With a Memecoin President, The Coming Cryptofication of America
A profound shift in the crypto industry's direction will foster experimentation
Donald Trump is now the President of the United States. Again.
To preface, I am not a political person. I don’t even vote. Not interested in choosing a side. But I do work in crypto, and it is obvious the new administration, and Trump’s launch of his own memecoin, will be remembered as a significant moment for the industry.
It’s the beginning of a cryptofication for America that most didn’t see coming. Now that it’s arrived, it is a turn of events that should have been obvious. The amount of money from the crypto industry that influenced the 2024 election has created a hugely favorable environment for blockchain.
A lot of experiments are about to happen in this new era of cryptofication. Many of them will fail spectacularly. Some of them will blow off into space like one of Elon’s rockets. Consider that:
Trump’s Memecoin Will Spawn a Copycat Industry
Not long after the official $Trump memecoin lifted off the launchpad to become one of the most popular memecoins of all time in a matter of hours, degens began foaming at the mouth. We’ve already seen the $Melania coin launch, although its tokenomics don’t appear nearly as favorable as the Trump token.
There’s already a shitload of copycat coins looking to seek out opportunity from slippery-fingered traders who can’t tell the difference between what is real and what is not. And I expect to see thousands of people launch their own coins in the aftermath of $Trump and the beginning of cryptofication. Of course, many of these will not succeed. However, those who follow the lead of creators like the Unicorn Fart Dust guy, who transitioned from a skeptical boomer into a crypto zealot, can find their way in this space.
AI Agents Will Supercharge Traction
The convergence of artificial intellgence and crypto has arrived. Yes, a lot of the AI agents now popping up on Twitter/X are nonsensical in what they post. Glorified chatbots is a often-heard criticism. But the reality is that these agents are able to build followings - Terminal of Truths has hundreds of thousands - and these following are obviously made up of (mostly) humans.
The combination of tokens and AI agents will allow projects to take off faster than ever before in this world of cryptofication. Sure, there will be terrible ideas and outright scams. But the ability to launch a token and an AI agent will allow the best ideas to shoot to the moon faster than ever before. The entrepreneur with a brilliant idea (like Yesnoerror) will be able to get something out to the world much faster. The idea generators will be able to launch and fail much faster than ever before.
The Trump Administration Will be Hands-Off
Over the past four years, the crypto industry has lived under the specter of a U.S. administration that ruled via enforcement. I assume this may have something to do with Biden’s overall inability to understand crypto, relegating SEC chair Gary Gensler to rule with impunity. The situation sounds terrifying to me, which certainly limited a number of people from wanting to do things like launch tokens.
The new president now has his very own token. And the first lady has a cryptocurrency literally called “Official Melania Meme”. As cryptolawyer Preston Byrne has noted, even the Biden administration took a hands-off approach to memecoins. I think we’re about to see a ton of different cryptocurrencies beyond the meme concept due to lax regulation in 2025 and beyond. This could spawn some never-thought-of use cases, and foster some really exciting innovation in the space.
Good for America, Good for the World
This post is quite America-focused, but I certainly am not. As a digital nomad, I’ve traveled the world over the past few years and therefore have a very diverse worldview. As such, I see things not from just an American angle. The U.S really does lead the world in a lot of sectors. America has some really amazing homegrown industries, from Silicon Valley’s tech, Hollywood’s entertainment, Wall Street for finance and even Nashville for the music industry.
Cryptofication could create the first digital-only non-geographical homegrown industry with cryptocurrencies as the engine. Instead of new crypto business moving out of the U.S., as many have in the past, they may start moving in. American innovation and entreprenuership can now focus on crypto for the next few years. And this can ultimately benefit the world. Consider stablecoins, for example, that are almost all denominated in dollars and are accessible globally.
Bitcoin Maxis Shed Alligator Tears for Four Years
Bitcoin maximalists, also known as maxis, are a subset of the blockchain community that adhere to an almost religious belief that only BTC is the true cryptocurrency. Despite needing banks, stablecoins and the public market in the form of ETFs in order to succeed, bitcoin maxis use terms like “decentralization”, “premine” and “shitcoin” regularly to justify their ‘get off my lawn’ existence.
I expect them to continue to chafe, despite the most crypto-friendly administration in U.S. history coming in to foster enormous technical ingenuity. Instead of welcoming innovation in crypto, the cult of Bitcoin maxis will continue cry like little babies. Their personal development is so ridiculously arrested by Bitcoin, the lashing out will be comical and quite popcorn-friendly for at least the next four years of cryptofication.
Thoughts? Hit me up in the comments or @danielcawrey.