W3BStation
Markets
BTC $96,420 +2.34% ETH $3,280 +1.82% SOL $185.40 -0.92% BNB $642.50 +0.45% XRP $2.18 +3.12% DOGE $0.082 -1.50% ADA $1.05 +0.80% AVAX $42.10 +1.15%
BTC $96,420 +2.34% ETH $3,280 +1.82% SOL $185.40 -0.92% BNB $642.50 +0.45% XRP $2.18 +3.12% DOGE $0.082 -1.50% ADA $1.05 +0.80% AVAX $42.10 +1.15%
04/28/2025

From Skeptic to Token Issuer: Donald Trump's Crypto Journey

Summary Donald Trump, as the 47th President of the United States, returned to the White House having pledged support for cryptocurrency throughout his campaign. But Trump wasn't always pro-crypto. He once called Bitcoin a "scam" and insisted he was no fan of it. Today, he has launched his own meme coin on Solana, multiple NFT collections, and a DeFi project — a dramatic shift in his stance on digital assets.

From Skeptic to Token Issuer: Donald Trump's Crypto Journey

Summary

Donald Trump, as the 47th President of the United States, returned to the White House having pledged support for cryptocurrency throughout his campaign. But Trump wasn't always pro-crypto. He once called Bitcoin a "scam" and insisted he was no fan of it. Today, he has launched his own meme coin on Solana, multiple NFT collections, and a DeFi project — a dramatic shift in his stance on digital assets.

From Critic to Crypto Champion

Donald Trump, who ran as a pro-Bitcoin candidate in 2024, won a hard-fought election and was inaugurated in January 2025. But before he even took office, he had already dropped a meme coin. Yes — $TRUMP on the Solana network once hit a market cap of $14 billion. Though its value has since pulled back to $2.9 billion, the move reflects a fundamental shift in Trump's attitude toward digital assets — part of his broader commitment to supporting Bitcoin holders and the fast-growing crypto industry.

Ahead of the November election, Trump built his brand as the crypto-friendly candidate, pulling in millions of dollars in cash and digital assets from Silicon Valley tech donors, and ultimately winning.

But he didn't always see things this way.

Trump's Earlier Criticism of Bitcoin

Back in 2019, Trump made headlines with some pointed criticism of crypto. "I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air," Trump tweeted on July 12, 2019. He also took aim at Facebook's plans to launch a digital currency, asserting the supremacy of the U.S. dollar:

"We have only one real currency in the USA… It is called the United States Dollar!"

In 2021, during Bitcoin's bull run, Trump reiterated his position on Fox Business, calling Bitcoin "a scam" and reaffirming his desire to keep the U.S. dollar the world's dominant currency.

Stepping Into the NFT World

Trump's first foray into crypto wasn't Bitcoin — it was the NFT boom.
In late 2021, after leaving the White House, Melania Trump launched an NFT collection on Solana, though Solana Labs clarified they had no involvement in the project.

Even as his wife stepped into the space, Trump continued to call crypto "dangerous."
Then in 2022, Trump launched his own trading card NFT collection on Polygon. Despite initial mockery, the collection sold out quickly and generated millions of dollars.

Trump later acknowledged he released the NFTs simply because "they're sort of cute."
He went on to drop additional NFT collections, including mints on Bitcoin's Ordinals protocol, and launched his largest collection yet in August 2024.

Trump has credited the success of his NFT projects — and the volume of crypto transactions flowing through those collections — with helping to change his perspective on Bitcoin and digital assets.

Going All-In on Crypto

By March 2024, Trump had moved firmly into the pro-crypto camp, telling CNBC:

"I'm making money on it and I find it interesting. The crazy new coins, I call them that."

In May, at a Mar-a-Lago event for his NFT holders, Trump publicly declared he was "very positive on cryptocurrency" and blasted President Biden and the Democrats for being "against crypto."
Many observers viewed this event as a turning point in the U.S. crypto policy conversation.

Reports also circulated that Elon Musk, a major donor to Trump's campaign, had been advising him on crypto strategy — though Musk denied those reports. Regardless, the Republican Party put forward a platform draft that, for the first time, included crypto-friendly provisions.

After surviving an assassination attempt in July, Trump received public endorsements from major crypto industry figures including the Winklevoss twins and Jesse Powell, founder of Kraken.
Trump then selected Senator J.D. Vance, a Bitcoin supporter, as his running mate.

The centerpiece of Trump's crypto pitch came at the Bitcoin 2024 Conference in Nashville, where he pledged to build a strategic Bitcoin reserve for the United States and make the country the "crypto capital of the world."

DeFi Project and Meme Coin

Shortly after, the Trump family announced a DeFi project called World Liberty Financial. Trump personally drummed up attention for it across social media. World Liberty Financial aims to offer crypto lending services on the Ethereum network. Although the initial token sale moved slowly — only 4% of tokens sold at first — demand surged ahead of Inauguration Day, and the entire supply sold out on January 20.

Decrypt later reported that the project also launched a stablecoin on both the Ethereum network and Binance Chain (BNB).

Expanding His Crypto Ambitions

In September, Trump became the first sitting or former president to use Bitcoin to make a purchase — buying a hamburger at the iconic PubKey bar in New York City.

"This is the beginning of a new era," he said, nodding to the digital asset industry.

On January 17, Trump officially launched the $TRUMP meme coin on Solana. Despite criticism over potential conflicts of interest, the token became one of the highest-valued meme coins and has maintained consistent trading demand.

In April, Trump revealed he would host an exclusive dinner for the top holders of $TRUMP, generating yet another wave of attention.

Crypto Policy Under the Trump Administration

In his first three months back in the White House, Trump established a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve for the United States and became the first president to sign crypto-related legislation into law — including rolling back IRS regulations on DeFi exchanges and reinstating legal actions against crypto companies.

The Trump family continues to expand its crypto footprint:

  • Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump are rolling out American Bitcoin, a partnership with Bitcoin mining firm Hut 8, with the stated goal of becoming "the largest and most efficient Bitcoin miner in the world."
  • Trump Media and Technology Group has signed a deal with Crypto.com to offer crypto-related ETF products.

Despite ongoing criticism over conflicts of interest, Trump continues to position himself at the forefront of crypto innovation — insisting that the new era of digital assets has only just begun.