In the early hours of June 6th, Musk and Trump completely fell out. Just under a week after Musk stepped down as the head of the "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE), the two exploded with revelations and engaged in frequent verbal attacks on the X platform. This led to a single-day drop of over 15% in Tesla's stock price and a significant 7.82% plunge in Trump Media & Technology Group's (TMTG) stock price. As this "political reality show" reached its climax, cracks also began to show in Trump's crypto empire.

President's Live Broadcast Beef, Global Netizens Grab Popcorn

In the early hours of June 6th, Musk suddenly posted on the social platform X, saying, "It's time to drop a real bombshell: Trump is mentioned in Epstein's documents. This is the real reason why these documents have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!"

This perplexing tweet was Musk's "latest bombshell" in the midst of his feud with Trump. Just hours before, Trump had just posted on his personal social platform saying Musk had "gotten on his nerves," "I got him out, I canceled the mandate for everyone to buy unwanted electric cars (he knew I was going to do this months ago!), and then he went crazy!" He then continued to supplement his tweet, "The easiest way to save tens of billions of dollars in our budget is to terminate government subsidies and contracts for companies like Musk's (Tesla, SpaceX, etc.). I've always been amazed Biden hasn't done this!"

Trump continued to tweet, claiming he could win Pennsylvania even without Musk's help. This statement once again infuriated Musk, who posted on the X platform, "Trump is so ungrateful; without me, Trump would have lost the election, the Democrats would have controlled the House, and the Republicans' Senate seats would have gone from 51 to 49."

After leaving the "Department of Government Efficiency" last Friday, Musk and Trump, this once "alliance," quickly turned openly confrontational.

The starting point seems to have been Trump revoking the nomination of Musk's close ally Jared Isaacman as the head of NASA, and Musk directly lashing out at Trump's backed "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" on the X platform, calling it "disgusting": "This congressionally earmarked, absurdly ridiculous spending bill is a nauseating disaster," a statement that caused a stir in the American political arena and public opinion.

The "Beautiful Act" is in fact a comprehensive legislative plan covering government budget, tax system, debt management, and environmental policies. The act promises to extend the expiring tax cuts implemented by the Trump administration in 2017, inject funds into defense spending, and provide funding for the large-scale deportation of undocumented immigrants. It is a key tool for Trump to advance his core policy agenda post-reelection.

Related Reading: "Just Broke Up and Already Feuding? Musk Slams Trump's 'Beautiful Act': Disgusting"

Musk warned that this act would raise America's already large fiscal deficit to $2.5 trillion, burdening the American people with unsustainable heavy debt. The plan faced strong opposition from within the party during the House's deliberation process, and Musk's remarks further reflect the broader Republican internal tensions towards the plan.

Some Republican lawmakers also sided with Musk. U.S. Congressman Thomas Massie tweeted on June 6th, stating that members of Congress only found out about the content of the act on the night it was passed. "There is a 72-hour rule in the House that requires bills to be made public for 72 hours before a vote. But the Speaker circumvented that with a 'manager's amendment' that was rewritten the night of the bill's consideration by the Rules Committee and added significant portions."

The crack between Musk and the Trump administration had been frequently reported in the media months ago. In April, Musk and Bezos argued outside the White House, sparking a discussion about the American political scene. Trump ultimately chose to support Bezos' nomination proposal, raising doubts as to whether there was a rift between Trump and Musk.

Related Reading: "Musk Officially Announces Resignation from DOGE, a Recap of His Love-Hate Relationship with Trump"

According to media reports, several White House officials privately stated that Musk's sharp remarks caught them off guard, as they did not expect his public stance to be so forceful. Faced with Musk's criticism, White House press secretary Levitt responded during a press conference held on the afternoon of June 3rd: "The President has long been aware of Musk's position on this act, and it will not change the President's view. This is a great and beautiful act. He will persist."

Internal Family Feud Over "Trump Wallet"

On the early morning of June 6, another wave of "inner circle" around Trump also tore apart. The Trump family DeFi project WORLD LIBERTY FINANCIAL (hereinafter referred to as WLFI) issued a cease-and-desist order to FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT LLC (the company behind the TRUMP token), reportedly related to the recent buzz in the crypto market about the Trump wallet app.

On the early morning of June 4, NFT trading platform MagicEden announced a partnership with $TRUMP to launch the Trump Wallet. Upon the news, the market cap of MagicEden's token $ME surged from $850 million to $1.1 billion in two hours, a nearly 30% increase. However, Trump's eldest son, second son Eric, and youngest son Barron all subsequently denied any involvement in the announcement.

Despite opposition from various "WLFI members," both the TrumpMeme official account and MagicEden team members confirmed the collaboration, leading to a perplexing situation. Moreover, the original X account of Trump Wallet has been repeatedly banned by Twitter. Before this, the account belonged to the MagicEden Genesis account and, based on the information on the official website, the Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions, as well as any "promotional activities," are managed by Slingshot Finance, which was acquired by MagicEden two months ago.

The "Leadership" in Trump's Crypto Empire

This is not the first time the Trump team has shown instability. During the previous presidential term, there was significant infighting and turnover among different factions of the Trump administration, with resignations being commonplace. The Trump group's crypto empire, much like its government lineup, had long sown the seeds of division.

Interestingly, from MagicEden CEO Jack's Twitter, it can be seen that he recently attended an evening event with the founder of Slingshot, which was mentioned earlier as being acquired, at the $TRUMP dinner party. This tweet was also retweeted by the official $TRUMP meme account. On June 3, the TRUMP Meme official account announced that participants in the "Dine with Trump" event were airdropped 3 different Solana NFTs to their wallets, which now seems to have been some form of a "Trump Wallet App" prelude.

