Bitcoin Magazine Criticizes $TRUMP: Trump Likes Cryptocurrency Only If It Can Be Used for Graft

By: blockbeats|2025/01/20 11:15:02
0
Share
copy
Original Article Title: Trump Likes Crypto: Just As Long As It's For Grifting
Original Article Author: Trey Walsh, Bitcoin Magazine Writer; TPBPod Executive Director
Original Article Translation: Ashley, BlockBeats

Editor's Note: The article analyzes Trump's involvement in cryptocurrency, revealing the opportunistic nature of his $TRUMP project. The author criticizes the coin's pump-and-dump scheme, pointing out Trump's focus on short-term gains and self-promotion while overlooking Bitcoin's core values. The author calls for attention to the decentralization and real-world utility of cryptocurrency, rather than speculative trading.

Below is the original content (slightly reorganized for readability):

The Story Behind $TRUMP

When $TRUMP launched on Friday night, no one was surprised, or at least they shouldn't have been. Trump has always thrown himself wholeheartedly into ventures he believes will make him money, but these ventures often end in disaster. Some of these failed attempts include Trump Airlines, Trump Vodka, Trump Steaks, Trump University, Trump Magazine, Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, Trump Mortgage, and Trump: The Game. Now, cryptocurrency has become the new field he has decided to enter.

I've written articles and spoken at length on various occasions about Trump's foray into the crypto space in an effort to win votes in the recent election. This attempt has been quite successful in many ways. At this summer's Bitcoin Nashville conference, in a bid to garner support for his presidential campaign, Trump made some noteworthy remarks, including claiming that the U.S. would become the "crypto capital of the world and a Bitcoin superpower," he also pledged to fire Gary Gensler, and expressed hopes that all remaining Bitcoin would be mined in the U.S. (which is worrisome from a decentralization perspective and highly unlikely in reality). He also stated that on his first day in office, he would commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht. If he does, I'll be the first to applaud. (For more on this, I recommend watching the recent documentary by Reason on why Ross should be released.)

Cryptocurrency is Trump's next battleground, combining several elements he loves in business transactions—quick and easy money-making, self-promotion, messaging of "America First," and minimal bureaucratic hurdles. So, what is $TRUMP?

Bitcoin Magazine Criticizes $TRUMP: Trump Likes Cryptocurrency Only If It Can Be Used for Graft

It is based on the Solana blockchain with a total token supply of 1 billion. Initially, 200 million tokens were made available for circulation, while the remaining 800 million were held by a company affiliated with the Trump organization, CIC Digital. These tokens were locked up for three years (meaning the Trump family holds 80% of the token supply...). Following its launch, $TRUMP's market value quickly skyrocketed, touted as a means for supporters to express alignment with Trump's ideals rather than an investment opportunity. However, in my opinion, this is nothing more than a pump-and-dump self-enrichment scam, an unethical behavior in which the participating investors (or should I say "fans") are incredibly foolish.

Crypto Policy Outlook: Speculative Nature vs. Core Value

As we approach Monday's inauguration, we are stepping into uncharted territory where Trump may sign executive orders related to Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Now more confident due to his presidency, free from legal concerns, and with a group of supporters whom I truly believe would endorse any of his actions, he famously said, "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, okay?"

Some of these actions may benefit the U.S. Bitcoin industry and supporters. However, many of his actions may also favor the broader cryptocurrency space, which is filled with pump-and-dump scam coins and get-rich-quick schemes designed for the wealthy and lobbyists. This speculative and pump-and-dump cryptocurrency environment, along with his meme coins and NFTs, align well with Trump's logic. In fact, I would bet he truly believes that this is the purpose of cryptocurrency, all the while knowing very little about Bitcoin. Trump has often expressed that he is "having fun playing crypto" and ended a Bitcoin conference keynote speech this summer by saying, "Enjoy yourselves, whether it's Bitcoin or whatever you want."

Trump's experience and views on cryptocurrency and Bitcoin revolve around fun and easy money. But for many in the Bitcoin space, we are fighting for much more, including Bitcoin as a censorship-resistant digital currency, digital gold, an exchange medium for self-custody and privacy tools, a powerful tool for human rights, and more. This is not a gamble... this is the future of currency challenging the dollar and central bank rules.

If Trump truly starts to grasp this, based on his past record and comments on Bitcoin, he is likely to oppose the use of Bitcoin. Or perhaps, to some extent, he understands what Bitcoin is and would rather promote "fun" meme coins, maybe even including Bitcoin as a concept of digital gold, but not beyond that. After all, in 2021 he explicitly stated, "Bitcoin, it just seems like a scam. I don't like it because it's another currency competing against the dollar." He also added that he hopes the dollar becomes the "world currency." On this concept, I highly recommend following Mark Goodwin and his research on Bitcoin vs. the dollar.

Trump wants you to keep playing with cryptocurrency, funneling funds into his organization, but he's unlikely to support anyone using Bitcoin to compete with the dollar, bypass the traditional financial system, or use privacy tools (especially if you're his opponent or he sees it as one of the "left/woke" reasons, maybe one day he'll classify our nonprofit organization Progressive Bitcoiners for this reason). I will continue to promote Bitcoin as a resistance currency and hope you can join in, rather than endlessly gambling on cryptocurrency "and whatever else you're playing."


Original Article Link

-- Price

--

You may also like

Dialogue with OmenX Founder: Why does the prediction market need an evolution from "spot" to "derivatives"?

How to reconstruct the prediction market using leverage?

When the P2P illicit funds from ten years ago turned into 60,000 bitcoins

The largest Bitcoin money laundering case in the UK has new developments: 16,000 Chinese victims are pursuing 61,000 seized Bitcoins across borders, and the dispute over the applicability of UK and Chinese laws will directly determine whether the victims can share in the soaring profits.

Morning News | CME Group launches Nasdaq Cryptocurrency Index futures; Asset management giant Janus Henderson strategically invests in Ethena

Overview of Important Market Events on June 10

Why did Oracle deliver the strongest financial report in history, yet its stock price fell?

Oracle's revenue for fiscal year 2026 set a record, with AI cloud orders soaring to $638 billion, but massive capital expenditures on computing power led to negative free cash flow, causing a 5% drop in after-hours stock prices.

Bitcoin Layer 2 Network Botanix: Why Did We Choose to Dissolve?

The Bitcoin L2 star project Botanix announced a gradual shutdown, with the team admitting to facing severe challenges from the failure of its business model and the prevailing trends. Users are urged to withdraw all assets before July 9, 2026.

Morning Report | OpenAI has submitted an S-1 registration statement draft to the U.S. SEC; Morpho completes $175 million financing

Overview of Important Market Events on June 9th

Popular coins

Latest Crypto News

Read more
iconiconiconiconiconiconicon
Customer Support:@weikecs
Business Cooperation:@weikecs
Quant Trading & MM:bd@weex.com
VIP Program:support@weex.com