Around 3-4 AM, the baby woke up, so we fed, cleaned, and put him back to sleep. For the last two months, this routine has given me the chance to do a quick Twitter check and keep up with the American agenda more closely during the nights.

I picked up my phone again, bombarded with notifications.

$TRUMP

https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1880446012168249386

Like millions of others, I immediately thought this was a hack, but given it was just before the January 20th Inauguration, that seemed unlikely. I quickly checked, and within an hour, it had already reached a $6 billion valuation, Twitter was going wild, and there was no sign of a hack.

I felt a slight unease, but also a small thrill from the intrigue of the situation, and I went back to bed.

The only thought in my mind at that moment was: A new era has begun, and nothing will be the same anymore.

With Trump's arrival, it was already expected that there would be a more pro-crypto administration, the crypto center would shift to the U.S., and generally, this would create positive expectations about pricing in everyone's minds and hearts. But no one, absolutely no one, thought Trump would launch a meme coin.

This would be a catalyst beyond expectations.

I want to summarize the event in three categories:

THE GOOD: The Rise of DeFi

Over the past three years, while we've been dealing with the downturn's effects, reduced investments, retail moving away from crypto, and almost all vanity metrics weakening, the most critical threat came from the SEC and Gary Gensler.

With lawsuits against the most valuable crypto companies like Uniswap, Consensys, Coinbase, Kraken, and many others, DeFi was constantly threatened, self-custodial wallets were accused of brokering, and all paths to mass adoption were under threat.

Some examples:

• Uniswap: The SEC sent a Wells notice to Uniswap Labs, stating that decentralized exchange services could be seen as unregistered securities transactions. Uniswap declared they would fight to protect DeFi's future.

• Consensys: Consensys received a Wells notice regarding MetaMask wallets. The company countersued, arguing that the SEC was overstepping and that Ethereum or ETH should not be considered securities.

• Robinhood Crypto: Robinhood received a Wells notice from the SEC concerning its crypto transactions, believing the listed assets are not securities and would negotiate with the SEC.

• OpenSea: NFT marketplace OpenSea was warned by the SEC that NFTs on the platform could be considered securities.

• Crypto.com: Crypto.com was also warned with a Wells notice from the SEC.

However, once the possibility of Trump being elected again was backed by pro-crypto approaches, especially all U.S.-based projects started to materially and morally support the new administration, leading to a win-win situation. From that moment, everyone began to say, "This will change if Trump comes."

This week, Gary resigned, lawsuits started to drop, pro-crypto, innovative, and young names began to be appointed to positions that could affect crypto and DeFi. Even before Trump officially took office, the needle had already swung to positive.

Just a few days ago, Coinbase, which normally would have trouble with the SEC for just staking ETH, announced a feature allowing borrowing of $USDC against $BTC collateral. This is truly a significant step in adaptation. For those unaware, it means if you hold BTC on Coinbase, you can now borrow USDC at a certain LTV (Loan to Value ratio) through DeFi, self-custodially via Coinbase Smart Wallet.

https://x.com/coinbase/status/1879902780564951530

Look, if Coinbase had started thinking about this a year ago, the SEC would have sent them a letter. Now, they can take action probably without thinking if this could create a trouble.

Until here, everything is clear; a more free and faster-moving crypto was expected. But no one anticipated it would go as far as $TRUMP.

If this is almost a signal flare for unlimited freedom and action, my expectations for DeFi will shape up like this:

• First, DeFi can now reach the masses through exchanges that already hold retail. Without worries, more experimental features, decentralized exchanges, and lending tool integrations can be done more comfortably.

• The SEC fear on self-custodial wallets will be gone. Thus, more DeFi integrations, more complex financial products, and TradFi-DeFi integrations will be presented in combinations, bringing on-chain finance to the forefront.

• Stablecoins were already somewhat accepted. The acquisition of Stripe-Bridge is the biggest signal flare ahead. Yet, it’s usecases are limited to P2P transfer and DeFi, we're now looking at a world where stablecoins can be spent more freely everywhere. Money will become more fluid.

• ICOs are coming back. We can see this from the movements on Echo, Legion, and even Coinlist. People are now openly saying they want low-FDV, community-powered tokens rather than VC-led high FDV tokens. Hence, we're entering an era where early-stage token investments are more driven by retail.

• RWA - Tokenization will definitely speed up. Through initiatives like BackedFi, tokenized shares will come back into the spotlight. This is an existing product, but due to the sensitivity of the topic, it was advancing shyly; I expect a more aggressive growth. Though private lending or tokenizing funds don't interest me much, they've already accelerated in 2024, and it's evident they'll continue.

• And everything will have its token. I'll touch on this in "The Ugly" section at the end of the post.

THE BAD: Scam Traps

The moral balance of this meme coin business is something we all understand. Some see it as the freedom to value and create value for what people want, valuing the opportunity crypto provides, while others view it as a casino.

