Key Takeaways
- Donald Trump is backing a new crypto game.
- The value of Trump’s crypto assets has sharply declined, with his donated portfolio dropping to just over $1.3 million.
- In Q1 2025, Web3 gaming saw a 71% year-over-year drop in funding.
President Donald Trump is expanding his presence in the crypto space with a new Web3 gaming project, reportedly inspired by the classic real estate board game Monopoly.
However, Trump’s entry into the sector could be dampened by an emerging market reality—blockchain gaming, once the darling of Web3 investors, is currently suffering from a slowdown in funding.
Trump’s Crypto Game
According to a Fortune report citing individuals familiar with the project, the upcoming crypto game is modeled after MONOPOLY GO!, a popular mobile game where players build virtual real estate empires on a digital board.
The venture is being spearheaded by Bill Zanker, a longtime Trump associate who was also involved in launching Trump’s earlier crypto initiatives, including his memecoin and NFTs.
You’ll Want To See This
Sources claim the project was initially slated to debut before Trump’s latest presidential inauguration.
However, the project’s Monopoly-style branding has raised questions.
Hasbro, the company that owns the rights to Monopoly, stated it has not licensed the game to any Trump-affiliated crypto venture.
Zanker’s spokesperson, Kevin Mercuri, confirmed that a game is in development but denied a direct similarity to Monopoly.
Web3 Gaming Faces a Funding Slump
Trump’s latest crypto initiative comes at a time when Web3 gaming is facing a significant funding slowdown.
After a surge in popularity partly sparked by the 2021 release of Axie Infinity—a “play-to-earn” game that allowed users to generate real-world income—investment in the sector has cooled dramatically.
A recent DappRadar report shows that Web3 gaming projects raised only $91 million in Q1 2025, representing a 71% drop compared to the same quarter in 2024 and a 68% year-over-year decline.
Additionally, overall blockchain gaming activity and user engagement fell 6% quarter-over-quarter.
In an exclusive interview with CCN, ZKcandy CEO Kin Wai said the future of Web3 gaming has moved away from the pay-to-earn model.
“Play-to-earn is done. It has become obsolete. It has brought short-term profits to those who wanted them, but that’s not how you build gaming products,” Wai said.
Instead, Lau believes the future of Web3 gaming lies in creating genuinely fun experiences mixed in with a Play-to-own model, where players genuinely own their in-game assets.
With this in mind, the Trump-backed Web3 game could likely generate short-term buzz based on his public profile—but success will depend on more than name recognition alone in an increasingly skeptical Web3 gaming market.
Trump’s Crypto Portfolio
Trump’s entry into Web3 gaming is the latest addition to his growing involvement in the digital asset space.
In 2022, he launched Trump Digital Trading Cards, an NFT collection featuring stylized illustrations of the president.
He is also linked to a stablecoin and World Liberty Financial, a decentralized finance project. His sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., also hold significant stakes in a bitcoin mining operation.
At one point, Trump’s memecoin soared to a fully dilated valuation of $75 billion but has since plummeted by 90% to $7.7 billion, wiping out billions from Trump’s portfolio.
His donated crypto holdings are now valued at just $1.3 million—down from a peak of over $15 million in July last year.
Was this Article helpful?
