Donald Trump once dismissed Bitcoin as a "scam." Now, he is back in the White House and has taken steps to support cryptocurrency.
Author: Mat Di Salvo
Translation: Deep Tide TechFlow
U.S. President Trump (Photo: Shutterstock)
Overview
Donald Trump has returned to the White House as the 47th President of the United States, with a campaign platform that supports cryptocurrency.
However, Trump has not always held this position: he once called Bitcoin a "scam" and stated that he is not a fan of it.
Today, Trump has launched his own Solana meme coin, multiple NFT series, and a DeFi project.
Bitcoin-friendly Donald Trump won the election in November and was sworn in as the 47th President of the United States in January. But before officially taking office, the Commander-in-Chief launched a meme coin.
Yes, you read that right. The TRUMP token, running on the Solana network, once had a market cap of $14 billion. Although its market cap has since dropped to $2.9 billion, this move demonstrates the new president's growing enthusiasm for the digital asset space, with his campaign pledging to support Bitcoin advocates and the rapidly evolving sector.
Before the fierce election in November, Trump positioned himself as a crypto-friendly candidate, receiving millions of dollars in cash and digital asset donations from Silicon Valley tech leaders. Ultimately, he won the election.
But it hasn't always been this way: President Trump was a staunch critic of cryptocurrency. So how did we get to this point?
"I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. They are not money, their value is extremely volatile and based on nothing. Unregulated crypto assets can facilitate illegal activities, including drug trafficking and other illegal activities…" — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2019
Trump's most iconic early comments on cryptocurrency date back to 2019 when he, as president, explicitly stated that he did not like Bitcoin.
"I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. They are not money, their value is extremely volatile and based on nothing," he stated on Twitter, criticizing Facebook's plans to launch a digital currency.
"In the United States, we have only one true currency, which is stronger than ever, reliable and trustworthy," he added. "It is undoubtedly the most dominant currency in the world and will always remain so. It is called the dollar!"
During the Bitcoin bull market in 2021, Trump reiterated his views. He stated on Fox Business: "Bitcoin looks like a scam." At the same time, he reiterated his desire for the dollar to remain the world's top currency.
Entering the NFT World
It took him a long time to clearly express his liking for top cryptocurrencies, and this journey began with an unexpected crypto craze: NFT collectibles.
By the end of 2021, after leaving the White House, his wife Melania announced her NFT collection plan based on Solana. Solana Labs clarified that it was not involved in the launch of the collection on the blockchain, and despite his wife's involvement in the space, Trump continued to criticize cryptocurrency as "dangerous."
"I'm excited about this new project, which combines my passion for art with a commitment to help the children of our country achieve their unique American dream."
— MELANIA TRUMP (@MELANIATRUMP) December 16, 2021
However, the following year, the Commander-in-Chief launched his own NFT collection. The digital trading card collection was minted on the Ethereum scaling network Polygon, initially mocked but quickly sold out and earned millions of dollars.
Trump later stated that he launched the collection simply because he thought they were "a bit cute." Since then, he has launched more collections on Polygon and even minted a third set on Bitcoin through the Ordinals protocol. The fourth collection, set to launch in August 2024, is the largest NFT collection to date.
Trump even claimed that the success of his NFT collection and the large number of buyers using cryptocurrency instead of fiat currency helped change his view on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.
According to a survey by blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence, digital wallets associated with the president show that he has earned millions in royalty income from NFTs and holds some of the largest unofficial Trump meme coins, which may have been sent to the wallet without Trump's knowledge or consent.
Trump Embraces Crypto
But just last year, Trump truly ramped up his support for cryptocurrency. "I make money with it and have fun with it," Trump said in a March interview with CNBC's Squawk Box stating, "I call them crazy new currencies."
Then, in May, while hosting his NFT holders at his Mar-a-Lago resort, he told the crowd that he was "very happy with cryptocurrency" and criticized Biden and the Democrats for "being against it." Many viewed this event as a turning point in the crypto policy dialogue.
