Donald Trump, Longtime Crypto Critic, Reportedly Holds Over $5 Million In Ether
Despite his previous skepticism about cryptocurrencies, former U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly holds more than $5 million in an Ethereum wallet. This puts Trump, who is bidding to return to the White House in 2024, near the crypto “whale” category. The $5 million in Trump’s Ethereum wallet is significantly bigger than the $250,000-$500,000 figure previously disclosed.
Anti-Crypto Trump Nears Crypto Whale Status
In new financial disclosure records submitted to the Office of Government Ethics, Trump discloses owning just over $2.8 million in crypto held in an Ethereum wallet.
The Washington-based non-profit watchdog, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), shared the updated figure on Tuesday. The statements also reveal that the former U.S. president accrued over $4.9 million from licensing fees from a collection of non-fungible tokens (NFT) using Trump’s image that his campaign rolled out as part of his bid to return to the Oval Office in 2024 after losing to current-President Joe Biden in 2020.
Sales of the NFTs skyrocketed after their launch in December 2022 and also after a New York state court first indicted the real estate mogul-turned-politician. Subsequently, the Republican candidate dropped the second collection of digital trading cards in April, and this batch also quickly sold out.
Trump’s new financial reports were eclipsed by the news of his fourth indictment in Georgia for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Bitcoin Is A “Scam”, But NFTs Are Okay?
The huge size of Trump’s holdings makes him something of a crypto whale, which is ironic for a man who has voiced skepticism for the asset class in the past. During an interview with Fox Business in June 2021, Trump said Bitcoin “just seems like a scam” before adding that he wasn’t a fan of the asset “because it’s another currency competing against the dollar.”
Trump’s aversion to cryptocurrencies contrasts with the pro-crypto stance of other Republican presidential candidates like Ron DeSantis, who has vowed to end “Biden’s War on Bitcoin” if elected. The Florida governor posited that every American citizen has “every right to do Bitcoin” while speaking extensively on Twitter with Elon Musk.
On the Democratic front, presidential challenger Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made waves in the crypto community as an outspoken advocate of Bitcoin after making a pitstop at the Bitcoin Miami conference. He also admitted to buying 14 Bitcoins for his seven children.
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