Trump Is the Shitcoin President

Whereas campaigning for president, Donald Trump made a cease on the Bitcoin 2024 convention to ascertain himself because the candidate who would battle for the rights of Bitcoin customers and embrace this new monetary know-how. Nevertheless, “Shitcoin President” is a extra apt illustration of his actions to date.

Simply this previous week, Trump pardoned Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, who had been serving jail time as a result of crypto change’s relaxed method to anti-money laundering enforcement. Previous to the pardon, Binance made a $2 billion deal that additionally concerned World Liberty Monetary, which was co-founded by members and associates of the Trump household. The deal is predicted to result in tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} in income for the Trump household’s crypto challenge. According to a Financial Times investigation, Trump-affiliated crypto firms have made $1 billion over the previous yr.

On high of that, a number of main entities within the crypto trade, equivalent to Coinbase and Ripple, had been additionally included in an inventory of donors to Trump’s White Home ballroom challenge that was released this week.

After all, the TRUMP memecoin was additionally launched across the identical time Trump was inaugurated because the forty seventh President of the USA, together with a MELANIA memecoin that launched just a few days later. A not too long ago filed lawsuit claims that Melania Trump was used as “window dressing” for a rip-off perpetrated by different events.

The TRUMP memecoin was a part of a controversy concerning entry to the president, as a Trump-attended dinner was held for the highest holders of the memecoin earlier this yr. On high of that, the TRUMP chart doesn’t look good for individuals who purchased the memecoin across the time of the inauguration.

Trump’s actions in crypto are largely par for the course on the subject of that trade, as what began as a means of decentralizing the worldwide, digital monetary system with Bitcoin has advanced into a lot of the same sort of centralized, rent-seeking profiteering found in the legacy banking system. Whereas there have certainly been some measures applied by the Trump administration that profit Bitcoin, it’s clear that the crypto-grifting and stablecoin focus has overshadowed these insurance policies associated to the unique peer-to-peer digital money system.

Below the Trump administration, the U.S. Securities and Change Fee (SEC) has made it easier for banks to deal with crypto assets like bitcoin (it was simply introduced that even JPMorgan will accept bitcoin and ether as collateral for loans) and the cypherpunks had been thrown a bone with the discharge of political prisoner and convicted Silk Street operator Ross Ulbricht. That is along with a wide range of different pro-Bitcoin stances which have been supported by executive order, however not but enshrined by congressional laws. That stated, there was a number of further crypto baggage that has come together with these optimistic developments for Bitcoin.

Whereas the Biden Administration was perceived by the crypto world as far too anti-Bitcoin for a lot of its reign (till a sharp reversal close to its finish), the pendulum has now maybe swung too far in the other way, the place crypto grifting and centralized rent-seeking by way of stablecoins and decentralized-in-name-only blockchains are too simply embraced.

Crypto folks ought to take into account the chance that Gary Gensler is not all that dangerous and so they’ve fallen for propaganda from the likes of Coinbase and Ripple.

Do you suppose these crypto firms need to battle for you or exploit you?

— Kyle Torpey (@kyletorpey) January 14, 2025

Crypto exchanges and token issuers claimed they had been combating for the rights of crypto customers when supporting the Trump marketing campaign, however the actuality is these centralized entities additionally had a transparent monetary curiosity in ensuring the hypothesis constructed round memecoins, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and stablecoins was allowed to proceed.

The acceptance of this kind of exercise has change into so blatant that there are worries that Sam Bankman-Fried (of FTX collapse infamy) might additionally obtain a pardon, which is being resoundingly rejected by even the crypto trade as a foul thought. Prediction market Kalshi presently places the odds of an SBF pardon this year at 14%.

everybody asking me for my tackle this

right here’s my take

SBF higher not be subsequent https://t.co/nxFQOsm3za

— Alex Thorn (@intangiblecoins) October 23, 2025

A lot of the rhetoric from the Trump White Home has been targeted on the usage of blockchain know-how to proceed the financial dominance of the USA and the U.S. greenback by way of stablecoins. The favored use of stablecoins within the creating world is seen as a technique to improve demand for U.S. treasuries, which have change into much less fashionable because the rising nationwide debt stays an unresolved concern. Main purveyors of stablecoins frequently preserve U.S. treasuries of their reserves to again the stablecoins, so elevated demand for stablecoins means elevated demand for US debt. This deal with continued greenback dominance is mirrored by the truth that the stablecoin-focused GENIUS Act has already been signed into legislation.

Whereas former SEC Chairman Gary Gensler was routinely mocked by crypto customers and trade leaders for his stance on the rising market throughout his time on the regulatory company, a lot of those that are primarily targeted on Bitcoin have identified that the present regime is in some ways worse as a result of perceived acceptance of unsavory crypto initiatives and growing centralization within the ecosystem.

Right here is an insider’s written account of the facility buildings controlling Ethereum — by way of Vitalik, his interior circle, the large premine, and the Ethereum Basis.

Their face when Gary Gensler was RIGHT. https://t.co/sOUFfrelD0 pic.twitter.com/bJwjiUwnQa

— grubles (@notgrubles) October 22, 2025

When trying to find a sign amid the noise surrounding crypto underneath the Trump administration, the fact is that the wishes of Bitcoin fanatics are being ignored. There are nonetheless no legally enshrined protections for open-source builders and node operators, and no tax exemption on bitcoin use in payments, which might put it on equal standing with foreign exchange. Even the standing of the often-touted Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, which isn’t essentially considered positively by all Bitcoin proponents as a result of inherent centralization of custody concerned, stays unclear.

That stated, the passage of a crypto market construction invoice, which can embody a few of the above-mentioned protections for Bitcoin customers, remains to be anticipated to happen this yr. It’s nonetheless the primary yr of Trump’s second time period in workplace, however the administration might want to change course if it needs to be remembered for embracing Bitcoin somewhat than shitcoins.