Trump's First Year in Office: Memorable Moments and Terrible Deeds

Text by Lin Wanwan (@linwanwan823), Beating

January 20, 2026 marks the first anniversary of Trump's inauguration.

Going back a year, 72 hours before the inauguration, a crypto wallet codenamed 6QSc2Cx began buying large quantities of a new token at 18 cents each. This token had just been created a few hours earlier and had not been publicly promoted at all.

Hours later, Trump announced on social media that he had launched a cryptocurrency named after himself, $TRUMP.

Following the announcement, the token price surged from less than $1 to $75 within 48 hours. The wallet that entered early liquidated its holdings at the peak, making a profit of $109 million.

The New York Times commissioned an on-chain analytics firm to investigate and found that there was more than one such "mysterious prophet".

On the same day, an American truck driver with the online name Mike used his entire daughter's college savings to buy Trump tokens. He posted on overseas media: "The president won't let us lose money."

Three weeks later, he lost $47,000.

Six months later, the team that issued the token had cashed out more than $1 billion.

Six years ago, Trump said, "Cryptocurrency is based entirely on air." He was right. He just didn't finish his sentence: How much air can be sold for depends on who's selling it.

Appetizers

No one knows who the people on the other end of the wallet are. No one knows how they knew in advance. But one thing is certain: as these people left, another group was entering.

Data from Chainalysis shows that 810,000 wallets lost money on the Trump token, totaling over $2 billion. The average loss per person was $2,500.

Nearly half of them were newbies who created their first crypto wallets on the day the token was issued. They saw the news about the "president issuing a coin," downloaded the app, and transferred their savings.

Further analysis by Chainalysis revealed that these new wallets held positions for an average of 47 hours. They bought near the peak and sold after the price had halved. On-chain data reconstructed a typical path: download the app → deposit funds → buy → bullish → add to position → crash → sell at a loss → uninstall the app. The entire process took less than a week.

Someone posted on Reddit, "I used my daughter's college fund." The top-voted comment was, "Dude, the president won't let you lose money."

The president didn't make everyone lose money; after all, many people earned life-changing sums of money that day. It's just that not the majority made money.

Someone posted a rocket emoji on Twitter with the caption "TRUMP to the moon." Eleven days later, he posted another: "Fed up with this Trump garbage, sold them all."

When he sold, the token was priced between $24 and $27. If he had held it for a few more months, he would have seen the price drop below $5, a decline of over 90% from its peak.

Meanwhile, the two companies associated with the Trump family that issued the $TRUMP token earned over $320 million in transaction fees in its first year. This doesn't even include the 800 million tokens they locked, worth tens of billions of dollars at the issue price.

What's interesting are the token purchase terms. There's a small line in the text: "Purchasers agree to waive their right to participate in any class-action lawsuits."

There is also a line stating: This token is "not an investment opportunity" and "is not associated with any political activity or government position".

To put it another way: If you bought something and lost money, you can't sue me. The money I make has nothing to do with me being president.

main course

$TRUMP is just an appetizer.

The real main course is called World Liberty Financial. This is a "decentralized finance platform" founded in September 2024 by the Trump family and several partners. The platform issues a governance token called WLFI and a stablecoin called USD1.

The shareholding structure is as follows: the Trump family holds 60%. 75% of the net proceeds from the token sale go to the family. The reserve assets of the stablecoin USD1 are invested in US Treasury bonds, generating approximately $80 million in interest annually, 75% of which also goes to the family.

In other words, this is not a project "supported" by Trump, nor is it a project he "endorsed." It is a project directly owned by the Trump family, from which they receive profits.

By the end of 2025, World Liberty had raised over $550 million. The list of investors reads like an Interpol watchlist:

MGX, Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund, is led by members of the UAE royal family. In May 2025, it invested $2 billion in the USD1 stablecoin in Binance, meaning that UAE government funds flowed into the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange through a stablecoin issued by the Trump family.

