On the Friday before Donald Trump's second-term inaugaration, Snoop Dogg takes the stage at the CryptoBall in Washington, the night the memecoin $TRUMP was launched, although Trump himself did not attend.

Tickets ranged from $2,500 to $1 million, with two separate tiered VIP rooms, including a balcony overlooking the crowd, according to Fortune.

"The reign of terror against crypto is over" said venture capitalist and member of the PayPal Mafia David Sacks, while addressing the crowd.

And on Sunday, the day before Trump's inauguration, Melania Trump launched her own memecoin $MELANIA.

Not even one day into office and Donald Trump and his family have already exploited their status for personal gain. You would assume a token launched by the soon-to-be two-term President of the United States would be safe from any rug-pulls.

Fast forward to October of 2025 and the latest filings in fraud and rackateering lawsuit Hurlock v. Kelsier Ventures claims Meteora founder, Benjamin Chow, is the mastermind behind the pump-and-dump token $MELANIA, alongside others including $LIBRA, as per Decrypt.

Though the plantiffs in the legal filing claim the First Lady Melania Trump and Argentine President Javier Milei are not to blame for the "scam tokens" they promoted and were instead used as "props".

From Trump in 2019 claiming Bitcoin is "based on thin air" to pledging to make the US the "crypto capital" of the world in 2025, what changed?

In simple terms, corruption, or shall I say political contributions.

In 2024, the crypto industry has collectively donated $119 million to try and influence the federal elections, of which the majority has gone to Fairshake, a political action committee (PAC) dedicated to electing pro-crypto candidates, as per EIU.

A political action committee (PAC) in U.S. politics is an organisation whose purpose is to raise and distribute campaign funds to candidates seeking political office, according to Britanicca.

And as of June 2025, according to Bloomberg, crypto holdings represent a "sizeable portion of Trump's wealth".

As part of his crypto holdings, $460 million come from World Libery Financial ($WLFI).

A business venture backed and co-founded by the Trump family which Democrats argue is a vehicle for corruption, conflict of interest and grift, according to the BBC.

For instance, in early 2025 the Security & Exchange Commission (SEC) paused an investigation of Justin Sun, founder of TRON, after he said he bought roughly $200 million of $WLFI, as per PBS.

Also in 2025, Changpeng Zhao, founder of the largest crypto exchange Binance, was pardoned by Trump months after Binance took part in a complex deal with a state-backed Abu Dhabi wealth fund.

The sovereign wealth fund invested $2 billion of USD1, the stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial, that is backed by US treasuries, into Binance.

Binance now holds about $2 billion worth of USD1, about 75% of the stablecoin’s market cap, according to Forbes.

FatMan, whistleblower of the Terra fraud scandal, sums up it nicely:

As the world enters multipolarity, with the future of money turning digital, and the US dollar at risk of losing its global dominance, the US turned to stablecoins "as a way to prop up the use of the US dollar" said crypto commentator, Keith D.

The most notable, crypto-related legislature Trump has passed is the GENIUS act, signed in July 2025. A framework that requires USD-denominated stablecoins such as Tether's USDT to be backed 1:1 with US treasuries or cash.

"It's almost as if this GENIUS act is giving the US dollar a chance to compete before we get the rest of the system in place," said Keith D in a YouTube video.

With the "system" Keith refers to being the CLARITY act, the broader regulatory legislature for digital assets that is still yet to become law.

This move, contrary to the libertarian values crypto was founded upon, positions "US dollar stablecoins as the future of internet native money" while "propping up short-term debt markets".

Think of this as America hijacking US dollar stablecoins as its own central bank digital currency (CBDC).

So although Trump maybe be passing crypto-related legislature, in reality the policies are self-serving and do little to benefit the libertarian objectives of crypto.

Another move that some may argue prove Trump is 'pro-crypto' is his Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, which sounds more prestigious than it is.

Trump's Strategic Bitcoin Reserve only holds "bitcoin owned by the Department of Treasury that was forfeited as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings," according to a fact sheet by the White House.

"The government will not acquire additional assets for the U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile beyond those obtained through forfeiture proceedings."

Unlike El Salvador's Bitcoin treasury which has been acquiring 1 Bitcoin each day since November 2022 and currently holds around 7,511 Bitcoin (about $659 million).

Crypto angel investor, VirtualBacon suggests Trump's administration's actions are "more about optics than policy" as he shared his thoughts on X following Trump's crypto summit in March, 2025.

In conclusion, let's have a look at Bitcoin's price in comparison to Trump and Joe Biden's years in office, with credit to Luke Giack for the chart.

As is known, Bitcoin's price is not solely influenced by US domestic politics though it definitely plays a factor and although this graph gives us an interesting perspective it is important to clarify that it does not reflect how 'pro-cryto' either president is.

An important clarification that is missed in the chart, is that in early November 2024, following Trump's victory in the presidential election, Bitcoin saw a significant rally that some may argue jump started the bull run that continued into 2025.

Regardless of Trump's policies, what cannot be denied is rhetorically and electorally Donald Trump is 'pro-crypto'.

And although Trump has not implemented blockchain-based voting systems, or integrated crypto into traditional banking infrastructure, or made earnings from crypto tax-free, perhaps advocacy for crypto, no matter how shallow, is the most we can expect from a US president.

