Trump is Crypto’s Kingmaker

For years, crypto struggled to gain meaningful traction in U.S. politics. Trump’s second presidential campaign changed this, and days before he was sworn in his Trump-branded memecoin cemented the fact that crypto is now politically and financially important to the President of the United States.

This editorial is from last week’s edition of the Week in Review newsletter. Subscribe to the weekly newsletter to get the editorial the second it’s finished.

Trump’s Second Term Ushered in With Memecoin Pomp and Circumstance

Trump’s previous administration was action-packed. From his unconventional way of conducting himself, often seen as “unpresidential,” to the hyperbolic way traditional media hyperventilated about him, it felt like you had to follow him closely or miss out on important news events.

At the time, crypto really wasn’t important enough to catch Trump’s attention. He did comment on it once or twice, saying he didn’t like bitcoin and thought it was a scam. Other than that, bitcoin and crypto were largely ignored. What a difference four years makes.

If Trump’s first week of his second term is any indication, crypto will be front and center this time around.

The Friday before his Monday inauguration, Trump launched an official memecoin. He did this while the biggest players in U.S. crypto gathered at the Crypto Ball. By all accounts, the pre-inaugural event was one of the best crypto gatherings in recent memory. Industry leaders, euphoric with the anticipation of Trump’s crypto agenda, rubbed shoulders with pro-crypto politicians. Optimism was high, and the U.S.’s crypto future was on the lips of everyone present. In the middle of this event, unbeknownst to almost all at the event, Trump launched his memecoin on Solana.

Broadly speaking, Trump’s memecoin launch was a success for both the project itself and for crypto. TRUMP was the fastest growing memecoin in history. The fastest to reach $1, $5, and $10 billion. It rewarded the perennially onchain, the crypto participants “in the trenches.” It was released on-chain, not through a centralized exchange, so it brought many people from retail into the decentralized, on-chain world.

It was a success for Solana, which despite slowdowns and failed transactions, handled the crushing increase in traffic admirably. Money poured into Solana. In seven days, Solana has seen a 77% increase in total on-chain stablecoins. Solana’s success put further pressure on its rivals, chief amongst them Ethereum.

During and after the launch, even Ethereum’s most ardent supporters didn’t make any claims that Ethereum or one of its L2s could’ve handled the onslaught of traffic as well as Solana did. This coupled with the civil war brewing in Ethereum, makes it hard to be optimistic about Ethereum in the short to medium term. The division in Ethereum is long-term bullish, though, as it forces Ethereum to deal with its shortcomings.

Two days after Trump’s memecoin launched, the Melania memecoin launched. While the Trump coin was largely positive, the Melania coin is probably net negative. It diverted attention away from Trump’s memecoin, undermining confidence in its future value by creating divided focus and suggesting the potential for even greater dilution with future Trump family memecoins. It will be interesting to see how Trump’s crypto team adjusts to the market’s response to MELANIA. They’ve proven to be savvy, hopefully, they’ll learn their lesson.

Perhaps the most important outcome of Trump’s memecoin is the effect on Trump’s net worth. On paper, TRUMP now makes up a material portion of his wealth, possibly a majority of it. If he wants to realize profits from it, he’ll need the crypto market in general to do well. That is to say, he now has billions of reasons to make sure crypto goes up.

If you are in crypto, it probably wouldn’t hurt to have Trump’s socials on notifications. 2025 is going to be a wild year.

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