Why would these people invest their money in a crypto project owned by the family of a US president?

Reuters interviewed several investors, and the answers were surprisingly consistent: "Close to the president."

There's an old joke on Wall Street: How much is it worth to play a round of golf with the president?

The answer is: It depends on whether you're playing sports or paying lawyer fees.

World Liberty has rewritten the answer to this joke. Now there are clear prices: WLFI tokens start at $250,000. "Platinum Seats" are $1 million. "Founding Partners" are $20 million.

You're not buying tokens. You're buying a photo, a dinner, a name that will be remembered.

In political science, this is called "access capitalism." Previously, it was hidden in the bills of super PACs, charity galas, and lobbying firms. Now it's written in smart contracts, traded 24/7, and globally accessible.

The democratization of corruption.

One financial commentator put it more bluntly: "Eric Trump is pitching a $20 million token package in Dubai while his father is simultaneously formulating U.S. crypto policy. You call that a business model? I call that a pay-to-play channel."

Clear the area

However, this paid channel has one prerequisite: no one can check it.

So the first thing Trump did after taking office was to eliminate everyone who might investigate him. The speed and efficiency were nothing short of an art.

The first step is a personnel purge.

On his inauguration day, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler resigned. This "crypto hunter" sued virtually every major exchange during his tenure. He was succeeded by Paul Atkins, a former consultant to the crypto industry association.

The newly formed SEC “Crypto Task Force” is led by Hester Peirce, who is known in the industry as “Crypto Mom” and has been an opponent of regulation for years.

The next step was to clear all cases.

One by one, cases from the Gensler era were withdrawn. The Coinbase case was withdrawn. The Ripple case was withdrawn. The Kraken case was withdrawn. The OpenSea investigation was terminated. The Uniswap investigation was terminated. The Robinhood investigation was terminated.

According to statistics from The New York Times, the SEC's dismissal rate for crypto cases is 33%, compared to 4% for other cases. This disparity is unprecedented in the SEC's history.

Finally, the organization was dissolved.

On April 7, 2025, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche signed a memorandum announcing the immediate dissolution of the "National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team." This team, established in 2021, specialized in investigating cryptocurrency money laundering, hacking, and fraud.

In the memo, Blanche wrote: "The Department of Justice is not a regulator of digital assets."

What he didn't include was that at the time of signing the memorandum, he personally held more than $150,000 in crypto assets. Blanche was later asked about this when testifying before Congress. He said, "My crypto holdings were 'compliantly disclosed'."

He's right. Once it's disclosed, it's compliant. Once it's compliant, it's no longer a conflict of interest.

This is the brilliance of this approach: it doesn't require hiding conflicts of interest; it simply requires presenting them in a table.

Within three months, the people involved were replaced, the case was dropped, and the agencies that investigated it were all disbanded.

The referee didn't just come onto the field to play; the referee literally dismantled the field.

Price list for pardon

This business is missing one last component: trust.

To attract global funding for Trump's crypto empire, he needs to restore the dignity of those "criminal" bigwigs. They have money, resources, and connections, but their status is that of "convicted criminals" or "defendants indicted."

what to do?

pardon.

On January 21, 2025, Trump's second day in office, he signed his first crypto-related pardon. The pardoned individual was Ross Ulbricht, founder of the Silk Road darknet marketplace, who had been sentenced to two life sentences plus 40 years for operating a platform that facilitated a $1 billion drug deal. Court records show that at least six people died after purchasing drugs from the platform.

Trump wrote on Truth Social: "Those who are suing him are scum."

After his release from prison, Ulbricht appeared on stage at the 2025 Bitcoin Conference, addressing the cheering crowd: "I was in jail a few months ago, and now I'm free. Thank you, and thank you, Trump."

In March, the four founders of BitMEX were pardoned after pleading guilty to violating anti-money laundering laws and being described by prosecutors as operators of a "money laundering platform." In October, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao was pardoned after pleading guilty in 2023 to allowing the platform to be used for money laundering.