On the Friday before Donald Trump's second-term inaugaration, Snoop Dogg takes the stage at the CryptoBall in Washington, the night the memecoin $TRUMP was launched, although Trump himself did not attend.

Tickets ranged from $2,500 to $1 million, with two separate tiered VIP rooms, including a balcony overlooking the crowd, according to Fortune.

"The reign of terror against crypto is over" said venture capitalist and member of the PayPal Mafia David Sacks, while addressing the crowd.

And on Sunday, the day before Trump's inauguration, Melania Trump launched her own memecoin $MELANIA.

Not even one day into office and Donald Trump and his family have already exploited their status for personal gain. You would assume a token launched by the soon-to-be two-term President of the United States would be safe from any rug-pulls.

Fast forward to October of 2025 and the latest filings in fraud and rackateering lawsuit Hurlock v. Kelsier Ventures claims Meteora founder, Benjamin Chow, is the mastermind behind the pump-and-dump token $MELANIA, alongside others including $LIBRA, as per Decrypt.

Though the plantiffs in the legal filing claim the First Lady Melania Trump and Argentine President Javier Milei are not to blame for the "scam tokens" they promoted and were instead used as "props".

From Trump in 2019 claiming Bitcoin is "based on thin air" to pledging to make the US the "crypto capital" of the world in 2025, what changed?

In simple terms, corruption, or shall I say political contributions.

In 2024, the crypto industry has collectively donated $119 million to try and influence the federal elections, of which the majority has gone to Fairshake, a political action committee (PAC) dedicated to electing pro-crypto candidates, as per EIU.

A political action committee (PAC) in U.S. politics is an organisation whose purpose is to raise and distribute campaign funds to candidates seeking political office, according to Britanicca.

And as of June 2025, according to Bloomberg, crypto holdings represent a "sizeable portion of Trump's wealth".

As part of his crypto holdings, $460 million come from World Libery Financial ($WLFI).

A business venture backed and co-founded by the Trump family which Democrats argue is a vehicle for corruption, conflict of interest and grift, according to the BBC.

For instance, in early 2025 the Security & Exchange Commission (SEC) paused an investigation of Justin Sun, founder of TRON, after he said he bought roughly $200 million of $WLFI, as per PBS.

Also in 2025, Changpeng Zhao, founder of the largest crypto exchange Binance, was pardoned by Trump months after Binance took part in a complex deal with a state-backed Abu Dhabi wealth fund.

The sovereign wealth fund invested $2 billion of USD1, the stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial, that is backed by US treasuries, into Binance.

Binance now holds about $2 billion worth of USD1, about 75% of the stablecoin’s market cap, according to Forbes.

FatMan, whistleblower of the Terra fraud scandal, sums up it nicely:

As the world enters multipolarity, with the future of money turning digital, and the US dollar at risk of losing its global dominance, the US turned to stablecoins "as a way to prop up the use of the US dollar" said crypto commentator, Keith D.

The most notable, crypto-related legislature Trump has passed is the GENIUS act, signed in July 2025. A framework that requires USD-denominated stablecoins such as Tether's USDT to be backed 1:1 with US treasuries or cash.

"It's almost as if this GENIUS act is giving the US dollar a chance to compete before we get the rest of the system in place," said Keith D in a YouTube video.

With the "system" Keith refers to being the CLARITY act, the broader regulatory legislature for digital assets that is still yet to become law.

This move, contrary to the libertarian values crypto was founded upon, positions "US dollar stablecoins as the future of internet native money" while "propping up short-term debt markets".

Think of this as America hijacking US dollar stablecoins as its own central bank digital currency (CBDC).

So although Trump maybe be passing crypto-related legislature, in reality the policies are self-serving and do little to benefit the libertarian objectives of crypto.

Another move that some may argue prove Trump is 'pro-crypto' is his Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, which sounds more prestigious than it is.

Trump's Strategic Bitcoin Reserve only holds "bitcoin owned by the Department of Treasury that was forfeited as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings," according to a fact sheet by the White House.

"The government will not acquire additional assets for the U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile beyond those obtained through forfeiture proceedings."

Unlike El Salvador's Bitcoin treasury which has been acquiring 1 Bitcoin each day since November 2022 and currently holds around 7,511 Bitcoin (about $659 million).

Crypto angel investor, VirtualBacon suggests Trump's administration's actions are "more about optics than policy" as he shared his thoughts on X following Trump's crypto summit in March, 2025.

In conclusion, let's have a look at Bitcoin's price in comparison to Trump and Joe Biden's years in office, with credit to Luke Giack for the chart.

As is known, Bitcoin's price is not solely influenced by US domestic politics though it definitely plays a factor and although this graph gives us an interesting perspective it is important to clarify that it does not reflect how 'pro-cryto' either president is.

An important clarification that is missed in the chart, is that in early November 2024, following Trump's victory in the presidential election, Bitcoin saw a significant rally that some may argue jump started the bull run that continued into 2025.

Regardless of Trump's policies, what cannot be denied is rhetorically and electorally Donald Trump is 'pro-crypto'.

And although Trump has not implemented blockchain-based voting systems, or integrated crypto into traditional banking infrastructure, or made earnings from crypto tax-free, perhaps advocacy for crypto, no matter how shallow, is the most we can expect from a US president.