Published: September 3rd, 2025
California governor and presumed future presidential candidate Gavin Newsom announced this week the launch of a Trump-themed meme coin, a sharp dig at President Donald Trump's array of branded crypto products.
Newsom told interviewers on popular US podcast The Pivot that he was ramping up a campaign designed to lampoon the President with the release of the "Trump Corruption Coin."
Newsom predicted that the satirical cryptocurrency, which may or may not be real, would outperform the Solana-based TRUMP (Official Trump) token released by the President in January.
‘We're going to unveil a meme coin soon, and you know what, Mr. President? Let's watch how your coin performs against ours,’ Newsom added.
He also said "Trump Corruption Coin" would be an appropriate name for the putative digital currency. He then went on to call Trump ‘one of history's greatest grifters,’ and the controversial profits he's made from various crypto ventures ‘just jaw-dropping.’
Newsom has taken to using the President's communication style against him, posting mocking tweets on X that mimic Trump's distinctive prose, even copying some of his trademark phrases.
Trump released TRUMP just prior to his January 2025 inauguration. The token's price spiked before quickly returning to Earth. Opposition Democrats have criticized the president repeatedly for using the office of President to cash-in on his power and influence.
At time of writing TRUMP was the 78th largest cryptocurrency by market cap, with a valuation of nearly USD 1.6 billion. Figures from CoinGecko show it recently traded for $8.41, significantly under its all-time high of $73.39 reached shortly after its January debut.
Crypto's profile in US politics has been steadily rising since last year's 2024 presidential election. Bitcoin may not have been on the ballot but it influenced debate throughout the campaign, changing media narratives while sending ripples across the political spectrum.
Here are some of the most notable crypto-related political happenings during the 2024 US presidential election.
A crypto-friendly crowd was all cheers for Donald Trump in May when he promised to keep digital assets companies from fleeing the country at a Mar-a-Lago launch event for his latest NFT collection.
Republicans fell in line behind Donald Trump's pro-crypto pivot in July, pledging to ‘defend citizens' right to mine Bitcoin,’ while also adding protections for self-custody of crypto to its party election manifesto.
VP Kamala Harris referenced crypto for the first time in September during an address to the Economic Club of Pittsburgh, an apparently un-scripted move that surprised both supporters and critics.
In a speech at the BTC Nashville even in late July, Trump and independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Junior promised to create a strategic Bitcoin stockpile for the US Federal Reserve.
In August, Trump revealed another crypto-related venture, a new DeFi platform called World Liberty Financial that (when it launches) promises to ‘liberate the average American from big banks and financial elites.’
Kamala Harris committed to passing new regulatory legislation for crypto at a digital town hall meeting in August.
Harris reveals crypto regulations to benefit Black men. A month later shes made waves by promising to support new digital asset rules designed specifically for Black men, so that ‘Black men who invest in these assets are protected.’
At a visit to a BTC-themed restaurant in Manhattan, Trump bought a round of burgers with Bitcoin for everyone in attendance. The stunt went viral on social media with video clips showing Trump using a smartphone to make the purchase.
In July 2024, an analysis of foreign exchange movements by Barclay's pegged recent USD price rises to a growing belief amongst traders that Donald Trump was on-track to win the election.
In a note to investors, the bank's FX strategy unit wrote that ‘we have seen USD rally twice recently following events that would seem to improve the chance of a Donald Trump win in the race for the US presidency. The most recent was a favorable Supreme Court ruling’.
In June 2024, the US Supreme Court ruled that former presidents can expect immunity from prosecution for official acts taken while they were in office (though they can't expect immunity for unofficial acts).
‘It is now clear that traders perceive a link between Trump and a stronger dollar’.
The ruling meant that the Biden government's election interference case against Trump went back to a lower court, which is still deciding how or if to continue the case. The delay cleared another hurdle for Trump's possible return to the White House.
Barclays analysts said the ‘Trump effect’ on USD is based on assumptions of lower taxes, higher growth, protectionism measures likely to aggravate inflation, and geopolitical uncertainty.
‘With the momentum seemingly favoring former president Trump's bid for a second term, combined with forecasts that the Republican Party will take control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, traders are now looking for reduced immigration, increased tariffs, and lower taxes. The combined impact if these measures could lead to higher inflation, bigger deficits, and more activist policy by the US Fed.’
The Trump effect extends beyond fiat markets. Earlier in the election campaign, when the two major parties were conducting primaries to choose their respective Presidential candidates, former Republican contender Ron Desantis made an about-face on crypto policy.
He told supporters at a political rally that he would end the US government's ‘campaign of harassment’ against the crypto industry, signing a pro-Bitcoin decree on his first day in office if elected to the White House. The move was widely read as an appeal to Trump voters, who tend to be pro-crypto.
Speaking to a crowd during a campaign stop in New Hampshire, DeSantis, who is governor of Florida, said ‘Biden's battle to stop the rise of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency will cease immediately when I become president.’
