From “not a fan” to cryptocurrency president

Bitcoin-friendly Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States in January. But before he was officially sworn in, the commander-in-chief dropped a meme coin.

Yes, that’s right. The market cap of the TRUMP token running on the Solana network was $14 billion at one point. That amount has since plummeted to $1.5 billion, but the move signals growing enthusiasm for the digital asset sector by the new president, who has campaigned to support Bitcoiners and the rapidly changing sector overall.

Trump touted himself as a crypto-friendly candidate ahead of November’s divisive election, bringing in millions of dollars in funding. cash and Donation of digital assets From a Silicon Valley technology leader. And he won.

But it wasn’t always like that. President Trump used to be an ardent critic of cryptocurrencies. So how did we get here?

Trump’s earliest and most definitive comments on cryptocurrencies date back to his inauguration as president in 2019. revealed He didn’t like Bitcoin.

“I am not a fan of Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. They are not money and their value is highly volatile and based on thin air.” said On Twitter at the time before the accusation facebook plan For digital currencies.

“The United States has only one real currency, and this one is stronger than ever, both in reliability and credibility,” he added. “It is by far the most dominant currency anywhere in the world and will always remain that way. It’s called the US dollar!”

playing cards repeated His beliefs on the 2021 Bitcoin bull market. “Bitcoin feels like a scam,” he said. fox businessHe reiterated his desire for the dollar to become the world’s best currency.

Entering the world of NFTs

It took him a long time to say for sure that he liked top cryptocurrencies, and that journey started with an unexpected crypto boom. NFT collectibles.

By the end of 2021, after Trump leaves the White House, his wife Melania announced her plan is SolanaBased NFT collection. Solana Institute clarified It has nothing to do with the collection being launched on the blockchain, Trump continued. slam the cryptocurrency Despite his wife’s adventure, he says it’s “dangerous.”

But the following year, the commander-in-chief launched his own NFT collection. Minting on the Ethereum scaling network polygonthe digital trading card collection was initially ridiculed— yet it sold out quickly and made millions of dollars.

Trump then said He said he simply launched the collection because he thought it was “kind of cute.” He has since launched Polygon created more collections and also minted part of a third set in Bitcoin via the Ordinals protocol. The fourth collection was launched in August 2024 and contained the largest number of NFTs to date, although less than 10% of the total available was ultimately minted.

President Trump has even claimed that the success of his NFT collection and the surprising number of buyers who used cryptocurrencies instead of fiat currency helped change the way he views Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.

The digital wallet linked to the president by blockchain analysis firm Arkham Intelligence raked in millions It includes royalties from NFTs and also holds some of the largest unofficial Trump meme coins, which may have been sent to the wallet without Trump’s knowledge or consent.

President Trump’s support for virtual currency

However, it was only last year that President Trump began seriously talking about promoting cryptocurrencies. Trump: “I’m making money doing it and I’m enjoying it” said In a March 2024 interview with CNBC squawk box. “Crazy new currency, that’s what I call it.”

Later, while entertaining NFT holders at his Mar-a-Lago resort in May 2024, he said: said He accused Biden and the Democratic Party of being “against crypto”, a crowd that is “comfortable” with cryptocurrencies. Many people viewed this event as turning point In conversations about crypto policy.

rumor spread That month, Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and the biggest donor to the Trump campaign, was advising presidential candidates on cryptocurrency strategy. (Musk denied the report.) In July of the same year, the Republican Party released a draft party platform explicitly mentioning cryptocurrencies, the first in the industry.

rear survive an assassination The endeavor earned Mr. Musk, a business mogul and former reality TV star, public support as well as support from many other prominent figures in the digital assets field. And major crypto figures like the Gemini Winklevoss twins and Kraken founder Jesse Powell have made large donations to Trump.

President Trump then selected Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate, who at the time was considered the next vice president. Pro-cryptocurrency candidate He revealed that he held between $100,000 and $250,000 in Bitcoin in 2021.

But the clearest sign of President Trump’s growing interest in cryptocurrencies is that he spoke At the 2024 Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. There, he promised the crowd that he planned to build a “strategic Bitcoin stockpile” for the country and turn the United States into the “cryptocurrency capital of the planet.”

