Washington, D.C. — Today, the Center for American Progress is launching “Trump’s Take,” a new research project and live tracker that will continuously update the cash and gifts received by President Donald Trump, Melania Trump, and his two oldest sons from selling the presidency since his election in November 2024. At release time, the tracker shows that in the nearly one year since Trump was reelected president, Trump and his family have amassed more than $1.8 billion in cash and gifts from leveraging the presidency for personal gain, including over $1.2 billion in crypto gains alone.
The tracker comes the same week that news reports suggest that the president is personally seeking $230 million in taxpayer-funded compensation from the U.S. Department of Justice, the approval of which the president has said “would have to go across my desk.” The researchers behind Trump’s Take calculate that the president has made more than $2 million in cash from crypto since the start of the ongoing federal government shutdown, even as 1.4 million federal employees are going without pay as of tomorrow.
The tracker’s release also comes the same day the White House announced President Trump has pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who previously pleaded guilty to failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program, which Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen said allowed money to flow to terrorist cybercriminals and child abusers through the Binance platform. The Zhao pardon raises questions about whether there is a connection between the president’s personal interests and policy directives. Earlier this year, the Trump administration announced it would deliver hundreds of thousands of advanced AI chips to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). That deal followed a UAE investment in a Trump crypto venture via Binance.
This project focuses exclusively on cash and gifts that are a direct result of Donald Trump holding the office of the presidency. The primary focus is on the significant earnings from three new crypto ventures that launched near or after his second election. Unlike previous estimates of Trump’s wealth, the tracker intentionally excludes income from assets that predated his second term, such as his real estate portfolio and golf courses, and gains from asset holdings such as his stock holdings in Truth Social’s parent company, TMTG, even though these have inarguably gained in value due to his presidency. This tool is a real-time tally that can only go up, providing a clear picture of the financial gains tied to his current presidency.
To underscore, the “take” is the real-time cash Trump has received from this trading activity, along with the value of gifts that have come his way. This is not an estimate of his overall net worth. Rather, it is a transparent calculation of the income and gifts that are a direct result of him holding office. Because these financial vehicles are complex, the tally will be constantly updated and adjusted as new information becomes available.
It will present the updated figure on a daily updated ticker similar to the national debt clock.
“While everyday Americans struggle with the costs of health care, food, energy, and housing, President Trump is abandoning them, making billions off of the presidency,” said Will Ragland, vice president of research at the Center for American Progress and one of the creators of the tool.
The “Trump’s Take” project calculates the amount of cash and gifts President Trump’s family have brought in by tracking the income that crypto assets have generated from four main sources:
- Sales proceeds of the World Liberty Financial $WLFI governance token
- Interest income earned on the reserve assets backing his $USD1 stablecoins (also issued via World Liberty Financial)
- Trading fees for the $TRUMP meme coin
- Sales proceeds for the $TRUMP meme coin
The tool analyzes the president’s crypto assets and how they generate income for the president by analyzing each token and the resulting cash flows to Trump and his family. In addition to the income generated from the Trump family crypto ventures, the tool also is tracking legal settlements, gifts, and other deals that benefit them personally.
For more information or to speak to an expert, contact Colin Seeberger at [email protected].