Overview
- Steve Rattner’s presentation on MS NOW Friday tied roughly $3.02 billion of President Trump’s gains from August 2025 to January 2026 to cryptocurrency activity based on Forbes estimates.
- $TRUMP, a meme coin launched days before the January 2025 inauguration, surged to about $45 before plunging about 95%, leaving many small buyers with steep losses.
- Rattner said about 45 early “whale” wallets captured an estimated $1.2 billion in profits as the token ran up, while roughly two million retail buyers lost about $4.3 billion as prices collapsed.
- The analysis estimated Trump family profits at about $4 billion overall with the president collecting roughly $600 million in trading fees tied to the crypto ecosystem.
- The New Republic reported that a family venture called World Liberty Financial handled crypto assets and took in billions from foreign-linked funds, including UAE connections, though these funding claims remain reported but not independently verified in the provided coverage.