#Gate广场四月发帖挑战

Oil, Cryptocurrency, Licenses, and Drones: How Trump and His Family Amassed Wealth

U.S. President Donald Trump and his family have been known to leverage close relationships with several Gulf countries to profit from cryptocurrency and real estate projects. They even viewed the Iran and Gaza wars as opportunities to make money. But that’s not all.

Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump walk the White House halls. She also benefits from her own identity: Amazon spent $28 million to produce a documentary about her life.

“America is the largest oil producer in the world so far, so if oil prices go up, we can make a lot of money,” President Trump said on March 12. At that very moment, due to the Iran war he single-handedly provoked, oil prices had already surged to $100 per barrel. Far removed from the daily lives of ordinary Americans struggling to fill up their tanks, the Trump family members weren’t the only ones seeing economic gains from this war.

Since last month, Trump’s sons Eric and Donald Jr. have been investing in U.S. military drone manufacturer Powerus. Late last year, little Donald also invested in drone company Unusual Machines, which signed a supply contract with the military in October. The Pentagon aims to purchase hundreds of thousands of drones from domestic manufacturers by 2027.

However, due to potential conflicts of interest, President Trump and his family are facing increasing criticism within the U.S. An analysis published in The New York Times in late January revealed that Trump used his presidential position to personally profit at least $1.4 billion (€1.2 billion). The article states: “In sum, the wealth Trump has accumulated since returning to the presidency is equivalent to 16,822 times the average U.S. household income.” According to the authoritative Forbes magazine, Trump’s net worth is currently estimated at $6.5 billion (€5.6 billion).

Of the verifiable largest profits, at least $867 million came from cryptocurrency ventures managed by the Trump family themselves.

Trump has long been skeptical of cryptocurrencies, but his attitude shifted after receiving substantial campaign contributions from crypto companies. Subsequently, he invested in the newly established Trump family crypto enterprises: World Liberty Financial (stock ticker: WLFI) and $TRUMP. These companies are estimated to be valued at $11.6 billion.

From the start, these initiatives have been shadowed by conflicts of interest. An internal report submitted by Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee, released in late November last year, indicated that Trump’s family’s crypto projects provided channels for foreign influence-buying. The report states: “Perhaps most troubling is that these crypto companies enable anyone—including foreign governments, organized crime groups, pardon-seeking corporations and criminals, and individuals seeking government contracts, appointments, or other presidential favors—to secretly funnel large sums directly into the President’s pocket.” The report was authored by Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin.

Donald Trump shakes hands with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the White House. MBS is a trusted business partner of the Trump family.

The report shows that these suspicious investments mainly originated from the UAE. In June 2025, a mysterious fund called Aqua 1 Foundation announced it had invested $100 million in WLFI stock, making it one of the company’s largest investors.

Huis researchers report that a Dubai-based, controversial crypto firm DWF Labs purchased $25 million worth of WLFI tokens. DWF Labs’ managing partner is Andre Grachev, a controversial Russian crypto investor with a criminal record and close ties to the Russian government.

WLFI has close ties to Steve Witkoff, who currently serves as the U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East and Ukraine issues. Like Trump, Witkoff is listed on the company’s website as an “Honorary Co-Founder.” His son Zach and Andrew are “Co-Founders.” Zach is also the CEO. Trump’s sons Eric and Donald Jr. are actively involved in the company’s operations. Every time WLFI sells tokens, the Trump family receives a net profit of 75%.

In March 2025, WLFI also launched its own stablecoin, USD1, pegged to the dollar. Since its launch, USD1’s market cap has grown from $128 million to nearly $2.7 billion.

Like $WLFI , USD1 has also been plagued by foreign conflicts of interest. For example, its first major breakthrough was achieved through Binance, a controversial crypto exchange whose founder, Zhao Changpeng, was previously pardoned by the President for past money laundering activities. Binance had previously invested about $800k in WLFI.

Binance then applied for a $2 billion investment from MGX, a UAE-based investment firm, which would use Trump’s WLFI stablecoin. MGX is led by Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of the UAE royal family.

As MGX decided to invest billions of dollars based on a $1 valuation, the UAE was negotiating with Witkoff’s company to acquire hundreds of thousands of advanced AI chips made in the U.S. Many of these chips would be delivered to G42, a tech company controlled by Sheikh Tahnoun.

Six employees of the National Security Council, concerned about this deal, were dismissed by Trump. Meanwhile, Democratic House investigators continue their inquiries, warning that the Constitution prohibits the President from accepting “any gifts, rewards, offices, or titles from kings, princes, or foreign states.”

Holding Dual Roles

Sheikh Tahnoun has previously invested heavily in companies linked to Trump relatives, including at least $1.5 billion in Jared Kushner’s investment firm, Affinity Partners.

Kushner now holds dual roles. As an official envoy, he is negotiating with Witkoff on Middle East and Ukraine peace processes. At the same time, he is raising more funds for his own company from Middle Eastern governments. In early March, reports leaked that he had been in talks with potential investors to raise $5 billion for his firm, including a meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which manages the revenues from Saudi Arabia’s vast oil reserves.

In January this year, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner appeared at the Davos Economic Forum. Kushner proposed a lucrative Gaza reconstruction plan at the forum.

The PIF, led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, invested $2 billion in Affinity Partners shortly after Trump’s first term ended. Besides Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Affinity also maintains close ties with Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund.

Bloomberg reports that during Trump’s second term, Affinity’s assets grew nearly 30%, reaching $6.2 billion. According to a regulatory filing they reviewed, the firm’s strategic focus is “investing in transition processes driven by geopolitical risks.”

Public records show that Kushner invested through his investment firm, Affinity, in Phoenix Financial, a Tel Aviv-based financial services provider. The firm has contracts with the Israeli Defense Ministry and police, and is heavily involved in building settlements in the West Bank. Phoenix Financial also holds a 4.96% stake in Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest defense contractor, which produces weapons systems deployed in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran.

In January, Kushner traveled as part of the U.S. official delegation to the World Economic Forum in Davos. There, he announced a $30-115 billion “New Gaza” master plan. The plan aims to rebuild Gaza completely, constructing residential buildings, data centers, seaside resorts, parks, sports facilities, and an airport, modeled after Gulf countries, targeting high-income clientele. But whether this plan has room for the 71k Palestinians who have already lost their homes in ongoing wars remains uncertain.

Licenses

Since Trump’s re-election, he has earned at least $23 million through licensing agreements. The Trump Organization has sold its brand names to various entities, including a hotel in Oman, an office building in Western India, and a golf course in suburban Riyadh. The Washington-based nonprofit “Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington” found that such arrangements often involve foreign governments collaborating. These foreign governments also benefit. For example, a $1.5 billion golf course project outside Hanoi saw import tariffs previously threatened against Vietnam reduced just a month after construction began.

Meanwhile, Trump has also raised funds by suing major tech and media companies. Since his re-election, X, ABC News, Meta, YouTube, and Paramount have paid Trump $90.5 million in “settlements.” Paramount agreed to pay $16 million, claiming that an interview with Kamala Harris in 2024 was misleadingly edited, despite no evidence supporting this. Three weeks later, the FCC suddenly approved an $8 billion merger between Paramount and SkyDance Media.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the Trump family also received $28 million from Jeff Bezos’ Amazon for producing a documentary about Melania Trump, far more than the company paid for similar projects before.

This week, President Trump unveiled a design for his presidential library. The library will feature a golden statue of him and the most expensive gift ever received by a U.S. president: a $400 million Boeing 747-8 aircraft, gifted by Qatar last May. Shortly afterward, Trump signed an executive order promising that the U.S. would defend Qatar in case of foreign attack. It seems Qatar’s “investment” in Trump is paying off.