Trump Family Turns to Crypto After Losing Access to Banking

Donald Trump Jr. has shared that the Trump family’s involvement in crypto was driven by necessity, not by trend-chasing. In a recent CNBC interview, he explained that their shift into the digital asset space followed a sudden financial cutoff, which they believe was politically motivated.

Good to know

• Trump Jr. said they were “debanked” in New York after entering politics.
• The family launched crypto ventures including American Bitcoin and USD1.
• Trump Jr. sees blockchain as a practical solution for real-world inefficiencies.

Before politics, Trump Jr. said he had no issue securing financing. A single call to a banker in New York used to be enough to fund any real estate project. But that changed once politics entered the picture. Banks stopped responding, and access to capital disappeared. That experience led to a deeper realization about the limits of the traditional financial system.

According to Trump Jr.,

“Then we got into politics, and all of a sudden, they wouldn’t take your call. You couldn’t get financing. We were debanked. And what I realized… was that… the financial system was totally undemocratized because we had a certain balance sheet.”

He went on to say that the family began feeling what many ordinary Americans deal with regularly—being locked out of the financial system. That shift in perspective, he claims, led them to embrace crypto as a decentralized alternative.

He explained that crypto platforms, in his view, offer a way to avoid gatekeepers and create more efficiency—especially in industries like real estate where transaction costs can be high.

“As a guy that did real estate, [I asked] why am I paying points in and out for title insurance? That could be done on the blockchain.”

The Trump family has since backed several crypto-related ventures. Among them are American Bitcoin, USD1, and World Liberty Finance. Trump Jr. made it clear that the decision was not about following the hype.

“We got into it out of necessity. We got into it because we understood just how quickly we could be turned off.”

By investing in crypto, Trump Jr. said the family hopes to stay insulated from future financial blockages. Their approach leans on using blockchain to sidestep traditional finance rather than viewing crypto purely as an investment.