The Wealth Game of "Never Ending" - Trump's "Monopoly" Life

Original author: Deep Tide TechFlow

At the beginning of 2025, TRUMP Coin burst onto the scene, making a thunderous impact just days before Trump's inaugural speech, with its price soaring from an initial $0.18 to $75.35, but then quickly plummeting, with its market value shrinking significantly, ultimately falling 90% from its peak.

On April 18th, the TRUMP token ushered in its first unlocking period; On April 23, the official website reported that the top 220 users with the highest average Memecoin holdings would be invited to a dinner party, and the price of the currency soared.

This seems to bring a glimmer of hope, but it feels more like enticing its holders to keep moving forward with apples that will never be attainable.

Now, two insiders have revealed that Trump's latest project will be a Trump-branded crypto game, designed similarly to Monopoly Go, set to launch at the end of April.

Baits are constantly being released, avoiding the turmoil caused by tariff policies, and the recently calm crypto world is about to face Trump's new game.

From reality to crypto, this former businessman, now a politician, is like a fish in water.

"Buying land, collecting rent, bankrupting opponents...", similar scenarios are played out repeatedly, while Trump, who "has always believed that Monopoly is a great game", has never stopped his game.

NFTs, Presidential Coins, Chain Games... What's next?

For the crypto world, Trump is arguably one of the most uncontrollable variables. In 2025, this president will be even more active.

On January 18, 2025, just a few days before his inauguration, Trump announced the launch of a meme coin named after himself on his social platform, causing the asset's price to soar, peaking at $75.35. Within two days, it became the 19th most valuable cryptocurrency in the world.

The first round of issuance for the token is 200 million pieces. According to the official website, two entities under Trump hold 80% of the tokens. The 40 million tokens, originally scheduled to be unlocked on April 18, are valued at approximately 300 million USD, accounting for 20% of the circulating supply.

At the beginning of the unlocking, the market generally expected a bear trend, but $TRUMP did not immediately crash after the unlocking on April 18. In particular, the news on April 23 that the official website of "Trump Coin" held a private shareholder dinner for its holders caused quite a stir, with $Trump skyrocketing by 50% within 24 hours, reaching a high of $14.71.

Moreover, according to a report by Fortune magazine on April 15, Trump plans to launch a cryptocurrency game that allows players to build virtual assets and earn in-game currency through a "play to earn" mechanism. This game will become the latest addition to the growing list of cryptocurrency investments by Trump and his family.

Although Trump's old partner Zanker's spokesperson Kevin Mercuri denied that the project is similar to "Monopoly GO!", the news that a new game will be launched at the end of April has still been confirmed.

This is not all of Trump's IP directly entering the crypto world.

As early as the period from 2022 to 2024, Trump released three NFT series, featuring his cartoon images (such as superheroes, presidential portraits, etc.). Buyers who held at least 47 Trump "Mugshot Edition" NFTs received the "exclusive reward" of a dinner at that time—"I have some cryptocurrency," Jordan, who secured a spot at the dinner, said in an interview, "but for me, this is more like an opportunity to meet President Trump."

Although the companies selling NFTs claim to have no connection with Trump's campaign, these NFTs have still faced criticism alongside presidential coins for "politicians exploiting the crypto market for profit," being labeled as "the most serious conflict of interest in modern history."

As a long-time fan of Monopoly, Trump launched the board game "Trump: The Game" in 1989, inspired by it. Whether in reality or the crypto world, Trump has been "buying land and building houses," with tricks far beyond just IP.

Entering the game with the country, winning half the battle against heaven.

Trump was once skeptical about cryptocurrencies; four years ago he publicly condemned Bitcoin as a "scam" that undermines the value of the dollar. However, during the 2024 presidential campaign, he has shown enthusiasm for Web3, promising to make the U.S. a global hub for crypto innovation and criticizing the Biden administration's regulatory approach as overly strict.

On January 23, three days after Trump returned to the White House to begin his second term, he issued Executive Order 14178, titled "Strengthening America's Leadership in Digital Financial Technologies," laying the groundwork for a "National Digital Asset Reserve." On March 6, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve and a U.S. digital asset inventory, fulfilling the promise to make America the world capital of cryptocurrency.

He stated: "I hold a very positive and open attitude towards cryptocurrency companies and everything related to this emerging industry. Our country must become a leader in this field."

