Trump cashes in on crypto as the economy flounders. Perfect. | Opinion

While the average American is struggling to afford the rising cost of living in the United States, President Donald Trump’s wealth is only increasing.

On June 30, the U.S. Office of Government Ethics released a 927-page financial disclosure on Trump’s earnings in 2025, showing that the president made a whopping $2.2 billion. Prior to the release of this report, Trump’s estimated net worth was anywhere between $6 billion and $7.6 billion, depending on the source.

Good job, Republicans. It seems like the president you said would make the economy better for all Americans is only interested in lining his own pockets while the rest of the country struggles. After all, what is the point of capitalism if not to make the top 1% of the country even richer?

It’s disgusting that Trump has made this much since returning to the Oval Office – and even more vile when you consider that his earnings as president are far beyond what they were in 2024. While the White House swears he isn’t engaging in any conflicts of interest, the information gleaned from the report paints a much different picture.

Crypto is king – and Trump does love to be king

The report shows that the largest contributor to Trump’s earnings in 2025 was the crypto industry. Thanks to his family’s cryptocurrency schemes, the president made $1.4 billion off digital assets alone. This includes money from World Liberty Financial, the cryptocurrency company Trump cofounded with his sons in 2024, and meme coins.

Trump, the same man who was once depicted as a gold statue holding a bitcoin, has stood in the way of regulating the crypto industry over the past year.

In January 2025, he signed an executive order on digital assets that promoted crypto as a safe investment. He signed the GENIUS Act last July, which included regulations that heavily favored the crypto industry.

Other sources of Trump’s $2.2 billion income in 2025 were his Trump-branded merchandise, the Mar-a-Lago estate and his Florida golf course, and five legal settlements with media companies.

The president also made an uncertain amount of money from a private prison company that is one of the country’s largest contractors with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.  

There’s nothing to see here, of course. Despite the fact that no other president in history has done anything like this, it’s fine because it’s Trump, and Trump can do no wrong.

Right?

But wait, there’s more! How have Republicans helped people?

Again, the president and his administration claim there’s no conflict of interest here. The president – who has set the agenda for the federal government – is playing dumb while clearly making financial decisions based on policy.

Meanwhile, the median household income isn’t rising, while family paychecks pay for less thanks to rising inflation. There’s also the way cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP benefits and other social services make life more expensive for struggling Americans.

In 2024, nearly 46% of U.S. households didn’t make enough to make ends meet.

Congratulations, MAGA. You did exactly what Trump wanted you to do while hurting your own chances at financial stability. You invested in Trump meme coins. You cheered on his legal wins. You bought Trump Bibles, Trump shoes and the Trump phone. The president is getting richer while your community suffers.

For the rest of us, it seems that the only way we’ll start seeing financial security is for the Democrats to win their elections in the November midterm elections. At least that way we’d have a more secure social safety net and wouldn’t be dealing with budget cuts that affect our neighbors. So while the rich get richer, we must coalesce our power and vote for change this fall.

Follow USA TODAY columnist Sara Pequeño on Bluesky:@sarapequeno.bsky.social