A year ago, the most pro-crypto president in U.S. history had just returned to power after pandering to clueless retail crypto investors and receiving massive financial backing from semicorrupt crypto insiders. Donald Trump’s second coming was supposed to be a new dawn for crypto, leading various self-dealing evangelists to predict that bitcoin would become “digital gold,” reaching at least $200,000 by the end of 2025.
As promised, Trump did gut most crypto regulations. He also signed the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stable Coins (GENIUS) Act; pushed for the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act; profited personally from shady domestic and foreign crypto deals; promoted his own useless meme coin; pardoned crypto crooks who had allegedly aided terrorist organizations; and hosted private dinners for crypto insiders at the White House.
Moreover, crypto was supposed to benefit from various macro and geopolitical risks, such as the ballooning of U.S. and other advanced economies’ debt and deficits; the debasement of the dollar and other fiat currencies; new trade wars; and growing tensions between the U.S. and Iran, China and many others. Indeed, the heightened risk environment helps to explain why gold rose by over 60% in 2025.