I initially sided with the latter, but over time, trying to understand the broader context, I started agreeing more with the first perspective. Those of us in the 30-40 age range best remember the rise of memes and caps on the internet as part of self-expression. At that time (and still), a new narrative language was quickly adopted by everyone and became part of daily life. What we see today with meme tokens is people showing, financially, how much they value which joke, narrative, or meme. In any political or social event, a meme token representing that event can come out, and if it's creative enough and first, it can quickly gain valuation. This is exciting because both the creator benefits and people engage financially with this narrative in a different way.

If you're a boomer, you might be overly concerned about losing money or scammers becoming active. You're not wrong, but if you completely ignore the fluidity of money, the speed of value creation, and sharing, I'm sorry for you.

Now, let's get to the $TRUMP matter.

First, this event's fundamental impact will allow everyone and everything to launch a meme token without worrying about legal repercussions. Hesitant celebrities, influencers, and possibly even institutions will enter this space.

Thus, the meme coin business has now been legitimized.

In very rough terms, issuing tokens in the U.S. is now free. (Not legal advice - humor included)

We can only predict the chaos, positive and negative effects this will cause. From this moment, what happens will defy all predictions.

THE UGLY: Black Mirror

With Trump tokenizing himself, over the next four years, we have a financial product that reacts to every action Trump takes, gains or loses value based on his re-electability, shaped by public trust. This token now values Trump's life. Every tweet, every statement, every photo will correspond to a tick on the $TRUMP chart.

This could be the fuel for the personal-social token concept that had a brief but influential moment in the 2020s. Now, people can assess their value directly through their own token, rather than Twitter followers, Instagram likes, or ad revenue, potentially moving all commercial relationships there. This could have been done before, but, as mentioned above, the legitimization of this business could be a significant catalyst.

This also reminds me of the scoring story from Black Mirror. In a world where every action, every tweet is turned into a social and universal scoring system, blockchain is the easiest and most inclusive way to achieve this.

Call it a casino or futurism.

The world is changing; mechanisms for valuing and measuring are changing, as is people's understanding of entertainment.

Money and value are intertwining, gaining global fluidity.

2025 will be an interesting year.

The topics mentioned above are just the most superficial explanations of this matter. Each point, each sentence, actually requires in-depth analyses in different verticals, along with validation over time.

But one thing I'm sure of is we'll watch the Americanization of crypto.

And more importantly:

We will enjoy watching many brave individuals who market decentralization saying, "Well, we are U.S.-based too."

I'll discuss the Solana vs. Ethereum reflection of all this action in the next issue.

Best
Baki

Around 3-4 AM, the baby woke up, so we fed, cleaned, and put him back to sleep. For the last two months, this routine has given me the chance to do a quick Twitter check and keep up with the American agenda more closely during the nights.

I picked up my phone again, bombarded with notifications.

$TRUMP

https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1880446012168249386

Like millions of others, I immediately thought this was a hack, but given it was just before the January 20th Inauguration, that seemed unlikely. I quickly checked, and within an hour, it had already reached a $6 billion valuation, Twitter was going wild, and there was no sign of a hack.

I felt a slight unease, but also a small thrill from the intrigue of the situation, and I went back to bed.

The only thought in my mind at that moment was: A new era has begun, and nothing will be the same anymore.

With Trump's arrival, it was already expected that there would be a more pro-crypto administration, the crypto center would shift to the U.S., and generally, this would create positive expectations about pricing in everyone's minds and hearts. But no one, absolutely no one, thought Trump would launch a meme coin.

This would be a catalyst beyond expectations.

I want to summarize the event in three categories:

THE GOOD: The Rise of DeFi

Over the past three years, while we've been dealing with the downturn's effects, reduced investments, retail moving away from crypto, and almost all vanity metrics weakening, the most critical threat came from the SEC and Gary Gensler.

With lawsuits against the most valuable crypto companies like Uniswap, Consensys, Coinbase, Kraken, and many others, DeFi was constantly threatened, self-custodial wallets were accused of brokering, and all paths to mass adoption were under threat.

Some examples:

• Uniswap: The SEC sent a Wells notice to Uniswap Labs, stating that decentralized exchange services could be seen as unregistered securities transactions. Uniswap declared they would fight to protect DeFi's future.

• Consensys: Consensys received a Wells notice regarding MetaMask wallets. The company countersued, arguing that the SEC was overstepping and that Ethereum or ETH should not be considered securities.

• Robinhood Crypto: Robinhood received a Wells notice from the SEC concerning its crypto transactions, believing the listed assets are not securities and would negotiate with the SEC.

• OpenSea: NFT marketplace OpenSea was warned by the SEC that NFTs on the platform could be considered securities.

• Crypto.com: Crypto.com was also warned with a Wells notice from the SEC.

However, once the possibility of Trump being elected again was backed by pro-crypto approaches, especially all U.S.-based projects started to materially and morally support the new administration, leading to a win-win situation. From that moment, everyone began to say, "This will change if Trump comes."