Then the Trump family teased. Decentralized finance (DeFi) The project is called World Liberty Financial, and Trump himself posted multiple social media teasers during its initial rollout.

The president’s son Donald Jr. said the cryptocurrency platform will be level-playing. “For too long, average Americans have been oppressed by big banks and the financial elite. Now is the time for us to stand together and stand together,” he said. said On Twitter (aka X).

And the next day, second attempt Trump about his life launched The project in a live interview on Rug Radio (decryption(sister company). world liberty financial The company aims to provide virtual currency lending and borrowing services on the Ethereum network.

As crypto token launches go, this project was a bit of a failure from the start, only selling 4% of the allocated tokens during the launch. However, sales increased significantly in the run-up to Trump’s inauguration, and by the time Trump returned to the White House on January 20, the remaining allocation was sold out. decryption Later, the World Liberty Financial project reported that it had launched its own stablecoin.

The Republican also has more crypto people on his team. Bitcoin bull Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his campaign for Trump and later joined Trump’s transition team. He currently serves as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick, who wore the orange pill, was also part of Trump’s political team and currently serves as Secretary of Commerce.

Elon Musk, a well-known Dogecoin fan, led the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a program to cut budgets and cut jobs across the government. He later resigned from that position amid a chaotic public break with President Trump.

Cryptocurrency ambitions grow

Last year, President Trump became the first current or former president that we know of to purchase something using Bitcoin. The former president used cryptocurrencies to buy a hamburger at Pubky, a popular crypto bar in New York City.

“This is the beginning of a new era,” he said of the digital asset industry. And it wasn’t just a story. On January 17, he announced a meme coin running on Solana. That token has now become one of the most valuable meme coins in existence.

The launch of the TRUMP token has been widely criticized by politicians and analysts, with some seeing it as a potential corruption case. However, although prices have fallen significantly from their peak, trading demand continues to be seen, including in April, when President Trump revealed plans to host an exclusive dinner for top TRUMP holders.

President Trump’s exclusive dinner in May for the top 220 meme coin holders was a tasteful event, attendees said. decryptionthe president only appeared briefly. VIP attendees, who took a special tour along with access to the event, held an average of $4.8 million worth of TRUMPs to take the top spot at the party.

But Republicans have made other, more serious campaign promises a reality in their first five months in office. He established a strategic Bitcoin reserve and became the first president to sign crypto legislation into law. This ended the IRS’s so-called DeFi broker regulations that could have jeopardized the development of crypto apps in the United States.

President Trump’s SEC has also dropped numerous lawsuits against cryptocurrency companies from the previous administration, and his family continues to pursue their own controversial cryptocurrency ventures. Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have launched American Bitcoin, a joint venture with Bitcoin mining company Hut8 that plans to become “the world’s largest and most efficient Bitcoin miner.”

Trump’s sons also plan to launch a cryptocurrency wallet through the World Liberty Financial Project. Initially, the TRUMP Meme Coin team announced that it would launch its own Trump-themed wallet, but after a public (but short-lived) dispute with Eric, Baron, and Don Jr., that plan was scrapped (interestingly, the Trump family appears to have reduced their stake in World Liberty).

Even more symbolically, Trump and his family spoken It’s against big banks and what they see as censorship. By executive order in August, the president Prohibited It is siding with industry leaders who have previously complained of being unfairly treated by the TradFi community and debanking crypto-related companies.

Trump’s media company, Trump Media and Technology Group, also signed a deal in March to partner with Crypto.com to offer ETFs, and Trump Media itself plans to invest its own money in the product. The two companies then worked together to launch Crypto.com’s Cronos (CRO) token vault, which will also be used on Trump Media’s Truth Social platform. In addition, Trump Media purchased $2 billion worth of Bitcoin and related securities in July after raising billions of dollars.

Trump’s critics say his digital asset business represents a conflict of interest. Silicon Valley heavyweights say he is a champion of innovation. But one thing is certain: President Trump is fully committed to cryptocurrencies, ignoring his past views on the industry.

And in the process, he has gained many fans, some of whom briefly erected a golden statue of Trump holding Bitcoin in Washington, D.C., in September.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published on July 19, 2024 and was last updated with new information on October 5, 2025.