The Trump family cashed in big on a $500 million crypto deal, but their investors didn’t get so lucky.

In August 2025, Donald Trump Jr. and younger brother Eric inked a deal with Alt5 Sigma and celebrated at the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York City.

But less than 10 months later, the business that brought the first family a huge windfall is now facing closure.

With stock prices plummeting, Alt5 Sigma—now renamed AI Financial Corp.—is facing being delisted from the Nasdaq. But because of its prior purchase of $1.5 billion in crypto tokens from the Trump brothers’ trading platform World Liberty Financial, the family cashed in—despite the failure that quickly ensued for the financial technology company.

The suspicious nature of the deal prompted attorneys for Democracy Defenders Fund to urge the Securities and Exchange Commission to launch an investigation.

Attorneys warn that Alt5 Sigma had participated in “steering investor funds to entities co-owned by President Trump and his associates.”

The SEC has not launched an investigation or acknowledged the letter from the nonpartisan organization.

The Trump brothers have been heavily involved in the crypto community, building out the family empire as their father President Donald Trump slashed regulations around the highly volatile market.

Through World Liberty Financial, the Trumps have a stake in former UFC champion Conor McGregor’s business, MMA Inc., and the two brothers have made splashy appearances at a number of international crypto events.

According to CNBC, Eric boasted at a Hong Kong-based crypto conference last August that 90% of his time is now spent with the crypto community.

But when you look at how much the Trump family has won while those playing the crypto game have lost, the difference is stark.

When the family launched its $TRUMP meme coins, fans and investors alike jumped on the opportunity. In turn, the Trumps sat on a meme-coded pile of money that amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars.

Soon after, however, those who bought in on the investment began losing.

The Trumps have used crypto as a means to amass more wealth with little investment of their own, a Reuters investigation concluded.

According to the outlet, the president and his sons have added at least $2.3 billion to their family fortune, mainly through crypto. However, investors have taken a $2.3 billion hit.

“Under the Trump crypto playbook, the family always wins. Investors don’t,” the report concluded.

Two other ventures, like World Liberty Financial and an investment in American Bitcoin, have also resulted in pain for investors while the family raked in the profit.

Crypto platform WLF has even sparked a lawsuit for its alleged extortion of a billionaire backer.

Justin Sun, a crypto mogul who initially supported the Trump family’s efforts, sued World Family Financial after allegedly being pressured into buying more coins.

The crypto con adds to a growing list that includes Trump-branded cell phones, perfumes, sneakers, Bibles, social media apps, fin tech, and many other money grabs that have the president’s seal of approval.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos