On January 24, 2026, Eric Trump, as the co-founder of World Liberty Financial, boldly claimed on social media that the market value of its associated token USD1 had surpassed that of PYUSD issued by PayPal, packaging this milestone as an important achievement in project development. He emphasized, "This is not just about cryptocurrency, but about building the future of global currency," attempting to elevate USD1 to the level of the dollar system and global financial order. As authoritative institutions have yet to provide specific market value differences between USD1 and PYUSD, the market can currently only confirm the relative result of "surpassing" without a detailed quantitative comparison. Within the narrative framework of decentralized finance that emphasizes power decentralization and neutrality, when a family deeply involved in American partisan politics begins to bet on and amplify a dollar-pegged token, the tension between technological ideals and political capital is also brought into the spotlight.
From NFT to USD1: The Trump Family's Crypto Apprenticeship
● Long before USD1, the Trump family had repeatedly explored the cryptocurrency and Web3 space, from NFT series centered around personal images as core IP to crypto-related products surrounding election nodes, with the family brand and on-chain assets being bundled multiple times. World Liberty Financial, behind USD1, emerged as a new vehicle after this series of attempts, taking on the role of transitioning from "selling peripherals" to "creating financial narratives," marking its shift from marginal experimentation to a more financially-oriented narrative.
● In announcing USD1's market value surpassing PYUSD, Eric Trump did not use specialized terms such as technical routes or reserve structures, but instead employed short, powerful, and emotional social media language, focusing on symbolic meanings like "we have surpassed PayPal" and "the future of global currency." This narrative approach is clearly not aimed at professional DeFi investors, but rather serves as a mobilization signal to family supporters, voters, and the broader American conservative community, translating complex financial products into an easily understandable story of "our camp regaining the narrative."
● The Trump brand has long been associated with slogans like "Make America Great Again" and "America First," which naturally extend to imaginations of "dollar dominance" and "American financial hegemony" in the financial sector. When USD1 is packaged as a dollar-pegged token endorsed by an American political family, it becomes more than just an on-chain token code; it is grafted with potential narratives such as "a grassroots version of a digital dollar" and "the American people's currency against Wall Street and tech giants," creating an implicit connection with national strength and dollar hegemony on a symbolic level.
● On a deeper level, the Trump family's entry into crypto finance through World Liberty Financial and USD1 signifies an extension of its business landscape from real estate, media, and brand licensing to direct participation in "currency narratives." For a family deeply involved in the American political system, this is both an investment in future fundraising, narrative space, and supporter mobilization capabilities, as well as a strategic positioning of chips before a potential return to the centers of power, packaging political influence and crypto financial infrastructure within the same long-term narrative.
The Symbolic Battle Behind PayPal's Stablecoin Being Surpassed
● PYUSD, launched by global payment giant PayPal, is backed by its long-standing accumulation in cross-border payments, online settlements, and strict compliance systems. On one hand, PayPal has mature licenses and risk control experience within the traditional financial regulatory framework, providing a natural endorsement of "compliance background" for PYUSD; on the other hand, its hundreds of millions of user base and merchant network make PYUSD seen as an important bridge connecting traditional payments and crypto assets, with high hopes from the outside world for "a digital dollar application driven by a financial giant" at the time of its issuance.
● In this context, USD1's claim of surpassing PYUSD is more of a symbolic battle: it is not about proving its absolute scale has reached a certain level, but rather sending a signal to the market that "newcomers can also surpass fintech giants with political IP." Due to the current lack of authoritative data disclosing the specific market value difference and historical evolution between the two, it is difficult for outsiders to make rigorous judgments about the sustainability of the "surpassing," but the packaging of this milestone in itself is an efficient brand positioning.
● On one side is a fintech giant that has been deeply engaged in payments for over twenty years, a "hybrid of Wall Street and Silicon Valley," while on the other side is a "political family startup project" known for election mobilization and media exposure, with significant differences in market imagination. The former emphasizes the stability of technology and regulation, while the latter emphasizes emotion, identity, and camp affiliation. When these two narratives compete around the same type of dollar-pegged token, investors are not only assessing asset risk and return but also subconsciously choosing which social and political story they believe more.
