Trump's Impact on the Encryption Industry and His Family's Layout in the Web3 Field

The Potential Impact of Trump's Administration on the Encryption Industry

Recently, the "Trump Trade" has sparked heated discussions in the market, with the cryptocurrency industry shifting its focus to the extent to which Trump fulfills his campaign promises. During the transition of power, Trump quickly nominated several key positions, and these appointees will determine the direction of cryptocurrency policy in the United States and globally over the next four years. This means that Trump's administration could truly change the current landscape of the industry, and regardless of the strength of policy implementation, it signals that the industry is facing new opportunities and policy uncertainties.

Before Trump officially takes office, it is worth paying attention to which officials are nominated for key positions, as well as their attitudes and stances toward the encryption industry. According to the U.S. political system, the president's cabinet mainly consists of two parts: formally appointed cabinet members who require Senate confirmation and cabinet-level officials who do not require Senate confirmation.

Currently, the important institutions related to the encryption industry in Trump's cabinet include the Office of Artificial Intelligence and Cryptocurrency Affairs. This office is mainly responsible for developing the regulatory framework for the encryption industry and coordinating with agencies such as the SEC, CFTC, and Congress. The Cryptocurrency Advisory Committee under it consists of 24 CEOs from encryption companies, providing advice for policy-making.

Some new policies promised by Trump are worth paying attention to:

1. Build the United States into a global encryption hub
2. Stop the crackdown on encryption after taking office
3. Prevent the development of central bank digital currencies
4. Establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve
5. Change the SEC Chairman
6. Prevent the sale of Bitcoin held by the US government
7. Using Bitcoin to Solve the US Debt Problem
8. Formulate a more comprehensive encryption policy
9. Establishment of the encryption advisory committee

From the personnel appointments during Trump's transition period, the 5th and 9th commitments have been fulfilled. Whether it is the newly established advisory body, the Senate's cryptocurrency committee, or the replacement of the SEC chair, the encryption backgrounds of these officials indicate that Trump is fulfilling his campaign promises as planned.

For the encryption industry, this means that the previously repressive policies may gradually be relaxed, while more comprehensive legislation will further push the industry towards the mainstream.

The Trump family's initial project layout in the Web3 field

Trump's change in attitude towards encryption during his second term had a significant boosting effect on the entire industry. Not only did it establish a cabinet-level advisory team among government officials, but his family also began to venture into investment in the encryption industry, providing a forward-looking basis for future regulatory leniency.

At the beginning of 2025, the biggest explosive project in the industry is undoubtedly the MEME coin TRUMP, released by Trump himself. Once launched, the market value surpassed $30 billion within a day, once again creating a wealth myth in the industry.

The significance of Trump personally issuing a coin is not limited to adding a celebrity MEME coin to the market; it reflects that Trump’s support and depth of involvement in the encryption industry may exceed market expectations. Witnessing the rapid surge in the market value of the TRUMP token may further encourage Trump and his cabinet to accelerate the normalization of the encryption industry and relax regulations, which is undoubtedly a major boon for the encryption industry. In addition, the on-chain trading volume and wealth effect will create competitive pressure on centralized exchanges, making the competition within the entire industry more intense.

Apart from MEME coin, the most important project of the Trump family is World Liberty Financial (WLFI). Although the project's official website states that Trump and family members, as well as enterprises, are not employees of the project, Trump's three sons are all titled "ambassadors," and Trump's close ally Steve Witkof (nominated as a special envoy to the Middle East) along with his son are both co-founders of the project. The advisory team also includes partners and CEOs from well-known investment institutions such as Polychain and Scroll.

The WLFI project is legally distanced from the Trump family, but several of Trump's sons are tirelessly promoting the project, making it difficult for the market not to interpret it as a Trump family project.

The WLFI project has made adequate preparations in terms of legal compliance and has avoided current regulations through various means, such as making tokens non-transferable and raising funds in accordance with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Regulation D Rule 506(c) regulations. These measures have minimized the compliance risks of the project.

The project is currently still in the public fundraising stage, with a total token supply of 20 billion tokens, of which 5.49 billion have been sold. Due to the fact that the tokens are currently non-transferable, the overall progress is not as expected.

WLFI is initially positioned as a DeFi project focused on decentralized lending built on Aave. Starting from the end of November, WLFI began purchasing tokens in large quantities, and its portfolio has become a new market benchmark. Overall, the project mainly involves areas related to DeFi.

From the team configuration perspective, most of the core members of WLFI come from a DeFi background. Technical lead Corey Caplan previously worked at the DeFi project Dolomite, and chief developer Bogdan Purnavel was a developer at the DeFi project Dough Finance.

In summary, whether it is personnel allocation or token asset purchases, the Trump family's WLFI project overall still focuses on the DeFi field, which may herald a more lenient policy environment for the DeFi sector in the future.

The Impact of the Trump Family Project on the DeFi Sector

Trump's issuance of MEME coins has brought tremendous imagination to the market, and it is unprecedented for a president to personally launch a currency. Setting aside profit factors, this at least indicates that the entire industry may welcome a relatively relaxed regulatory environment in the next four years. A deep analysis of the project's specific operations reveals that this is not a hasty move, but rather that sufficient preparations have been made in terms of legal frameworks, compliance, and institutional cooperation.

The certainty of the president issuing coins and the uniqueness of the super narrative create a distinctive on-chain market. However, the industry's support is currently limited to loose expectations, and long-term sustainability remains to be verified. The Trump family hopes to turn WLFI into a sustainable development project.

Based on a series of operations and subsequent investments of the WLFI project, combined with the new DeFi tax regulations proposed by the IRS at the end of December 2024, it can be inferred that relatively systematic DeFi legislative regulation may be introduced in 2025. Although it may not reach the strictness of the proposals previously suggested by the IRS and other departments, it is foreseeable that the compliance of DeFi will become an important measure likely to be implemented in 2025, such as KYC, anti-money laundering, and counter-terrorism financing.

From an optimistic perspective, WLFI, as the non-MEME project strongly endorsed by the Trump family, on one hand indicates a positive outlook on the DeFi sector; on the other hand, its compliance framework has been designed relatively comprehensively from the outset, which means that the project team clearly recognizes that after Trump takes office, regulatory relaxation and comprehensive compliance may progress in parallel, which will be beneficial for DeFi to enter the mainstream.

Based on Trump's issuance of tokens, the composition of his cabinet, and the DeFi projects launched by his family, it is clear that Trump has a relatively clear supportive attitude towards the encryption industry. However, the degree of regulatory relaxation remains uncertain, and the market will continuously adjust its expectations around new policies. But at least before the 2027 U.S. midterm elections, the resistance to many of Trump's policies will significantly decrease, which is a relatively favorable key period for DeFi and the entire encryption industry.