In 2024, Donald Trump's campaign was heavily supported by the digital asset industry. Two years later, it's time to assess the first half of his presidential term.

The Trump administration positioned itself as a leading political force friendly to the digital asset industry. By mid-2026, a clearer picture emerged: some promises were fulfilled, while complex economic initiatives stalled in Congress.

ForkLog examined which initiatives became laws and which remained mere campaign rhetoric.

“It Looks Like Fraud”

Initially, Trump had a critical stance towards cryptocurrencies. In 2019, he first spoke out about virtual currencies, stating that their value was extremely volatile and fundamentally unsupported.

In June 2021, during an appearance on Fox Business, he called digital gold a threat to the dollar.

“Bitcoin is just another currency competing with the dollar. I don’t like it. It looks like fraud,” the politician stated at the time.

However, over the next three years, his position changed significantly. By the 2024 presidential campaign, the crypto industry had become an important source of funding and electoral support, and Trump's rhetoric became notably more favorable.

Campaign Promises

Trump shifted his political stance from criticizing Bitcoin to supporting it. As part of his campaign, he made several key promises that fundamentally changed the industry's perception of his candidacy.

By the 2024 elections, the crypto business had invested at least $238 million in political campaigns, surpassing traditional lobbying groups.

Crypto companies donated $18 million for the inauguration, with Ripple Labs making the second-largest contribution of $4.9 million.

Trump promised to:

  • make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the world” and a “mining superpower”;
  • fire SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who was associated with tough lawsuits against the industry;
  • create a strategic Bitcoin reserve;
  • halt the development of a digital dollar (CBDC);
  • end the regulators' war against the crypto business.

While the national focus of Trump's campaign shifted to immigration and domestic security issues, these specific pledges sent a decisive signal to the digital industry. The sector, traditionally on the periphery of major politics, responded to the candidate's attention with record donations.

Family Meme Tokens

The initial steps after the election victory elicited mixed reactions. On January 18, 2025, before taking office, Trump launched the meme coin TRUMP through CIC Digital LLC (a subsidiary of Trump Organization) in partnership with Fight Fight Fight LLC, which jointly owns 80% of the issuance.

The token's market capitalization exceeded $5 billion within hours, with a fully diluted valuation (FDV) reaching $27 billion. Within two days, the asset entered the top 20 cryptocurrencies globally, with trading volumes around $13 billion.

Following this, the meme token MELANIA was launched by Melania Trump, the wife of the elected president. Within a day, the token's FDV surpassed $12 billion.

The launch of both tokens sparked a wave of criticism from experts and activists. Concerns were raised about a potential violation of the constitutional ban on receiving benefits from foreign governments if they began purchasing the president's tokens.

In April, Trump announced a dinner for TRUMP whales — Democratic Senator from Georgia Jon Ossoff called the event “beyond any previous standards for impeachment.”

Simultaneously, the Trump family's crypto business was developing. The World Liberty Financial project, linked to the Trumps, along with the launch of the TRUMP and MELANIA meme tokens, led to accusations of conflicts of interest.

On November 25, 2025, Representative Jamie Raskin published a report detailing how the president and his relatives turned the presidency into a personal financial structure, increasing their wealth by billions through crypto schemes linked to foreign governments, corporate allies, and criminal authorities.

The private conglomerate The Trump Organization denied the allegations, stating that assets are managed separately from governmental functions.

Regulatory Turnaround

After the inauguration, regulatory pressure began to ease. On January 23, 2025, Trump signed an executive order aimed at strengthening the United States' leadership in digital financial technology.

The SEC initiated procedures to review cases against industry representatives. The regulator ceased its pursuit of Coinbase and dropped lawsuits against Kraken, ConsenSys, and Cumberland.

In February 2025, the SEC stated that meme coins are not securities and fall outside its jurisdiction.

“Under Trump, the U.S. is increasingly moving away from pressure on cryptocurrencies,” noted journalists from The New York Times.

