements and representations; Bannon wasn’t mentioned in the complaint. Bannon had faced a number of federal charges and was pardoned by Trump in 2021. He is currently in prison on a contempt of Congress conviction, related to the 2021 U.S. Capitol attack.

Cantor Fitzgerald LP CEO Howard Lutnick, who is co-chair of Trump’s transition team, has been one of most vocal Wall Street supporters of crypto. Cantor Fitzgerald manages reserves for Tether Holdings, known for the $118 billion Tether stablecoin that is the most traded digital asset.

Republican vice-presidential nominee JD Vance first got involved in crypto well before joining the campaign. The Ohio senator has disclosed that he owns more than $250,000 in Bitcoin, according to documents obtained by CNN. He has also emerged as a crypto advocate on Capital Hill, working on a bill to revamp digital-asset regulations, according to Politico.

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