● In the broader landscape of dollar-pegged coins, this "surpassing" is interpreted as a new round in the competition for brand and narrative power. Whoever can occupy the position of "American digital dollar" or "on-chain representative of the dollar" in users' minds will have a better chance of gaining priority access in payment scenarios, DeFi ecosystems, cross-border settlements, and even political fundraising. By leveraging the Trump family label to challenge PYUSD's symbolic status, USD1 is essentially seizing this mental high ground, and future competition around dollar-pegged coins will increasingly shift from technical competition to a multidimensional game of narrative, camp, and regulatory resources.
The Future of Global Currency? The Double-Edged Sword of Political IP Crossovers
● When Eric Trump publicly states, "This is not just about cryptocurrency, but about building the future of global currency," he attempts to bind the fate of USD1 with the evolution of the global currency system. This statement reflects a strong strategic ambition—to shape a token involving a family into a potential candidate for global settlement and value storage—while also carrying obvious marketing overtones, aiming to amplify attention and symbolic premium in a short time by sinking the grand narrative into a specific project.
● A token issued with the Trump family endorsement will inevitably be assigned stronger national and partisan labels by the outside world: within the United States, it is easily seen as associated with specific voter groups, party lines, or even future fiscal and regulatory expectations; outside the United States, it may be interpreted as "another version of the American official currency story," regardless of whether the project party actively emphasizes it. This tendency towards labeling could amplify the sensitivity of token prices and usage scenarios to the domestic political cycle in the U.S.
● In contrast, decentralized finance originally pursued neutrality and indiscriminate accessibility: node distribution, open-source code, and multi-signature governance are all aimed at avoiding excessive control of financial infrastructure by a single country, company, or individual. However, when a highly recognizable political family like the Trumps becomes deeply involved, the governance intentions, resource allocations, and future adjustment paths of USD1 are inevitably interpreted as politically biased tools, which conflicts with the DeFi ideal of "technology over identity."
● Surrounding the high-profile statement of "the future of global currency," there are voices within the community that support its potential for traffic and resource inflow, as well as concerns about political hijacking and regulatory risks. However, there is currently a lack of systematic statistics and authoritative research on specific public sentiment heat, faction structures, and social media interaction data. Therefore, in mapping the landscape of market sentiment, it is necessary to acknowledge the diversity of these voices while also reserving the premise of "awaiting subsequent data verification," avoiding the amplification of scattered comments into definitive trends.
Regulatory Shadows Persist: The Contrast Between CZ After Pardon and USD1
● In discussions surrounding the U.S. regulatory environment, former head of a leading exchange CZ mentioned in an interview at Davos, "If I could start over, I would block U.S. users from day one." This reflection directly points to his early underestimation of the boundaries of U.S. regulation and enforcement intensity, emphasizing that in the global crypto business layout, the U.S. market presents both high returns and high risks, with its long-term compliance costs and potential legal liabilities far exceeding many practitioners' initial expectations.
● CZ's statement comes in a time window after he received a pardon from Trump and experienced real imprisonment. He spoke publicly about the psychological changes brought by this experience and his renewed understanding of regulatory deterrence. Although the details have not been fully disclosed, it is enough to make the market realize: under the operation of the U.S. judicial and administrative system, personal freedom and asset security can undergo drastic changes in a short time. For any team attempting to issue a dollar-pegged token under the U.S. narrative, this "cautionary tale" constitutes a real backdrop.
● Because of this, CZ's compliance lessons and the Trump family's high-profile launch and promotion of USD1 form an intriguing contrast. On one side is a reflective stance looking back at the past, emphasizing "if I could do it again, I would treat U.S. users more cautiously," while on the other side is an active embrace of the dollar narrative and U.S. regulatory perspective under political halo. This difference does not imply who is safer, but rather reminds the market: even with strong political connections and social mobilization capabilities, one cannot automatically resolve the compliance and enforcement uncertainties surrounding dollar-pegged tokens.
