On April 3, 2025, when the cryptocurrency market was repeatedly fluctuating due to a series of policies and personal operations of the Trump administration, people suddenly realized that those seemingly favorable "bullets" half a year ago are now accurately hitting the center of the currency circle.
Half a year ago, this politician who called himself the "Crypto President" fired three bullets into the market by issuing personal Meme coins, imposing tariffs and making high-profile policy statements.
Today, the trajectory of these bullets draws a parabola in the space-time where virtual and real are intertwined, and finally hits him accurately between the eyebrows. The vortex of market liquidity depletion, regulatory trust crisis and political game backlash is swallowing up the ambition of this "crypto czar".
The First Bullet: From Strategic Reserve to Meme Coin Carnival
In 2024, Trump won the support of the cryptocurrency community with his campaign promise to "make the United States the global crypto capital". After taking office, he quickly listed Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple (XRP), Solana (SOL) and Cardano (ADA) as strategic reserve assets of the United States. As soon as the news came out, the five major currencies rose by more than 10% in a single day, and Ripple soared by 30%. However, this is only the beginning of Trump's narrative in the cryptocurrency community.
On January 18, 2025, Trump announced the launch of his personal meme coin TRUMP on social media. The price of the coin rose by more than 15,000% in 12 hours, and its market value exceeded 80 billion US dollars. This absurd drama of "the head of state launching the first coin" instantly detonated the market, and funds poured in from mainstream currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.
However, the essence of this carnival is "blood-sucking" - a large amount of funds withdrew from mainstream currencies and tracks such as AI and DeFi, and turned to Trump family tokens, causing market liquidity to dry up. Tokens outside the SOL chain plummeted across the board, and innovative tracks such as AI Agent and DeSci were forced to press the pause button.
Today, TRUMP’s market value has shrunk by 72% from its peak, and most of the innovative projects that were once drained of their capital have failed to recover.
The second bullet: tariffs
February 2: Trump signed an order to increase tariffs, imposing additional taxes on imports from China, Mexico, Canada and other countries. Global risk assets plummeted, with Bitcoin falling more than 7% in a single day to below $100,000, Ethereum plummeting 25%, and other mainstream currencies generally falling more than 10%.
April 3: Trump released a nuclear bomb in the early morning and signed an executive order to establish a 10% "minimum benchmark tariff" for all countries and impose reciprocal tariffs. The crypto market was naturally not immune. BTC collapsed from 86k+ to 82k+.
What is even more interesting is Trump’s regulatory attitude. On the one hand, he promised to establish a “crypto-friendly” framework, but on the other hand, he appointed David Sacks (Solana maximalist), who is questioned as the “crypto czar”, to lead the policy. Sacks once issued the controversial token $Sacks and remained silent on the Trump coin issuance incident. He was regarded by the community as a spokesperson for interest groups1. This contradictory stance has exacerbated the market’s panic over policy uncertainty.
The Third Bullet: Family Scythe
Eric Trump, the second son of Trump, has exposed the collusion between political power and capital harvesting. After World Liberty Financial was exposed to have its ETH holdings plummet from 66,000 to 52, Eric shouted on social media that "it's the best time to increase ETH holdings", and then turned to shouting BTC and hinting at selling.
Eric Trump, the second son of Trump, was revealed to hold 80% of the locked shares of $TRUMP tokens, which is suspected of manipulating the price of the token. This behavior of "being both a referee and an athlete" has made the market begin to reflect: Is Trump a "builder" of the crypto ecosystem, or a "reaper" with political capital as his sickle?
Bullet hits the eye: The awakening and backlash of the crypto market
Half a year ago, Trump’s crypto strategic reserve policy and the issuance of Meme coins were seen as “bull market signals”, but now they have become the driving force behind market imbalances. Three major backlash effects are gradually emerging:
Liquidity siphoning: The short-term get-rich-quick effect of tokens such as $TRUMP distorts the flow of funds and squeezes the living space of technology projects.
Policy dependence: The market’s oversensitivity to Trump’s policies has led to increased volatility, and investors have fallen into the “news market” trap.
Collapse of trust: The binding of family interests with public policies weakens the core value of the spirit of decentralization.
As BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes said: “$TRUMP’s crazy market cap is a ridiculous market signal that a top is imminent
Can the cryptocurrency world escape the political scythe?
Trump's crypto narrative reveals the complex game between emerging markets and political power. In the short term, favorable policies and personal influence will still dominate market sentiment; but in the long run, the industry needs to get rid of its dependence on a single entity and return to technology-driven and community consensus.
If Trump continues to pursue "family interests" in the name of "national strategy", the cryptocurrency market may exhaust its potential in the carnival and become a victim of the political game. Investors should be alert: when the bullet is fired, it may be aimed at your own eyebrows.