In May, rumors circulated that the world's richest man and Trump's largest campaign donor, Elon Musk, had been providing crypto strategy advice to the presidential candidate. (Musk denied these reports.) In July, the Republican Party released a party platform draft that explicitly mentioned cryptocurrency, marking the first time for the industry.
After surviving a failed assassination attempt in July, the business mogul and former reality TV star received public support from Musk, as well as many other prominent figures in the digital asset space. Key crypto figures like the Winklevoss twins of Gemini and Kraken founder Jesse Powell donated significant amounts to Trump.
Subsequently, Trump chose Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate, a vice presidential candidate who was seen as supportive of cryptocurrency and had disclosed holding Bitcoin worth between $100,000 and $250,000 in 2021.
But the most obvious sign of Trump's embrace of cryptocurrency was his speech at the Bitcoin conference in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2024. At the event, he promised the audience that he would establish a "strategic Bitcoin reserve" for the nation and planned to make the U.S. the "global cryptocurrency capital."
Following this, the Trump family launched a decentralized finance (DeFi) project called World Liberty Financial, with Trump himself releasing multiple social media teasers in the early stages of the project.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 29, 2024
The president's son, Donald Trump Jr., stated that this crypto platform would be egalitarian. "For too long, the average American has been exploited by big banks and financial elites. It's time for us to unite and take action," he stated on Twitter (now called X).
The day after the second assassination attempt, Trump launched the project in a live interview with Rug Radio (a sister company of Decrypt). World Liberty Financial aims to provide cryptocurrency lending services on the Ethereum network.
Compared to other crypto token launches, the project started off somewhat poorly, selling only 4% of the allocated tokens at launch. However, before Trump's inauguration, sales significantly increased, and the remaining allocation sold out on January 20— the very day he returned to the White House.
Decrypt subsequently reported that the World Liberty Financial project launched its own stablecoin. On-chain data shows that the token is available on both the Ethereum and Binance's BNB chains.
The Republican Party has also added more cryptocurrency figures to the team. Bitcoin supporter Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his campaign to support Trump and then joined Trump's transition team. He is now the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, has also become part of Trump's political team and now serves as the Secretary of Commerce.
Meanwhile, prominent Dogecoin fan Elon Musk is leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a plan for budget cuts and layoffs, although he has stated that he will step down soon.
Growing Crypto Ambitions
In September, Trump became the first sitting or former U.S. president known to use Bitcoin to purchase something: at the popular crypto bar PubKey in New York City, the former president bought a burger with cryptocurrency.
"This is the beginning of a new era," he said, referring to the digital asset industry. And this is not just talk: on January 17, he launched a meme coin running on Solana, which is now one of the most valuable meme coins in existence.
The launch of the TRUMP token faced widespread criticism from politicians and analysts, with some viewing it as a potential avenue for corruption. However, despite a significant drop in price from its peak, it still saw trading demand, including when Trump revealed plans to host an exclusive dinner for top TRUMP holders in April.
However, President Trump does not want to stop there.
In the first three months of his administration, the Republican established a strategic Bitcoin reserve and became the first president to sign crypto-related legislation—ending the IRS's so-called decentralized finance (DeFi) broker rules, which could jeopardize the development of crypto applications in the U.S.
Trump's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also dismissed several lawsuits against crypto companies from the previous administration, and his family continues—albeit controversially—to advance their own crypto business: Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump are launching American Bitcoin in partnership with Bitcoin mining company Hut8, planning to become "the largest and most efficient Bitcoin miner in the world."
Trump's media company, Trump Media and Technology Group, also signed an agreement with Crypto.com in March to provide ETF products, with Trump Media itself planning to invest its own funds in these products.
Critics of Trump argue that the president's digital asset business constitutes a conflict of interest; Silicon Valley moguls claim he supports innovation. However, one thing is certain: President Trump seems to be fully committed to cryptocurrency, setting aside his past views on the industry.
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