This week, Gary resigned, lawsuits started to drop, pro-crypto, innovative, and young names began to be appointed to positions that could affect crypto and DeFi. Even before Trump officially took office, the needle had already swung to positive.

Just a few days ago, Coinbase, which normally would have trouble with the SEC for just staking ETH, announced a feature allowing borrowing of $USDC against $BTC collateral. This is truly a significant step in adaptation. For those unaware, it means if you hold BTC on Coinbase, you can now borrow USDC at a certain LTV (Loan to Value ratio) through DeFi, self-custodially via Coinbase Smart Wallet.

https://x.com/coinbase/status/1879902780564951530

Look, if Coinbase had started thinking about this a year ago, the SEC would have sent them a letter. Now, they can take action probably without thinking if this could create a trouble.

Until here, everything is clear; a more free and faster-moving crypto was expected. But no one anticipated it would go as far as $TRUMP.

If this is almost a signal flare for unlimited freedom and action, my expectations for DeFi will shape up like this:

• First, DeFi can now reach the masses through exchanges that already hold retail. Without worries, more experimental features, decentralized exchanges, and lending tool integrations can be done more comfortably.

• The SEC fear on self-custodial wallets will be gone. Thus, more DeFi integrations, more complex financial products, and TradFi-DeFi integrations will be presented in combinations, bringing on-chain finance to the forefront.

• Stablecoins were already somewhat accepted. The acquisition of Stripe-Bridge is the biggest signal flare ahead. Yet, it’s usecases are limited to P2P transfer and DeFi, we're now looking at a world where stablecoins can be spent more freely everywhere. Money will become more fluid.

• ICOs are coming back. We can see this from the movements on Echo, Legion, and even Coinlist. People are now openly saying they want low-FDV, community-powered tokens rather than VC-led high FDV tokens. Hence, we're entering an era where early-stage token investments are more driven by retail.

• RWA - Tokenization will definitely speed up. Through initiatives like BackedFi, tokenized shares will come back into the spotlight. This is an existing product, but due to the sensitivity of the topic, it was advancing shyly; I expect a more aggressive growth. Though private lending or tokenizing funds don't interest me much, they've already accelerated in 2024, and it's evident they'll continue.

• And everything will have its token. I'll touch on this in "The Ugly" section at the end of the post.

THE BAD: Scam Traps

The moral balance of this meme coin business is something we all understand. Some see it as the freedom to value and create value for what people want, valuing the opportunity crypto provides, while others view it as a casino.

I initially sided with the latter, but over time, trying to understand the broader context, I started agreeing more with the first perspective. Those of us in the 30-40 age range best remember the rise of memes and caps on the internet as part of self-expression. At that time (and still), a new narrative language was quickly adopted by everyone and became part of daily life. What we see today with meme tokens is people showing, financially, how much they value which joke, narrative, or meme. In any political or social event, a meme token representing that event can come out, and if it's creative enough and first, it can quickly gain valuation. This is exciting because both the creator benefits and people engage financially with this narrative in a different way.

If you're a boomer, you might be overly concerned about losing money or scammers becoming active. You're not wrong, but if you completely ignore the fluidity of money, the speed of value creation, and sharing, I'm sorry for you.

Now, let's get to the $TRUMP matter.

First, this event's fundamental impact will allow everyone and everything to launch a meme token without worrying about legal repercussions. Hesitant celebrities, influencers, and possibly even institutions will enter this space.

Thus, the meme coin business has now been legitimized.

In very rough terms, issuing tokens in the U.S. is now free. (Not legal advice - humor included)

We can only predict the chaos, positive and negative effects this will cause. From this moment, what happens will defy all predictions.

THE UGLY: Black Mirror

With Trump tokenizing himself, over the next four years, we have a financial product that reacts to every action Trump takes, gains or loses value based on his re-electability, shaped by public trust. This token now values Trump's life. Every tweet, every statement, every photo will correspond to a tick on the $TRUMP chart.

This could be the fuel for the personal-social token concept that had a brief but influential moment in the 2020s. Now, people can assess their value directly through their own token, rather than Twitter followers, Instagram likes, or ad revenue, potentially moving all commercial relationships there. This could have been done before, but, as mentioned above, the legitimization of this business could be a significant catalyst.

This also reminds me of the scoring story from Black Mirror. In a world where every action, every tweet is turned into a social and universal scoring system, blockchain is the easiest and most inclusive way to achieve this.

Call it a casino or futurism.

The world is changing; mechanisms for valuing and measuring are changing, as is people's understanding of entertainment.

Money and value are intertwining, gaining global fluidity.

2025 will be an interesting year.

The topics mentioned above are just the most superficial explanations of this matter. Each point, each sentence, actually requires in-depth analyses in different verticals, along with validation over time.

But one thing I'm sure of is we'll watch the Americanization of crypto.

And more importantly:

We will enjoy watching many brave individuals who market decentralization saying, "Well, we are U.S.-based too."

I'll discuss the Solana vs. Ethereum reflection of all this action in the next issue.

Best
Baki