Jeffrey Hashkey: Examining the Trump Family’s Choices in Web3 Investments- Will the MEME & DeFi Sectors See Another Boom? – ChainCatcher

Author: Jeffrey Ding, Chief Analyst at HashKey Group

1. What Does Trump’s Ascendancy Mean for the Crypto Industry?

Since December, the “Trump Trade” has stirred the entire market, and for the crypto industry, the focus now shifts to how much Trump will fulfill his campaign promises. During the transition period, Trump swiftly nominated several key positions, and these appointees will determine the direction of U.S. and global crypto policy over the next four years. This means that Trump’s presidency will fundamentally change the current industry landscape, and regardless of the extent to which policies are enacted, it signals that the industry faces new, larger opportunities along with accompanying policy uncertainties.

Before Trump officially takes office, let’s first review which officials have been nominated for key positions and their attitudes and stances regarding the crypto industry.

In terms of the U.S. political system, each president’s cabinet consists of two main parts: one is the formal cabinet members who require Senate confirmation (such as the Secretary of State and heads of other major executive departments); the other consists of cabinet-level officials, some of whom do not require Senate confirmation (such as the Chief of Staff and National Security Advisor). Therefore, currently, the following officials in Trump’s cabinet are directly supportive of the crypto industry or hold influential positions regarding crypto policy:

From the image above, the most notable entity in Trump’s entire cabinet system is the Office of Artificial Intelligence and Cryptocurrency Affairs, which is currently reported to mainly be responsible for formulating the regulatory framework for the entire crypto industry, liaising with the SEC, CFTC, Congress, etc. The subordinate Crypto Advisory Committee claims to be composed of 24 CEOs from crypto companies, providing policy-making advice. According to Trump’s promises, the following new policies are worth noting:

Make the U.S. the global crypto capital
Immediately stop the crackdown on cryptocurrencies
Prevent the development of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC)
Establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve
Dismiss the SEC Chairman
Prevent the sale of Bitcoin held by the U.S. government
Use Bitcoin to address U.S. debt
Establish a more comprehensive crypto policy
Form a Crypto Advisory Committee

From Trump’s personnel appointments during the transition period, at least items 5 and 9 have been completed. Whether through the newly established advisory body, the Senate’s cryptocurrency committee, or the replacement of the SEC chairman, the crypto backgrounds of these appointed officials at least indicate that Trump is indeed fulfilling his campaign promises as planned.

For the crypto industry, at least from a regulatory perspective, on one hand, the previously repressive policies may gradually be relaxed, while on the other hand, more comprehensive legislation will further promote the industry’s move toward the mainstream.

2. What Information Does the Trump Family’s Initial Project Layout Reveal?

Trump’s shift in attitude towards cryptocurrencies during his second term will undoubtedly have a significant uplifting effect on the entire industry. Not only has he established a cabinet-level advisory team in terms of government officials, but his family has also begun to invest in the crypto industry, providing a certain forward-looking basis for the subsequent relaxation of regulations.

As 2025 begins, the biggest explosive project in the industry is undoubtedly the MEME coin TRUMP, personally announced by Trump on his official Twitter. Once launched, the project surpassed a market value of $30 billion within a day, once again creating a wealth myth in the industry.

The significance and value of Trump personally launching a coin extend beyond just adding a celebrity MEME to the market; to some extent, it reflects that Trump’s support and depth of involvement in the crypto industry may exceed market expectations. Especially after witnessing the rapid explosion of the TRUMP token’s market value, it may further become an important support for Trump and his cabinet departments to promote the rapid normalization of the crypto industry and relax regulations, which is undoubtedly a major positive for the crypto industry. Additionally, a potential impact of Trump’s coin launch is that the on-chain trading volume and wealth myth will directly create competitive pressure on centralized exchanges, making competition in the entire industry more intense.

In addition to the MEME coin personally launched by Trump, the most important project for the Trump family at present is World Liberty Financial (hereinafter referred to as WLFI). Although the project’s official website states that Trump and his family members and businesses are not employees of the project, all three of Trump’s sons are titled “Ambassadors” in the project, and Trump’s close ally Steve Witkof (nominated as a Middle East envoy) and his son are co-founders of the project. Furthermore, the advisory team includes partners and CEOs from well-known investment institutions in the industry, such as Polychain and Scroll.

