LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of U.S. President Donald Trump, said he and his younger brother Eric Trump “orange-pilled” their father after the family and its organization experienced pervasive de-banking in the wake of Trump’s first presidential term.
Speaking at Bitcoin 2025 in Las Vegas on Tuesday, Don Jr. said he wasn’t an early adopter of bitcoin or crypto, only finding his way to blockchain technology after realizing the “fragile” nature of the traditional financial system.
“We were real estate guys, we were hard assets, we built buildings — [bitcoin] was a bit nebulous,” he said during a fireside chat with Rumble CEO and founder Chris Pavlovski. “But once we got into that political sector…we were getting de-banked, we were getting de-insured, we were getting de-everything. It was brutal.”
Don Jr. said he and Eric “definitely” had a hand in helping their father, who called bitcoin a scam in 2021, understand the potential of crypto and blockchain technology.
“We were the ones who were getting subpoenaed in nonsense lawsuits, we were the ones who are dealing with getting de-banked … we’re the guys who probably saw that first-hand,” he said of him and his brother. “We probably, maybe got there a little bit before him. Once we started explaining the potential, he’s a quick study … he got there pretty quickly.”
Once Trump embraced crypto on the campaign trail, Don Jr. said he got a laugh out of other candidates, including Democratic nominee and former Vice President Kamala Harris, jumping on the bitcoin bandwagon.
“I would pay money, a lot of money, maybe my entire crypto wallet, to have Kamala Harris explain blockchain technology,” Don Jr. said. “That would be the greatest word salad in the history of Kamala Harris word salad.”
Don Jr. added that his father “cares about doing what’s right for America,” saying the democratization of finance “is a fundamental tenant after, like, world peace, of what he wants to accomplish in this administration.”
The Trump family’s crypto ventures, including the TRUMP memecoin and World Liberty Financial, have been heavily criticized in both the industry and the government for being opaque and allegedly presenting conflicts of interest. However, since Trump took office, there has been a renewed push for new regulations and the passage of crypto legislation, as well as the apparent end to the so-called regulation-by-enforcement practiced by regulators during former President Joe Biden’s administration.
With stablecoin legislation seemingly around the corner, potentially followed by a comprehensive market structure bill and strategic bitcoin reserve legislation, Don Jr. said the improved regulatory clarity for the industry will be a boon for bitcoin.
“I think you have the perfect storm for this thing just going to the moon, as they say,” he said.