3 min readOn a ritual Saturday morning X scrolling, I came across the news of the launch of the Trump token by World Liberty Financial. One can’t be surprised after so many years in crypto but left me wondering for a moment whether something needed to be done on our part. Naturally the idea of filing for a Trump ETF crossed my mind before I recalled the words of a too-often-overlooked Bitcoiner.
“I have met kids who create web-based interfaces to make their own altcoins. One of the most interesting questions I often get is, ‘How many coins will there be?’ The answer is equivalent to asking, ‘How many bloggers will there be on the Internet?’ The answer: all of us. Not hundreds of coins, but (…) tens of thousands of coins.
When a six-year-old can create a coin called ‘JoeyCoin’ and launch it in their school as a popularity contest, the global, unforgeable, and international nature of the coin doesn’t matter to Joey as long as his five friends like using JoeyCoin. But then, a competitor, ‘MariahCoin,’ comes along, and an old-fashioned currency war begins.
This is inevitable. Part of the reason we know this is because children create currency. Leave children in a kindergarten by themselves, and they will invent currency: rubber bands, Pokémon cards, little cubes. They’ll start trading, hoarding, exchanging favors, and eventually fighting over the imaginary currencies they just invented. This is a human experience.”
This presentation, delivered almost nine years ago, predicted what is now our reality. It comes from Andreas Antonopoulos, a long-time Bitcoin advocate and educator. Last Saturday, then-President-elect Donald Trump published a Solana contract address representing his dedicated cryptocurrency: $TRUMP. Within hours, this token reached a market cap of billions of dollars at an unprecedented pace, leaving observers stunned and creating millionaires among the boldest investors.
A day later, his wife, Melania Trump, followed suit, launching her own token, which caused significant congestion on the Solana network due to popular demand. Who could have imagined that after years of companies being sued by the SEC for token sales deemed unregistered securities, a U.S. President or more precisely his family, just days before taking office, would launch a cryptocurrency of his own?
There is no doubt that such actions by the foremost representative of the people raise many legitimate questions—questions that we will leave to voters and media commentators. Beyond politics, however, the decision of the 47th President of the United States signals the beginning of a new era, where token sales are about to be recognized as lawful financial tools.
For years, thousands of companies hesitated to use tokens to fund themselves. Now, the path seems wide open for innovators ready to deploy their tokens. This moment validates a new economy, unlocking free markets for everyone. As Marc Andreessen wrote in his Techno-Optimist Manifesto, “The market economy is a discovery machine.” Now is the time to let it make new discoveries.
Gil Scott-Heron was right: “The Revolution will not be televised,” but it will be tokenized. There is not a commodity that will not have its token, including people. While celebrity and AI agent meme coins may appear as low-effort projects designed to enrich their creators, they hint at a future where skills and talents will also be tokenized.
We already see this trend emerging in the DeSci (Decentralized Science) economy as highlighted during DevCon Bangkok 2024 by Arthur Hayes and CZ. After all, is there a better way to ensure that brains and promising research receive maximum funding than through the open market?
Yet, while this emerging technology promises positive economic outcomes, it will likely also bring its share of cynicism. Opportunistic players will attempt to extract maximum value from those rushing into this economy of attention, where the latest shiny new thing appears as the path to wealth. In this new landscape, the need for a rational and curated investment thesis is more important than ever, helping investors avoid bull traps and false dreams. Even though the underlying technology of these products will continue to evolve, not all of them deserve equal attention. While every crypto asset may share similar technology, they definitely don’t have the same place on your barbell investment strategy.
Nevertheless, although controversial, we should approach the events of the past few days with an open mind.
As Andrea Antonopoulos said, this is a pure “Human experience.”
History has been made, and there is no going back.
