News Block: Trump's $1.4 Billion Crypto Payday, Strategy's Biggest Bitcoin Sale Yet & a Signal We've Seen Only 5 Times Since 2011 artwork

News Block: Trump's $1.4 Billion Crypto Payday, Strategy's Biggest Bitcoin Sale Yet & a Signal We've Seen Only 5 Times Since 2011

Coin Stories with Natalie Brunell

July 6, 2026

In this week's episode of the Coin Stories News Block powered exclusively by Ledn, we cover these major headlines related to Bitcoin, macroeconomics, and global finance: Trump reported $1.
Speakers: Natalie Brunell
**Natalie Brunell** (0:01)
Welcome to the Coin Stories News Block, powered exclusively by Ledn. I'm Natalie Brunell, and in about 10 minutes or less, I'll provide you with insightful updates on Bitcoin, financial markets and the global economy. Everything you need to know in one block. Let's go.
I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July weekend. There's a lot to get to this week, but we have to start with one number, 1.4 billion. Last week, President Trump's annual financial disclosure was released. All 927 pages of it. According to Reuters, the president reported more than $1.4 billion in income from his family's crypto ventures in 2025
That included nearly $800 million connected to World Liberty Financial and another 635 million tied to the official Trump token. Bloomberg put it in perspective. Trump's crypto income was larger than the earnings of the most publicly traded crypto companies, including Coinbase, which earned about $1.26 billion. So one man, while serving as president, reported more income from crypto than some of the largest companies whose entire business is digital assets.
Now I want to be fair because this show always tries to be. This administration has done real positive things for Bitcoin. The strategic Bitcoin reserve, ending the debanking of Bitcoin companies, putting pro-Bitcoin voices in key seats, those things matter and I've said so many times. But this is different and we have to call it what it is. The official Trump token and World Liberty Financial are not Bitcoin. They were politically branded crypto ventures that followed the same playbook this industry has spent a decade trying to grow out of. Insiders getting an early advantage, retail getting marketed into the hype and everyday buyers left holding the bag. And the on-chain data shows exactly how it played out. About 1.5 million people bought the official Trump token. It has since collapsed 97 percent.
Two out of three buyers lost money to the tune of 3.8 billion in combined losses. Meanwhile, Trump reported a $636 million personal payout from the token. That tells you everything you need to know about who this benefited. And the political consequences are already showing up. Democrats are demanding ethics provisions in the Clarity Act that would restrict presidents and their families from profiting off crypto.
Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Ruben Gallego of Arizona, one of the few Democrats who actually supports crypto legislation, they've both said that they want to crack down on Trump's crypto dealings. When even the pro-crypto Democrats are pushing back, that is a bad sign for the bill.
Remember, Bitcoin is neutral, Bitcoin is apolitical. But because of this private enrichment that we're seeing at the highest levels of politics, Democrats now have an easy way to tie Bitcoin to Trump and turn it into a partisan issue. The people who really understand Bitcoin never needed to put their name on a coin. Bitcoin doesn't have a founder collecting a check. It doesn't have a family profiting off the brand. It's the only token in the world that was never designed to make one person rich at everyone else's expense.
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Before we get into the latest bear market data, an important update on Strategy. This morning, Strategy disclosed that it sold 3,588 Bitcoin over the past week for approximately $216 million.
That's a dramatic step up from the initial 32 Bitcoin sale several weeks ago. The proceeds funded preferred stock dividends and topped up the company's US dollar reserve, which now stands at $2.55 billion. This is the Bitcoin Monetization Program in action. That's the framework Strategy announced last week that authorized up to $1.25 billion in Bitcoin sales to service its capital structure. Holdings now stand at a little under $844,000 Bitcoin carried at a cost basis of about $75,000 per coin, well above where Bitcoin is trading today. Now Bitcoin dipped roughly $1,000 on the news this morning. I think the market is still processing what it means when the world's largest corporate Bitcoin holder shifts from buying every week to selling some of its stack. But as we discussed last week, this is the framework doing what it was designed to do, servicing obligations while preserving the core position of being a net buyer.
So now let's talk about what's happening underneath the surface of this bear market because the data is telling a familiar story. Bitcoin is still roughly 50% below its all time high. Sentiment is super weak. Every rally gets sold. But according to Glassnode, long-term holders, wallets that have held Bitcoin for at least 155 days have returned to net accumulation. They're doing it while in real pain. Roughly 45% of long-term holder supply is sitting at a loss.

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