An $80 Million Deal in One Year? How the Trump Family Profited from Massive Crypto Transactions in the Middle East Using Their Own Stablecoin

Original Article Title: How the Trump family is poised to profit from a $2 billion Middle East crypto deal that uses their stablecoin

Original Article Authors: LEO SCHWARTZ, BEN WEISS

Original Article Translation: 比推 BitPush

The relationship between President Trump and his family with cryptocurrency is becoming increasingly close. The latest example occurred last week when Trump's son Eric Trump announced that the UAE venture capital firm MGX would use a stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial (a blockchain company owned by the Trump family) to pay its $2 billion investment in the cryptocurrency exchange Binance.

The Trump family and their business partners are expected to profit from this transaction, but the exact amount is difficult to determine as the relevant details are not transparent. Binance did not respond to a request for comment, and a spokesperson for World Liberty Financial also declined to provide more details beyond publicly available information.

Despite limited disclosure, Fortune has provided an upper estimate of the potential profit for the Trump family through interviews with stablecoin experts and analysis of the current cryptocurrency ecosystem.

The Business of Stablecoins: Large yet Invisible

Stablecoins are the latest addition to Trump's expanding crypto empire, but they have long been a significant part of the crypto industry. Tether, Circle, and later players like PayPal and Ripple have all made a fortune by issuing stablecoins. Tether's revenue in the last quarter alone reached $5.6 billion, and Circle's total revenue in 2024 also hit $17 billion.

It is for this reason that World Liberty Financial issued its own US dollar stablecoin, USD1, at the end of March this year. Like most USD-pegged stablecoins, USD1 is backed by short-term government bonds and similar dollar-like assets, usually generating around a 4% annualized return—most of which typically goes to the issuing institution.

If Binance holds USD1, World Liberty Financial will earn interest on the reserve assets behind it. Based on a 4% rate, this could result in up to $80 million in revenue within a year. However, this number is subject to significant variability. For example, if World Liberty exclusively enjoys all interest income, Binance will have no incentive to hold USD1 long-term and may convert it to BNB or other interest-bearing assets.

Furthermore, according to a spokesperson, apart from Treasury bonds, the USD1 reserve asset also includes various "cash equivalents." However, World Liberty has not disclosed the specific asset composition, so there may be a non-interest-bearing cash component.

Omid Malekan, a crypto scholar at Columbia Business School, pointed out that MGX may not have actually sent the funds to Binance yet. If Binance receives the funds and directly settles USD1, World Liberty will not earn any interest. Additionally, Binance may use these USD1 for on-platform trade settlements or employee salary payments. Edward Woodford, Co-Founder and CEO of Zero Hash (a stablecoin infrastructure provider), also stated: "Suppliers and employees need to be paid, so these tokens may be quickly redeemed." ("Redeemed" refers to exchanging the stablecoin back to cash with the issuer.)

Could Binance Be Taking a Cut?

Todd Phillips, a law professor at Georgia State University, suggested that Binance may have signed a profit-sharing agreement with World Liberty Financial. He cited an example where Binance had a similar agreement with Circle, where in addition to a one-time payment of $60 million, Circle paid monthly fees to Binance to promote USDC and committed to keeping some funds in the stablecoin.

If Binance has a similar arrangement with World Liberty, the latter's profits may be significantly reduced, but the liquidity and market visibility of its stablecoin will be significantly improved. Binance had previously collaborated with stablecoin issuer Paxos to launch BUSD, but the coin was halted by regulators in early 2023. However, USD1 is mostly issued on Binance's own blockchain.

"Why USD1?" Malekan said, "Perhaps they just offered Binance the best cooperation terms." In conclusion, although in theory, the Trump family could profit $80 million through USD1, it depends on whether the token will be redeemed or if the profits need to be shared.

Democratic Party Counters: "Blatant Conflict of Interest"

Regardless of the specific agreement between Binance and World Liberty, Democratic lawmakers have viewed this transaction as new evidence of a conflict of interest between the Trump family and the crypto industry. Maxine Waters, a senior Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee and a California representative, angrily walked out of a blockchain hearing on Tuesday, protesting the Trump family profiting while participating in regulatory legislation.

In a statement sent to Fortune, she expressed, "I am deeply concerned that Republicans are not only turning a blind eye to Trump's corruption but are even helping him and his family legitimize their self-enrichment through cryptocurrency."

This controversy has also impacted the Stablecoin Regulation Act, which originally had bipartisan support in Congress. A group of Democratic senators who had previously supported the bill collectively opposed the latest version over concerns about Trump's ties to USD1.

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren went so far as to say, "This is blatant corruption, and no senator should support it."

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