One of the things US President Donald Trump has recently spoken about as a convert is cryptocurrencies. Trump has declared that the USA will become the world’s crypto hub. This is far removed from his initial stance in his first term, when he stated that cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, were “nothing but air”.
In reality, a cryptocurrency – regardless of how it is created or whether it, like Bitcoin, is subject to artificial supply limits – is actually a credit, not a currency. Unlike the currencies of nation-states, including digital currencies like the Digiyuan or the Digirubel, which are backed by physical gold, silver, or oil, or any other resource a nation possesses or exports, a cryptocurrency has no connection to the creditworthiness of a particular country or its national monetary policy.
For Bitcoin fans like former RT show moderator Max Keiser, this is exactly the advantage of Bitcoin. This makes the BTC an attractive vehicle for a ‘Great Reset’ of the heavily indebted (G)7 economies of the collective West. In the eyes of Bitcoin detractors like California Democratic Representative Brad Sherman, BTC is a tool for bad Russians to break sanctions and for cybercriminals to carry out their illegal transactions in the dark web. But in reality, BTC, thanks to the fact that every transaction is “on the chain” and traceable by the NSA and other western Five Eyes intelligence agencies (even in transactions between partially anonymous “cold wallets” that remained offline) is less than ideal for a large-scale breach of sanctions or the drug trade.
This is the main reason why Russia, the most sanctioned country in the world, has been moving cautiously towards the development of its own ecosystem for crypto transactions, with a clear preference for BTC, which has been “promoted” within the Russian Federation. As for Latin America, Mexican drug cartels, despite the existence of very privacy-oriented cryptos like Monero (XMR), which is quite prevalent in the cocaine-producing regions of South America, still prefer the hard, cold cash. They enjoy washing their drug profits through the respectable economy and big banks, without having to convert much of it into Bitcoin, even if there have been some public cases of this.
Donald Trump’s about-face on cryptocurrencies is almost as bewildering as his about-face on “Lil’Marco” Rubio, over whom he said in his first term that he would not even trust his smallest and weakest business to, who now heads the State Department. Trump does not just talk the talk. His money follows his words, or rather, he moves your money where his words lead. Three days before his inauguration, on January 17, 2025, Trump hosted a party for the leading figures of the crypto industry, just 15 minutes’ walk from the White House. During the party, Trump’s website announced the launch of the Donald Trump Meme Coin ($Trump-Coin).
Trump announced its start with the following words: “My new official Trump Meme is here! Now is the time to celebrate everything we stand for: Winning! Join my very special Trump community.”
For those who do not know what Meme Coins are – both within and outside the crypto industry, they are often derogatorily referred to as Shitcoins (Shit Coins): they are the most unstable form of an already very unstable investment tool. The reason they are called Meme Coins is because they are so fleeting that a simple meme can rapidly change their market value.
The $Trump-Coin began with an initial release of 200 million, of which 160 belonged to Trump and his closest partners. The rest, the whole 40 million, was sold on the market. Note that there are already a billion $Trump-Coins and the other 800 million will be sold within the next three years.
The initial results were astonishing, as after an entry price of 17 US cents, they reached a high of 74.71 US dollars within two days. Trump became a crypto billionaire. Tens of thousands of investors, most of whom were Trump fans and absolute crypto newbies, jumped in.
On January 19, Trump’s estimated wealth reached a value of 56.6 billion US dollars, of which 89 percent was in crypto. All his other assets, including his global empire of hotels and luxury real estate, as well as two of the twice- or thrice-elected winners of presidential elections, sponsored clothing brands, accounted for only 5.2 billion US dollars.
The first crash occurred on the day of the inauguration, as FLOTUS (First Lady of the United States, also Trump’s wife) announced her own Meme Coin. From the high of 74.71 US dollars, it dropped to 57.90 dollars. Two days later, on January 22, 2025, it reached a second high of 71.62 dollars, before falling to its current value of around 29 US dollars.
It is estimated that around 100,000 investors have already lost money, not that POTUS47 (POTUS stands for President of the United States, Trump is in his second term the 47th President), who never really invested in the launch, only start-up fees. It is unclear if Trump has sold any of the 160 million $Trump-Coins, as he still has another 800 million to sell. If he does and does it quickly, it would be a classic pump-and-dump. Regardless, it is likely that a quick sale of this not very transparent financial tool would bring in something around 20 billion US dollars for the President and his closest partners.
Many participants in the crypto industry are outraged. This has dealt a hard blow to their already ailing credibility. Apart from how it looks, to profit from the second presidency in this way. Even if it is legal, it looks like crude market manipulation. But is there a more serious conflict of interest?
Yes and no. On the one hand, the laws on conflicts of interest do not apply to the President and the Vice President, as the laws on insider trading do not capture some of the most successful users of insider trading: the US Congress. On the other hand, the President has direct control over how the executive branch manages and regulates the crypto sector.
Now, a crypto billionaire is the decisive voice in the regulation and management of the crypto sector of the supposed crypto capital of the world, the same nation that has already hosted Wall Street, which has brought us every single major financial collapse since 1907.
What can go wrong now?