On the same day, the White House held its first cryptocurrency summit, gathering well-known founders, CEOs, and investors from the cryptocurrency industry who have been suppressed during the Biden administration. However, the entire event did not release any substantial policy documents, and most of the speeches were filled with gratitude and praise for Trump's "brilliant and mighty" leadership, as if it were a grand "Thanksgiving" celebration. The official live stream surprisingly interrupted 20 minutes into the event, leaving much to imagine.

Not only did Trump and his family members clearly express their support for cryptocurrencies politically, but they also all entered this market.

IN SEPTEMBER 2024, THE TRUMP FAMILY LAUNCHED THE WORLD LIBERTY FINANCIAL (WLF), A CRYPTO LENDING PLATFORM, AND THE GOLD PAPER RELEASED BY THE PROJECT SHOWS THAT THE TRUMP FAMILY RECEIVES 75% OF THE CRYPTO INCOME WITHOUT ANY LIABILITY. In November 2024, Trump Media & Technology Group filed a trademark application for the crypto payment and transaction service "TruthFi" and hinted at an acquisition of crypto platform Bakkt. In February 2025, the Trump Organization filed a trademark application with the USPTO under the name DTTM operations, signaling its possible expansion into the metaverse and NFT space. In March, President Trump's two sons announced that they were investing in a new bitcoin mining company to expand the family's business interests in the crypto industry.

Measures including meme coins have brought billions of dollars in revenue to their family. Government ethics experts state that these business activities have created the most apparent conflict of interest in the history of a U.S. presidential term. It is no wonder that Timothy L. O'Brien, who has long written biographies of Trump, once said, "Anyone who has ever walked into Trump's office and offered him an easy way to make money will attract his attention. He always takes a shortcut on policy."

New York Times related reports

Trump stated regarding the Biden administration's investigation of cryptocurrency companies: "They weaponized the government to target the entire industry."

In a memorandum dated April 7, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche ( cited President Donald Trump's commitment to "end the weaponization of regulation against the cryptocurrency industry" and disbanded the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET), stating that "the Department of Justice will no longer pursue litigation or enforcement actions to impose a regulatory framework on digital assets."

Asset allocation, adapting to the situation for maximum efficiency, is akin to the planning of play-to-earn in blockchain games. The Trump family is currently on this path and has been walking it consistently.

Monopoly Life

As the fourth child of New York real estate mogul Fred Trump, Trump was seen as the heir to his father's empire after graduating from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Before joining the company, he entered the real estate industry with the 1 million dollars provided by his father, and subsequently, the family real estate business expanded, with other properties bearing the Trump brand—casinos, apartments, golf courses, and hotels—being completed.

The 2004 reissued game "Trump: The Game" has a slogan: It takes intelligence to make a million, and it takes Trump to make a billion. In this game, strategy and fun are not the most important; money is the core, serving both as a means and as the ultimate goal. Just like his life.

Trump is good at making money from his own reputation, and his media image has expanded along with his business empire.

From the founder of the Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA beauty pageants to the creator and host of NBC's reality show "The Apprentice"... while becoming a household name in American society for nearly half a century, Trump also stamped his name on hotels, buildings, squares, competitions, and golf courses around the world, a significant portion of which is merely "branding."

In 2011, financial experts from Forbes estimated the value of the Trump brand at $200 million, but Trump disputed this valuation, claiming his brand was worth about $3 billion.

This is not surprising; Trump has always been an expert at boasting and negotiating.

In The King of Real Estate: Donald Trump, biographer Gwenda Blair writes: "In The Art of Dealing, Trump claims that business deals are the mark that distinguishes him from others...... But his most original creation is the constant self-aggrandizement. The Art of the Deal advertised its commercial success, but it wasn't until twenty years later that he realized that there was so much fiction in the book. In 2016, Schwartz, the author of the book, criticized himself for "putting lipstick on a pig" on "Good Morning America."

From commerce to politics, the controversies surrounding Trump have never ceased. As a businessman, he has been involved in over 4,000 legal lawsuits, and during his last presidential term, he left behind more than 3,700 allegations of conflicts of interest that were not fully divested from his business interests. Yet, he has never held back, and indeed, he has achieved what he wanted, completing a spectacular and controversial turnaround.

In January 2025, Trump, who has been sentenced to life in prison for a felony, officially became the first president to be elected as a felon, once again taking a seat at the table and shaking up the global chessboard.

Look back at the 1989 Monopoly game, which used the name of the Trump brand and did not sell well: the rules are capricious, obsessed with wealth accumulation, and there is no moral bottom line, and the slogan is: "It's not whether you win or lose, it's whether you win!"

Doesn't this plot look familiar?