The promise to provide the industry with “clear rules” advanced most significantly in the stablecoin segment. In the summer of 2025, Congress passed the GENIUS Act — the first federal law regulating payment stablecoins.

The document introduced requirements for reserves to be fully backed by liquid assets, regular audits, and issuance rules. Instead of uncertainty, issuers received a legal pathway to the U.S. market.

Simultaneously, a broader market document regarding the structure of the crypto market (CLARITY Act) was discussed. On May 4, the U.S. Senate Banking Committee approved the bill by a vote of 15 to 9. The document will undergo further consideration in the Senate. After that, lawmakers must reconcile the final version with the House of Representatives and send it to the president for signature.

Strategic Bitcoin Reserve

The most notable promise Trump fulfilled in early spring. On March 2, 2025, he posted on Truth Social about plans to create a cryptocurrency reserve, mentioning several assets. The market reacted with a surge of about $300 billion in a single day.

On March 6, 2025, the White House announced the establishment of a strategic Bitcoin reserve. The reserve was formed from digital coins previously confiscated by the state, without new purchases funded by taxpayers. The next day, a crypto summit was held at the White House with major market players.

Some analysts greeted the plan with skepticism, questioning the mechanism of the reserve and its practical effectiveness.

Diagram of government Bitcoin reserves. Source: Bitcoin Treasuries.

The U.S. reserve (328,322 BTC) accounts for 1.5% of the total issuance of the first cryptocurrency. In comparison, China holds 190,000 BTC in reserve.

Pardons

In the fall of 2025, Trump pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who pleaded guilty to violating anti-money laundering laws. The president also pardoned co-founders of the BitMEX trading platform Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed after they all pleaded guilty to violating the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act.

In January 2025, Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the Silk Road darknet marketplace (which dealt in the sale of illegal goods for cryptocurrency), who was serving a life sentence.

Checking the “Crypto Winter”

On February 7, NPR released a piece on the “crypto winter” during Trump's presidency. Despite the friendly rhetoric from the White House and the fulfillment of some promises made to the crypto industry, the market noticeably declined. This raised questions about whether political support could sustain prices in the long term.

“A friendly policy towards the industry does not guarantee a growing market — the crypto industry operates on its own cycles,” noted NPR.

A separate effect of the “Trump era” was the rise of prediction markets. Platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi, where users bet on event outcomes, received a soft regulatory regime and an influx of capital. The sector emerged from the gray area and became a significant part of the crypto economy under the new administration.

In May, Trump reaffirmed his intention to protect the digital asset industry and prediction markets. He insisted that the federal government, not states, should regulate this sector.

Trump emphasized the exclusive right of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to oversee prediction markets. According to him, the administration is developing unified rules that will become the “gold standard” for the entire country.

“Other countries are trying to take our place, but we won’t allow that. The U.S. will remain the world capital of Bitcoin,” he stated.

Protection Against Quantum Threats

One of the last steps taken by the Trump administration involved measures related not to the market but to digital security. On June 22, the president signed two executive orders aimed at strengthening the country’s technological leadership in the era of quantum computing.

The initiatives are focused on transitioning critical infrastructure to post-quantum encryption algorithms. For the crypto industry, this signals that the government is seriously preparing for the risks that quantum computers pose to blockchain protocols and private keys.

“The U.S. will protect its systems and financial infrastructure from next-generation threats,” stated the White House.

What’s the Bottom Line?

Most of the high-profile promises have been formally fulfilled. The state Bitcoin reserve has been created, the CBDC has been blocked, the SEC has changed its course, and the industry has gained access to dialogue with the White House. However, the reserve is primarily replenished through confiscated assets rather than market purchases.

The president's personal meme coins and his family's income from crypto assets have led to investigations and accusations of conflicts of interest. The market downturn at the beginning of this year demonstrated that political support does not eliminate volatility.

Despite investigations and allegations, there have been no significant consequences: headlines change rapidly, and no notable restrictions or sanctions have been imposed.