Trump will take office as a crypto billionaire

The Trump family’s new crypto tokens are worth well over $10 billion on paper, after a frenzied rally pushed up the value of the digital assets in the days leading up to the inauguration.

The so-called memecoins received another boost on Monday when Robinhood, the trading platform that made a large donation to Mr. Trump’s inauguration fund, began letting its clients trade the $TRUMP coin. Memecoins, a form of cryptocurrency tied to an online joke or celebrity mascot, are not often available for trading on major platforms.

Mr. Trump announced the launch of the new token, known as $Trump, on Friday night. Another token, $Melania, went on sale late Sunday. Trump-affiliated companies appear to control a majority of the tokens, which will be released gradually over the coming years.

Before tokens started trading, Forbes had performed Mr. Trump’s net worth as $6.7 billion, most of which comes from the Trump Media and Technology Group, which operates the social media platform Truth Social.

Ethics watchdogs have warned of deepening conflicts of interest as Trump returns to the White House, with tokens creating new opportunities for executives, crypto traders and companies inside and outside the US to curry favor with the Trump administration.

A former crypto-skeptic, Mr. Trump embraced the digital currency industry last year, promising to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet.” In September, he and his sons co-founded a crypto business, World Liberty Financial. He has also tapped advocates for looser regulation of crypto for key regulatory and advisory positions in his administration.

Crypto markets have surged since Mr. Trump’s election victory. The price of Bitcoin hit a new record on Monday, jumping above $109,000.

Eric Lipton and David Yaffe-Bellany contributed with reporting.