Trump Built the ‘Crypto Capital’—But Is It a House of Cards?

• Trump brands himself as the first crypto president, having ended regulatory crackdowns, promoted crypto from the Oval Office, and signed pro-crypto laws (GENIUS and CLARITY Acts)
• A noticeable trend is the huge growth of Digital Asset Trusts (DATs)
• There is a concern that the line between government policy and private profit is blurred

Donald Trump and his administration’s embrace of crypto fundamentally reshaped the US financial landscape in a short time.

By aggressively dismantling regulatory crackdowns, Trump brands himself as the first crypto president, having promoted crypto from the Oval Office, signed pro-crypto laws (GENIUS and CLARITY Acts), and launched his own memecoin ($TRUMP).

His backing sparked a flood of speculative trades, helping move crypto from the edge of finance into public markets, stock markets, and the hands of ordinary investors.

Related: Trump Wants a Say in Interest Rates: How Will Crypto React?

The rise of Digital Asset Trusts (DATs)

A noticeable trend is the huge growth of Digital Asset Trusts (DATs). These are companies that are listed on the stock market with the primary goal of buying up large amounts of crypto. Over 250 public companies now hold crypto on their balance sheets. Many DATs buy Bitcoin, but others target riskier coins like Dogecoin.

Another big area of development is asset tokenization, or, in other words, turning real things like stocks or property into crypto tokens. Companies such as Plume, Kraken, and Coinbase want to make it possible to trade tokenized stocks 24/7, anywhere in the world, and create crypto versions of farms or commodities.

Leverage made the upside faster and the downside sharper

Also, borrowing is what really supercharged the crypto boom. For instance, public companies borrowed heavily to buy crypto, traders placed more than $200 billion in leveraged bets on future prices, and loans backed by crypto hit an all-time high of $74 billion worldwide. 

This generated a fragile system where small price drops trigger massive liquidations, which makes the losses much larger.

The darker side of Trump’s crypto turn

The October Crash:  The risks of the above strategies became evident during a sudden crypto crash in October. It started when Trump announced new tariffs on China, causing Bitcoin, Ether, and many other coins to crash at the same time. At least $19 billion in leveraged positions were liquidated, and 1.6 million traders were wiped out in a single day.

Even big US platforms like Coinbase experienced freezes and delays, preventing some investors from selling.

The Ethical Shadow: Then, there’s the fact that Trump family businesses sit at the center of this new crypto ecosystem, which causes conflicts of interest. 

For example, the Trump-linked company World Liberty Financial created its own coin (WLFI), put Trump family members like Eric Trump in top roles, and gets paid a fee every time WLFI tokens are traded.

However, some publicly-traded crypto firms tied to Trump deals have had criminal issues come to light, executives step down, or their stock value drop by about 80%.

The ‘Blur’ between Policy and Profit: The main concern here among the people is that the line between government policy and private profit is blurred, potentially encouraging risk-taking that benefits insiders first.

Related: Trump’s AI Executive Order to Reignite Demand for $ATH, $RNDR, $AKT, $TAO