Three pardons were granted, involving a total of six people across the dark web's drug trafficking, money laundering, and illegal business operations. All were cleared out within ten months.

But what's even more noteworthy are those who were not pardoned.

Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of FTX, was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2024 for fraud that caused clients to lose $8 billion. He donated $5.2 million to the Biden campaign in 2020.

There was no pardon.

Do Kwon, founder of Terra/Luna, was sentenced to 15 years in prison in December 2025 for designing an algorithmic stablecoin that caused investors to lose $40 billion.

There was no pardon.

In terms of the severity of their crimes, SBF and Do Kwon caused far more damage than those who were pardoned. Legally, the FTX case was a clear case of customer fund fraud.

What's the difference?

Those who were pardoned either invested in Trump's projects, had their companies do business with Trump, or had a huge influence in the crypto community and could help him by endorsing Trump.

Those not pardoned: those who have donated to the Democratic Party or have no business relationship with Trump.

This is a price list for a pardon.

It's not written on paper, but in the judgment, the pardon, and on the walls of the cells of those who continue to serve their sentences.

The true function of a pardon is not to absolve punishment. The punishment is over. Ross Ulbricht served 11 years, Changpeng Zhao served 4 months, and the founder of BitMEX paid a $100 million fine.

The function of pardon is to send a signal.

Signal 1: I will protect those who cooperate with me. Signal 2: Those who don't cooperate with me, look at Sam Bankman-Fried. Signal 3: I set the rules, and I can change them.

If you follow the organization, the organization will protect you.

Trump included this in the Federal Register.

Corruption assembly line

Is this corruption?

Of course not. Corruption is clandestine; it's something that needs to be hidden, but it will be investigated.

This is a well-designed system. Every component is legal, every transaction is recorded on the blockchain, and every disclosure is documented in government files. It doesn't need to be hidden. It was designed so that it doesn't need to be hidden.

Traditional corruption is like a workshop. You have to find a middleman, launder money, worry about being recorded, and worry about witnesses turning against you. Every transaction carries risk.

This system operates on an assembly line basis. Token contracts automatically distribute revenue, the blockchain automatically records transactions, and disclosure forms automatically comply with regulations. There are no middlemen, no cash, and no witnesses. Only code.

Code doesn't betray you. Code doesn't lie. Code only runs as designed.

And the person who designed it happens to be the one who designed the rules.

genius

Trump's genius doesn't lie in corruption. Anyone can be corrupt.

His genius lies in designing corruption as a product.

Bribery becomes "investment." Accepting bribes becomes "dividends." Pardons become "judicial reform." Regulatory withdrawal becomes "support for innovation."

Everything is written in the terms and conditions and recorded on the blockchain, ensuring legality, compliance, openness, and transparency.

In 2019, Trump said cryptocurrencies were "completely based on air."

He's right.

He just forgot to mention the second half of the sentence: air can also be sold for money, as long as the seller can decide what is legal.

The system is still running. Tokens are still being traded, stablecoins are still earning interest, and money from all over the world is still pouring into those few wallet addresses bearing Trump's name.

And those 810,000 retail investors who lost money, those newbies who rushed in when they saw "the president issuing coins," and those who thought buying Trump coins was patriotic.

They are not investors. They are fuel.

Casinos don't thank gamblers. They just squeeze them dry.

Some might ask: Is this legal? That question is already outdated.

In this system, "legal" is not a description, but a product feature. Just as the iPhone has a waterproof function, this system has a "legal" function.

It was designed to be legal, just as it was designed to make money.

The real question isn't "Is this legal?"

The real question is: what does the word "legal" mean when the person who is defined as legitimate and the person who benefits from it are the same person?

In 2019, Trump said cryptocurrency was based on air. In 2025, he proved himself: air can be priced, traded, and can make a president a billionaire.

The only prerequisite is that you have to be the one who can decide what "air" is.