From left to right, Slingshot founder Clinton Bembry Jr., MagicEden founder Jack, MagicEden Chief Business Officer Chris Akhavan

The mastermind behind the $TRUMP Gala scheduled for May 2025 in Washington is none other than Donald Trump's longtime friend, Bill Zanker. Bill Zanker is the authorized person of Fight Fight Fight LLC, the company behind the $TRUMP token. The company, in collaboration with CIC Digital LLC, owns 80% of the Trump meme coin, worth billions of dollars.

In 2007, Bill and Trump co-authored "Think Big and Kick Ass in Business and Life." In addition to this, they also co-founded the ill-fated crowdfunding platform FundAnything in 2013, which Zanker started with his own $1 million. However, a year later, Trump distanced himself from the project, stating that "raising this money took too much of my time and energy," and the project eventually fizzled out. It wasn't until 2022 that Bill Zanker proposed the idea of "Trump NFT," leading to their continued collaboration in the cryptocurrency field.

Related Reading: "Three Failures, Four Attempts: Why Is Trump Persistent in the 'Cryptocurrency Billionaire'?"

Bill Zanker with Trump

CIC Digital LLC was founded in 2021 by one of Trump's lawyers, John Marion, and former advisor Nick Luna. As a subsidiary of the Trump Organization, CIC Digital LLC collaborates with Fight Fight Fight LLC to operate the $TRUMP token website and generate transaction revenue.

CIC Digital LLC is responsible for licensing the name and likeness of Trump for use in Trump Digital Trading Cards and other NFT projects. Bill Zanker is considered a key driver of the Trump NFT project. CIC Digital LLC licensed Trump's brand to NFT INT LLC, a Delaware registered company, with Zanker playing an organizational and promotional role in the process, although he does not directly own NFT INT LLC.

As a well-known NFT platform, Magic Eden has also collaborated with the Trump Digital Trading Cards project. In March 2024, the Trump Card NFT project announced it would migrate to Magic Eden, stating that Magic Eden "has established a dedicated team to assist users in managing their Trump digital card collections."

In addition to Bill Zanker, the community believes that the driving force behind $TRUMP also includes the involvement of David Sacks, Chairman of the Crypto Council. David Sacks is well known as one of the founders of PayPal, gaining fame later by creating Yammer and selling it to Microsoft for $1.2 billion. In the crypto world, David Sacks is most notably an investor in the crypto venture capital firm Multicoin and a maximalist of Solana.

Within a few days of $TRUMP's launch, a token named $MELANIA, matching Trump's wife Melania's name, was also introduced. Ryan Selkis, founder of Messari, tweeted calling on Trump to dismiss those behind the $MELANIA project. "The project team lacks expertise, may cause significant economic and reputational damage, and project decisions did not adequately consider Trump's interests." Selkis pointed out the issues with $MELANIA.

Compared to the $TRUMP coin, the launch of $MELANIA was more hasty, with incomplete frontend code, uncompressed images, a website built the day before the project release, and inadequate legal texts. Many netizens speculate that $MELANIA differs significantly from $TRUMP in its approach, possibly indicating they are not operated by the same team.

Similar to the previous "scheduling conflict" between $TRUMP and $MELANIA, after MagicEden announced its collaboration with $TRUMP's wallet, Trump's eldest son stated that WLFI will also launch its official wallet. However, unlike Memecoins, Trump-themed wallet apps can only have one, leading to today's incident of a "Monkey King" mix-up.

Eric Trump sent a series of text messages to The New York Times, further escalating the dispute, stating that the Trump family would legally challenge the "$TRUMP Wallet," even though the wallet was promoted on social media by an account associated with Bill Zanker, who is also part of the "Trump Organization." "This product has not reached any agreement," Eric Trump wrote. "This product has not reached any agreement. It has not been approved yet."

WLFI was founded on September 16, 2024, when then President-elect Donald Trump announced his foray into X. The company was founded by real estate mogul Steve Witkoff and his son Zach Witkoff, with Trump's sons EricTrump and DonaldJTrumpJr also participating as team members in the project.

Justin Sun (left), Zach Witkoff (center), Eric Trump, Trump's second son (right), attend the Token2049 cryptocurrency conference in Dubai

Zach Witkoff, the son of Witkoff and co-founder of the cryptocurrency company World Liberty Financial, announced at a conference in Dubai that the company had reached an agreement with Tahnoon's company, which would purchase $2 billion of the stablecoin USD1 issued by World Liberty. The Witkoff family and the Trump family are expected to receive tens of millions in annual profits, "the Trump family holding a 60% stake in World Liberty Financial."

Since last fall, the Trump family has launched several different cryptocurrency projects, namely American Bitcoin, $TRUMP, $MELANIA, World Liberty Financial, and Trump Media & Technology Group. Recently, the Trump family's involvement in the crypto business has not slowed down. In addition to today's drama surrounding the authenticity of a "wallet," Trump has submitted a Bitcoin ETF application through his social media platform, Truth Social, while the official Meme coin of Mrs. Trump, $MELANIA, has also reached a liquidity provision agreement with Wintermute. WLFI has airdropped 47 USD1 to its token subscribers' addresses, indicating that the stablecoin race is also gaining momentum.

At this point, it seems that the favorable conditions have been exhausted. The team behind $TRUMP and Trump NFT, who can no longer draw liquidity from the market, appears to be gradually distancing themselves from the core circle of the "Trump Group."

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