No one was surprised when the $TRUMP meme coin was dropped on Friday night. At least, it wasn’t supposed to be that way. He is the first to jump into businesses he thinks will make money in a self-promotional manner, but they often end in disaster. These ventures include Trump Airlines, Trump Vodka, Trump Steaks, Trump University, Trump Magazine, Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino, Trump Mortgage, and Trump: The Game. His next game is crypto.
I have already written articles and talked at various lengths about Trump leaning into the cryptocurrency space to gain votes in this past election, which was very successful in many ways. At this summer’s Bitcoin Nashville event, Trump touted Gary Gensler’s promise that America would become “the crypto capital of the planet and the Bitcoin superpower of the world” to drum up support for his presidential candidate. He said some notable things, including that he would be fired. And he wants all remaining Bitcoin to be manufactured in America (very unlikely in reality from a decentralization perspective). He also famously said on day one that he would commute Ross Ulbricht’s sentence, which would give me credit where credit is due first. (If you want to know more about this, I recommend watching the recent Reason documentary on why Ross should be released).
Cryptocurrency is Donald Trump’s next frontier, and some of the things he truly loves when it comes to business dealings: quick money, self-promotion, America-first messaging, and the few bureaucracies that stand in his way. It is a combination of physical friction. So what is the $TRUMP coin?
It is built on the Solana blockchain and has a total supply of 1 billion tokens. Initially, 200 million tokens will be available for circulation, but the remaining 800 million tokens are held by CIC Digital, an affiliate of the Trump Organization, and are subject to a three-year lock-up period (i.e., Trump This means that homes hold 80% of the supply…) After its launch, the market capitalization of $TRUMP coin skyrocketed, reaching approximately $6 billion. The coin’s price peaked at $33.7. The $TRUMP coin was sold not as an investment opportunity, but as a way for supporters to express their alignment with Trump’s ideals, which in my opinion is part of the self-enrichment pump-and-grow scheme created by Trump. It is a huge nuisance to the dump project and what he created is immoral and unethical. And investors (oh, should I say “fans”) would be foolish to participate.
With Monday’s inauguration, we are entering uncharted territory, with Trump likely issuing executive orders regarding Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, but now that he is in office, there are no legal concerns. , buoyed by Trump’s supporters who truly believe he can do anything. . As he famously quoted, “You can stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and you’re not going to lose any voters, are you?”
Some of these actions could be positive for the U.S. Bitcoin industry and supporters. However, much of his actions are linked to a broader spectrum rife with pump-and-dump scam coins and useless get-rich-quick schemes for wealthy insiders and those who have been lobbying him throughout this last cycle. The cryptocurrency space could benefit as well. Pump and dump cryptocurrency situation, his goofy coins and NFTs make sense for Trump. In fact, he knows very little about Bitcoin, but I’m sure he truly believes this is the purpose of cryptocurrencies. Trump has said repeatedly that “cryptocurrency is fun,” and at the end of his keynote address at this summer’s Bitcoin conference, he said, “Have fun with Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and all the other stuff you’re playing with.” Please have a good time.” Trump’s experience and views on cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin are all about fun and making easy money. But when it comes to Bitcoin, many of us in this space are fighting for more than that. That includes many use cases for Bitcoin, such as a censorship-resistant digital currency, digital gold, a medium of exchange for use through self-custody and privacy protection tools, and powerful tools. tools for human rights and more. This is not a gamble for us… it is the future of money that challenges the rules of the dollar and central banks.
If President Trump were to really begin to understand this based on what he has said and done regarding Bitcoin to date, he would be completely opposed to this use of Bitcoin. Or maybe he has some idea what Bitcoin is and would rather promote it as a “fun” meme coin, and digital gold, but no more. After all, he said clearly in 2021, “Bitcoin, it’s like a scam. I don’t like it because it’s another currency that competes with the dollar.” He added that he hopes it will become “the currency of the world.” (If you want to learn more about this concept, I highly recommend following Mark Goodwin and his work on the Bitcoin dollar.)
President Trump wants you to keep playing with cryptocurrencies and pouring money into his organizations, but he doesn’t want you to use Bitcoin as a competitor to the dollar, bypass traditional finance, or use it as a privacy tool. You’re unlikely to be a fan of someone who uses (especially if it’s an adversary or an individual). Given what he considers the ideals of the left/woke movement, perhaps one day he will label our nonprofit The Progressive Bitcoiner as: I will continue to promote Bitcoin as resistance money. I hope you guys will join me instead of gambling endlessly with cryptocurrencies and everything else.
This is a guest post by Trey Walsh. The opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