● More critically, the current regulatory stance on USD1 remains unclear, whether it is viewed as a security, payment tool, or other new financial product, as well as its reserve management, anti-money laundering, and cross-border circulation regulatory framework, all lack public official characterization. In this information vacuum, any assertions about USD1's future regulatory fate are bound to be distorted, and the market needs to maintain judgment restraint while focusing on narrative heat, acknowledging that "regulatory variables" remain the most difficult aspect to quantify in the entire story.
Mining Stocks Rise Together: Capital Participating in Narrative Voting with Its Feet
● Notably, on the day the news broke that USD1's market value surpassed PYUSD, cryptocurrency mining concept stocks in the U.S. stock market performed remarkably well, with companies like IREN and Applied Digital seeing increases of over 8%. These companies have no direct business connection to USD1, but their stock price movements remain highly correlated with crypto-related sentiment, reflecting a renewed interest from traditional capital markets in crypto-related risk assets on a macro level.
● From a capital perspective, the broad rise of mining stocks often indicates that investors' imaginations about the overall crypto narrative have been restored: whether it is a reassessment of future Bitcoin prices, on-chain activity levels, or profit expectations for related infrastructure, these will be reflected in stock prices in advance. As USD1 leverages political IP to amplify attention on dollar-pegged tokens, traditional capital is also seeking targets that can carry the "crypto recovery" narrative, and mining stocks are high-beta tools for this sentiment.
● If we place the dollar-pegged narrative of USD1 and the rise of mining stocks within the same macro coordinates, we can see a kind of risk appetite resonance: on one hand, dollar-denominated on-chain assets and dollar-pegged tokens constitute a new "dollar story variable"; on the other hand, computing power, mining companies, and infrastructure stock prices reflect expectations for the expansion of the entire crypto ecosystem. This resonance more reflects the overall warming of sentiment towards risk assets rather than a direct transmission of logic from a single token.
● Therefore, attributing the unusual movements in mining stock prices on that day solely to the USD1 event is clearly too linear. A more reasonable interpretation is that under the combined effects of interest rate expectations, risk appetite, and industry news, crypto-related assets have become the direction for capital to re-test, and the competition between USD1 and PYUSD, along with the Trump family's increased involvement in crypto, are just a few prominent pieces in this emotional puzzle, with the true drivers of stock prices still being the market's comprehensive judgment of future macro and industry cycles.
The New Battlefield for Dollar-Pegged Coins: Finding Balance Between Politics and Markets
The recent "USD1 surpassing PYUSD" milestone in the dollar-pegged token arena at the beginning of 2026 serves more as a signal: the competition has evolved from early technical and scenario comparisons to a multi-faceted struggle with stronger narratives, branding, and political overtones. The endorsement from the Trump family has given USD1 an amplification effect in terms of traffic and symbolic significance that far exceeds similar-sized projects, but it has also brought the conflicts between regulatory uncertainty, decentralized ideals, and partisan labels to the forefront. Currently, there is a lack of authoritative data on the precise market value differences between the two, and no clear guidance on the regulatory characterization of USD1. In this phase of information asymmetry and overheated narratives, market participants need to heighten their sensitivity to narrative manipulation and risk spillover. Looking ahead, the landscape surrounding dollar-pegged tokens is likely to evolve into a contest among at least three forces: the "financial giant version" represented by PayPal, the "political IP version" centered around high-profile figures like the Trump family, and the "on-chain tech community version" maintained by crypto-native teams. In this new battleground, those who can find a balance between regulatory sustainability, technological robustness, and narrative tension will have the opportunity to occupy a more critical position in the next round of global digital currency order reconstruction.
Join our community to discuss and grow stronger together!
Official Telegram community: https://t.me/aicoincn
AiCoin Chinese Twitter: https://x.com/AiCoinzh
OKX benefits group: https://aicoin.com/link/chat?cid=l61eM4owQ
Binance benefits group: https://aicoin.com/link/chat?cid=ynr7d1P6Z
免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。
