Recently, the Trump Family™ has gotten into crypto and crypto has gotten into them. It’s clear why. Trump needs all the help he can get, especially from Silicon Valley, as he tries to retake the White House. The crypto community needs someone who understands them (a con man). They say that if Trump were to run for president again, he would bring a light (or no touch) regulatory approach to their industry. That would be a welcome change for them, considering the current administration is beating them to it.
Not only has Trump dubbed himself America’s first “crypto president,” but he’s also been actively courting major players in the web3 space over the past few weeks. Now, something big is about to happen. Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. have been cryptically hinting at collaborations with the crypto community. On Tuesday, Eric tweeted that he is “really in love with crypto/DeFi” and asked people to “stay tuned for a big announcement.” Soon after, Donald Trump Jr. also commented in a cryptic message, “We are about to shake up the crypto world with something huge. Decentralized finance is the future. Don’t get left behind.”
Come on guys, enough already. Let’s hear the scam. Will they issue their own tokens? More MAGA NFTs? There are already crypto shoes. What’s next? A Donald DAO run by Steve Bannon?
One thing is for sure: the Trump-themed DJT token, purportedly launched by ex-pharmaceutical inmate Martin Shkreli, has now fallen down the toilet. That means it’s fallen deep into the toilet bowl. On Tuesday, the digital asset’s value plummeted 90 percent, dropping from a market cap of $55 million to $3 million. Before the value plummeted, $2 million worth of coins were sold from one wallet, leading to claims that the asset was in “rough” shape. Shkreli, who predictably entered the cryptocurrency industry after being released from prison for fraud, previously claimed that he and Trump’s 18-year-old son, Barron, developed DJT together. But despite Shkreli being found guilty, no one has yet found out who is behind the token.
The crypto industry has been trying to exert its influence more than ever this election cycle. Not only has it teamed up with Republicans to try to get Trump elected, but it has also targeted and defeated progressive Democrats. Coindesk notes that the crypto industry has “pumped seven-figure funding into Sen. Elizabeth Warren-backed candidates,” who are perhaps the politicians who have been most aggressively hostile to the crypto industry’s policies. Already, that money has been used to defeat Reps. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), and, on Tuesday, Cori Bush (D-Missouri) of “Squad” fame. All of these politicians recently lost their congressional seats, in part due to crypto inflows.
The intensity of the lobbying may be due to crypto enthusiasts’ growing fears that it will eventually disappear. Things aren’t looking good for the “decentralized” web. The crypto hype of a few years ago is fading (Tom Brady is no longer pimping for them, FTX is a smoldering garbage heap, and asset prices are plummeting). Meanwhile, the Biden administration is using the FTC and SEC to go after scams and companies, cracking down on the industry’s worst offenders. Crypto enthusiasts feel they are clearly heading in the wrong direction, and think Trump might be a last-ditch Hail Mary.
