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Trump’s financial disclosure reveals $1 million in crypto and a lucrative side hustle with Bibles

Trump once called Bitcoin a ‘scam.’ Now he owns $1 million in cryptocurrency and his campaign has said he is trying to build a ‘crypto army’

Kelly Rissman
Friday 16 August 2024 15:42 BST
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Donald Trump holds a fighting anti-semitism event with Miriam Adelson at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster on August 15. His FEC disclosure revealed he owns $1m in cryptocurrency
Donald Trump holds a fighting anti-semitism event with Miriam Adelson at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster on August 15. His FEC disclosure revealed he owns $1m in cryptocurrency (Getty Images)

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Donald Trump made $300,000 for endorsing $60 Bibles with singer Lee Greenwood and owns more than $1 million in cryptocurrency, a new financial disclosure reveals.

The financial disclosure — a Federal Election Commission requirement for candidates pursuing federal office — showed that the former president made millions in royalties and owns a considerable amount in cryptocurrency, which he once decried as a “scam.”

One entry titled “cryptocurrency wallet virtual ethereum key” was valued between $1 million and $5 million. The investment shows his drastically shifting views on the digital currency in recent years.

After leaving office in 2021, Trump called Bitcoin a “scam.” He explained: “I don’t like it because it’s another currency competing against the dollar... I want the dollar to be the currency of the world.”

Meanwhile, in May of this year, his campaign announced it would accept cryptocurrency contributions as part of a wider effort to build a so-called “crypto army” before the November election.

The August 15 disclosure also revealed that the former president, who has compared himself to Jesus Christ, made a whopping $300,000 royalty payment for endorsing “The Greenwood Bible,” which he began promoting not long after being ordered to pay hundreds of millions from his civil fraud judgment.

Donald Trump holds a Bible outside of St. John’s Church in Washington, DC following Black Lives Matter demonstrations. Some speculated Trump was holding the Bible upside down
Donald Trump holds a Bible outside of St. John’s Church in Washington, DC following Black Lives Matter demonstrations. Some speculated Trump was holding the Bible upside down (AFP via Getty Images)

The $60 Bible also includes the chorus to Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA,” as well as the text of the US Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the Pledge of Allegiance.

Trump also made significant royalty payments from his books Letters to Trump and Our Journey Together, which raked in just under $5 million, the disclosure shows. The books retail for $90 and $50, respectively.

The former president also earned more than $7 million in royalties from a “license agreement with NFT INT, LLC,” referring to his NFT “trading cards.”

Trump holds a fighting anti-semitism event with Miriam Adelson at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster on August 15, 2024 in Bedminster, New Jersey. His FEC disclosure revealed he owns $1m in cryptocurrency
Trump holds a fighting anti-semitism event with Miriam Adelson at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster on August 15, 2024 in Bedminster, New Jersey. His FEC disclosure revealed he owns $1m in cryptocurrency (Getty Images)

The disclosure shed light on Trump Media & Technology Group Corp, which owns Truth Social, as well. The GOP nominee valued the company at $50 million this year, up considerably from last year, when he valued it between $5 and $25 million, the 2023 disclosure shows.

Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, which was famously raided in 2022, made just under $57 million in 2024, an increase from the $54 million he reported making at the club in his October 2023 disclosure. Trump valued the club as being worth over $50 million, the disclosure reveals.

The former president is set to sue the Justice Department for $100 million in damages over the raid, during which hundreds of classified documents were found scattered in boxes in the sprawling estate, resulting in a federal case against him. The anticipated move from Trump’s legal team comes after the classified documents case was dismissed last month.

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