The project legally isolates itself from the Trump family relationship, but this promotion, including the enthusiastic recommendations from Trump’s sons, is hard for the market not to interpret as: this is a project of the Trump family.

The WLFI project is relatively well-structured legally, employing various means to circumvent current regulations, such as making tokens non-transferable and raising funds under the SEC’s Regulation D Rule 506(c). These measures have minimized the compliance risks of the entire project. The project is currently still in public fundraising, with a total token supply of 20 billion, of which 5.49 billion have been sold. Due to the non-transferability of the tokens, the overall progress is not as expected.

In terms of specific operations, the initial information indicates that it is a DeFi project primarily based on Aave for decentralized lending, and there is currently no relatively clear specific operational page. Another noteworthy aspect is that since the end of November, the WLFI project has begun to buy large amounts of tokens. Due to its endorsement by Trump, this has made the token purchases of the project a new market barometer. Overall, the areas and tracks involved in the project are shown in the following image:

From the tokens held in the image above, it can be seen that the WLFI project, due to its DeFi positioning, primarily involves tokens related to DeFi, aside from BTC, Ethereum, and stablecoins, especially after announcing a partnership with ENA in December 2024. In terms of trading, aside from using Coinbase, most operations are conducted on CowSwap.

From the overall team configuration, it can also be seen that most of the core team of WLFI comes from DeFi backgrounds. For instance, the technical lead Corey Caplan previously worked on the Dolomite project, which is also a DeFi project, and the chief developer Bogdan Purnavel was previously a developer for the DeFi project Dough Finance.

From a series of recent actions, it is evident that whether in personnel configuration or token asset purchases, the Trump family’s WLFI project still focuses on DeFi, indicating that there may be some more relaxed policy expectations surrounding the DeFi field.

3. What Impact Will the Trump Family’s Project Have on the DeFi Track?

The MEME coin launched by Trump undoubtedly brings immense imaginative space to the market. A president personally launching a coin is extremely rare in history. Setting aside considerations of vested interests, at least in terms of overall tone, it points to a future regulatory environment that is more relaxed for the entire industry over the next four years. If we further analyze the specific operations of this project, it can be seen that it is not a hasty coin launch but rather one that has made ample preparations in terms of legal framework, compliance, and institutional collaboration. The certainty of the president’s coin launch and the unique super narrative create a one-of-a-kind on-chain market, but the support for the industry is currently limited to relaxed expectations. In the long run, sustainability remains to be verified, and the Trump family hopes to make WLFI a sustainable project.

From a series of operations and subsequent investments in the WLFI project, it can be roughly outlined that the project has made some proactive responses based on regulatory compliance. Coupled with the IRS’s proposed new DeFi tax regulations at the end of December 2024, it can be inferred that there may be relatively systematic legislative regulation for DeFi in 2025. Although it may not be as strict as the proposals previously put forth by the IRS and other departments, it is foreseeable that the compliance of DeFi will become an important measure that may be implemented in 2025, such as KYC (the WLFI project also requires KYC), anti-money laundering, and anti-terrorist financing, etc.

However, from a more optimistic perspective, the WLFI project, as the Trump family’s first non-MEME project, indicates a positive outlook on the DeFi track, especially regarding the future growth potential of DeFi. From a policy perspective, its compliance framework has been relatively comprehensive from the outset, which means that the project is well aware that after Trump takes office, the relaxation of regulations and the comprehensive nature of compliance may proceed in parallel, benefiting the entire DeFi to enter the mainstream view.

From Trump’s coin launch, the composition of his cabinet, and the DeFi project launched by his family, it can be seen that at least Trump’s supportive attitude towards the entire crypto industry has become relatively clear. However, the extent to which regulatory relaxation will occur remains uncertain, and the market will continuously adjust expectations around these new policies. But at least before the 2027 midterm elections in the U.S., the resistance to many of Trump’s policies will significantly decrease, marking a relatively favorable key period for DeFi and the entire crypto industry.

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