The Crypto President

During his first administration President Trump was not a crypto fan. He suggested “bitcoin seems like a scam “. Trump tweeted “I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies which are not money and whose value is highly volatile based on thin air. Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behaviour, including drug trade and other illegal activity …” in a Twitter post in July 2019.

Mr Trump was not alone in his scepticism, many still see cryptocurrency as a scam, a pyramid scheme primarily benefiting those who run it or those who have the good fortune to get in early and exit smartly.

Indeed Christine Lagarde, the ECB President has – in words not a million miles from President Trump’s once described Bitcoin as “a speculative asset with no intrinsic value”.

The Trump II administration, however, is all in on crypto. President Trump’s Pauline conversion has been intriguing.

Addressing the Bitcoin 2025 Conference in Las Vegas on 28 May, Vice President Vance announced, “I’m here today to say loud and clear, with President Trump, crypto finally has a champion and an ally in the White House.”

Vance, an investor in cryptocurrencies, whose 2024 election financial disclosures showed Bitcoin holdings of between $250,000 and $500,000, cast the Trump II administration as a strong supporter of cryptocurrency, as focused on cutting regulation, promoting growth in the crypto industry and as committed to bringing cryptocurrency ‘into the mainstream’.

Without going into detail, the Vice President suggested “through decentralised finance, crypto has “transformed” how Americans make transactions and has acted as a “hedge” against bad policy”.

Addressing the Bitcoin 2024 Conference in Nashville then candidate Trump signalled an about face on bitcoin promising to make the US the “crypto capital of the planet” a “bitcoin superpower”, to end the Biden administration’s “anti-crypto campaign”, to sack the SEC Chairman Gary Genster – Genster resigned before Trump was sworn in in January – and floated the idea of a U.S. bitcoin reserve.

While President Trump has not explained his change of mind, his son Eric provides an interesting insight. Eric suggesting that difficulties faced by Trump family businesses following his father’s first term when Trump-owned operations became “the most cancelled company, probably on earth” drove us towards cryptocurrency”.

Trump family enterprises have certainly benefited from the change. In the run up to the Bitcoin 2025 Conference Trump Media announced that it had struck a deal to raise $2.5 billion to create a reserve of cryptocurrency.

The pivot on crypto was more than a little helpful to Trump’s re-election efforts. The Crypto-Bros came on side big time.

President Trump’s pivot has sounded ethical alarms and forecasts of problems down the road. The President’s commitment to easing regulatory oversight in an industry where his family stands to gain has triggered political attacks and caused concern even within the Republican Party.

The release of meme coins, $TRUMP and $MELANIA , novelty tokens with no intrinsic value has unsurprisingly come in for particular criticism and challenges of corruption.

An “exclusive” dinner on 27 May in a Trump-owned golf club in Virginia for the 220 biggest buyers of the $TRUMP with a separate “private reception’ in the White House for the biggest buyers has been attacked as an abuse of the President’s office.

In addition to the US domestic and ethical issues raised by the direction that the Trump II administration is taking, Trump’s direction of travel is likely to become yet another pressure point between the US and the EU.

Under the EU Markets in Crypto- Assets Regulation 2024 (MiCAR) crypto-asset service providers must receive an authorisation to operate in the EU. They have to meet strong requirements to protect consumers’ wallets and will be held liable if they lose investors’ crypto-assets. The MiCAR Regulation aims to achieve better protection for consumers and investors, to reduce the risks of financial crime and to boost innovation – red rag to a bull in Trump’s cyber vision.

While Brussels has been quiet on the latest cyber news from the U.S, the European Central Bank has flagged concern that the Trump administration’s cyber intentions and the dangers that could arise from the type of measures set out in VP Vance’s address in Las Vagas.

Briefing from the ECB is reported as suggesting that the type of measures being mooted by Trump II could trigger another financial ‘contagion’.

Interestingly, while there has, as yet, been no reaction from Washington to the ECB alarms, the Commission, ever aware of the Trump administration’s tetchiness towards any implied threat or criticism from the EU, has diplomatically let it be known that it is not entirely happy with the ECB’s comments.

As the crypto debate develops in the months ahead, we will keep a watchful eye.

EUalive’s columnist Dick Roche was the Minister of State for European affairs when Ireland conducted the two referendums on the Treaty of Lisbon of the European Union, in 2008 and 2009. His other columns can be found here.

Caption: US President Donald Trump makes remarks at The White House Digital Assets (Crypto) Summit in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 07 March 2025. The White House is hosting cryptocurrency CEOs and investors for its first-ever crypto summit. At left is US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent and at right is David Sacks, Chair, President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and White House AI & Crypto Czar. [EPA-EFE/CHRIS KLEPONIS / POOL]