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Donald Trump Jr has publicly disassociated himself from the meme coin associated with his father. He distanced himself from $TRUMP, while justifying the Trump family’s overall foray into cryptocurrency. He stated that it is a strategic move to avoid being left out of conventional banks.
During an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box recently, Trump Jr made his position in the family’s crypto endeavors clear. “I wasn’t part of the meme coin,” he said. Rather, he is targeting stablecoins and bitcoin mining initiatives. The subject meme coin here, the $TRUMP token, is dominated by the Trump Organization and its related entities.
Released just days before Donald Trump’s 2021 inauguration, the token spiked to a $15 billion market cap before plummeting to a great low. Even with the volatility, token creators have reportedly earned more than $324 million worth of trading fees between January and April, according to Chainalysis.
Trump Jr put the family’s shift into cryptocurrency as a political and economic ostracism response. “We got into crypto not because it was like, hey, this is the next cool thing. We entered into it out of necessity,” he said. He outlined how, before their political activism, getting loans from New York City bankers was easy.
But after politics intervened, ‘they wouldn’t take your call,’ and the family was essentially ‘debanked.’ This compelled the Trumps to seek decentralized finance as a substitute for traditional banking.
Also Read: Trump Endorses Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, Fueling Crypto Push
He emphasized the importance of the family’s activities with World Liberty Finance and their stablecoin USD1. Trump Jr framed these ventures as compliant and entirely supported by the US Treasury. Stablecoins such as USD1, Trump Jr asserted, actually strengthen US financial dominance instead of weakening it.
Referring to crypto companies like Tether, which has nearly 70 percent control of the global stablecoin market and possesses approximately $120 billion in US Treasurys, he said, “Stablecoins could be the savior of US currency.” According to Trump Jr., these digital assets are replacing traditional foreign holders of US debt, potentially reinforcing dollar hegemony.
The crypto enterprises of the Trump family have been criticized for being a potential doorway to foreign influence or abuse of finances by a sitting president with token connections.
Trump Jr admitted concerns but referenced the anonymity of blockchain as a protection. “You don’t know who’s doing any of these things. It’s hard to influence if you don’t know where this stuff’s coming from,” he stated.
Trump Jr underscored that the family’s crypto endeavors are now ‘playing by all the rules’. He added that they voluntarily ceased operating hundreds of millions in business in the first Trump administration to adhere to regulations.
As the family solidifies their footprint in crypto further, the union of politics and digital assets continues to be closely monitored by regulators and the general public.
