The End of the Trump Trade: Crypto Grows Up
- Crypto’s future growth is shifting from political reliance on the Trump administration toward institutional market structures and Bitcoin’s emergence as a gold-like reserve asset.
- Institutional entry is raising the performance bar for the industry, requiring altcoins to provide genuine utility rather than relying on speculation or political hype.
- Blockchains are becoming the essential trust layer for autonomous AI systems, while “gamified finance” features are aligning crypto with the cultural preferences of younger users.
Animoca Brands chair Yat Siu said crypto’s next leg will be driven less by US politics and more by market structure, as institutional investors reshape how capital flows through the sector.
In an interview, Siu told CoinDesk that 2025 exposed how much of the market’s momentum had been based on expectations that President Donald Trump would deliver rapid, sweeping regulatory wins.
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A Net Positive, But Not A Priority
Siu went on to say that Trump’s stance is “net positive” for the industry, but not a governing priority, and that the market’s failure to keep rising after the political hype faded forced a reset.
Trump is pro crypto, so that’s a net positive, absolutely. But we are not his top priority. I think our industry was very much thinking that Trump would always be our savior of some sort, and that was never really the case.
Yat Siu, Chair of Animoca Brands.
In Siu’s view, institutions are now a permanent presence and are pushing Bitcoin into a “reserve asset” role, similar to gold. That shift, he argued, raises the bar for altcoins, which will need to demonstrate real utility rather than relying on speculative rotation.
Siu also framed crypto and artificial intelligence (AI) as converging technologies. He argued that autonomous AI systems will need neutral, censorship-resistant transaction rails and ownership systems, and that blockchains are suited to provide that trust layer. On that logic, he said many users’ practical exposure to AI may come through crypto assets rather than traditional equities.
He extended the same argument to consumer behavior, describing crypto as “gamified finance” shaped by online-native culture. For instance, features such as leaderboards and social ranking systems, he said, are not superficial but match how younger users already engage with status, incentives and participation.
We think the entire industry of crypto is essentially gamified finance of some form. It’s not putting finance in gaming. Rather, it’s gaming that has come to finance. It’s really just the understanding of media and culture of that generation
Yat Siu, Chair of Animoca Brands.
Read more: SEC Closes Probe Into Zcash Foundation as Crypto Enforcement Eases
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