Decrypt Names Donald Trump as Crypto Person of the Year for 2024–2025
Decrypt has named Donald Trump as the Crypto Person of the Year for 2024–2025, highlighting his significant influence in bringing cryptocurrency into mainstream US politics.
Under Trump's leadership, cryptocurrency has been framed as a strategic asset rather than a regulatory threat. This shift has brought attention to stablecoins, Bitcoin mining, and market-structure clarity within policy discussions.
Positive effects noted during this period include expanded access to cryptocurrency in the US, the formation of regulatory task forces, an era marked by ETF approvals, increased engagement from traditional finance, rising stablecoin use, and a renewed interest in ICO activity.
However, some negative effects have accompanied these developments, such as meme-coin ventures, family-linked crypto projects, pardons for crypto criminals, heightened partisan polarization, and concerns about conflicts of interest and industry favoritism.
Overall, the assessment leans toward the positive impact outweighing the negatives, though a definitive evaluation is expected to take years and remain contested.
Additional market and context updates include Bitcoin nearing $87,200, Ethereum near $2,950, JPMorgan launching a tokenized money-market fund on Ethereum, the Senate postponing crypto market-structure legislation to next year, MetaMask adding native Bitcoin support, and PayPal seeking a Utah bank charter.
The article frames Trump's crypto role as the most impactful over the past year, combining elements of legitimization and controversy. Critics warn that the current climate could enable scams, while supporters view it as fostering a more open US crypto landscape.
