Trump Likes Crypto: Just As Long As It's For Grifting

When the $TRUMP meme coin dropped Friday evening, no one was surprised. Or at least, they shouldnt have been. He has a knack for jumping headfirst into endeavors he thinks he can make money on, in self-promoting fashion, that often end in disaster. Some of these ventures include Trump Airlines, Trump Vodka, Trump Steaks, Trump University, Trump Magazine, Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, Trump Mortgage, Trump: The Game. Crypto is the next game in town hes decided to throw his hat into.

Ive already written articles and talked at various lengths about Trump leaning into the crypto space to earn votes in this past election that in many ways was quite successful. At Bitcoin Nashville this past summer, in an effort to garner support for his presidential candidacy, Trump said some notable things including that America will become the crypto capital of the planet and bitcoin superpower of the world, that he would fire Gary Gensler, and that he wants all remaining bitcoin to be made in America (concerning from a decentralized point of view, and highly implausible in reality). He also famously said that he would commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht on Day one, which if he does I will be the first to give credit where credit is due. (For more on this I recommend watching the recent Reason documentary on why Ross should be freed).

Crypto is Donald Trumps next frontier and combines several things he absolutely loves when it comes to business deals - Quick easy money, self-promotion, America first messaging, and little bureaucratic friction standing in his way. So, what is $TRUMP coin?

Its built on the Solana blockchain with a total supply of 1 billion tokens. Initially, 200 million tokens are available for circulation, while the remaining 800 million are held by CIC Digital, a Trump Organization affiliate, subject to a three-year lock-up period (which means the Trump family holds 80% of supply). Following its launch, the $TRUMP coin's market cap surged, reaching approximately $6 billion. The coin's price peaked at $33.7. The $TRUMP coin was marketed as a means for supporters to express their alignment with Trump's ideals, rather than as an investment opportunity, which is hogwash for the pump and dump self-enrichment scheme that he is in my opinion immoral and unethical for creating, and investors (oops, guess we should say fans) are stupid for taking part in.

With inauguration on Monday, were entering uncharted territory where its likely Trump will issue Executive Orders relating to bitcoin and crypto, and now emboldened by the presidency, lack of legal worries, and supporters that I truly believe would be fine with whatever he does. As he famously quoted, "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK?

Some of these actions could be positive for the Bitcoin industry and advocates in the United States. But many of his actions could also equally benefit the broader crypto space that is rife with pump-and-dump scam coins and useless get rich quick schemes for wealthy insiders and people who have lobbied him throughout this last cycle. The pump and dump crypto landscape, his goofy coins and NFTs, make sense to Trump. In fact, Im betting he truly believes this is cryptos purpose, while knowing little about Bitcoin. Trump has repeatedly said he has fun with crypto and ended his keynote address at the Bitcoin Conference this past summer by saying have a good time with your bitcoin and your crypto and everything else that you're playing with. Trumps experience in and views of crypto and bitcoin are around fun and making easy money. But with Bitcoin, many of us in the space are fighting for much more, which includes Bitcoins many use-cases as censorship resistance digital currency, digital gold, a medium of exchange to use in self-custody and via privacy preserving tools, a powerful tool for human rights, and much more. This isnt a gamble for usits the future of money that challenges the dollar and central bank rule.

If Trump really began to grasp this, based on his track record and previous statements on Bitcoin, hed be quite against this use of Bitcoin. Or perhaps he knows what Bitcoin is at some level, and would rather promote the fun meme coins, and maybe Bitcoin as digital gold, but nothing more. He did after all say in 2021, quite clearly, "Bitcoin, it just seems like a scam. I don't like it because it's another currency competing against the dollar." He added that he wanted the dollar to be "the currency of the world. (For more on this concept Id highly recommend following Mark Goodwin and his work on the bitcoin dollar.)

Trump wants you to keep playing with crypto, funneling money to his organizations, but its unlikely hed be a fan of anyone using bitcoin as a competitor to the dollar, circumventing traditional finance or using privacy tools (particularly if you are an adversary or from what he deems a left/woke cause, which perhaps one day hed classify our nonprofit The Progressive Bitcoiner as). Ill keep promoting Bitcoin as resistance money, and hope youll join me, rather than endlessly gambling on crypto and everything else youre playing with.

This is a guest post by Trey Walsh. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.

Text source: Bitcoin Magazine: Bitcoin News, Articles, Charts,

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