The crypto world is in a state of euphoria, and it has one person to thank: President Donald Trump. Since his victory last November, the man who promised to be the “crypto president” has rolled out the red carpet for the decentralized finance industry, igniting a full-blown gold rush.
In just over seven months, his administration has pushed through the landmark Genius Act, providing much-needed regulatory clarity, and signed an executive order to pave the way for crypto in 401(k) retirement plans. The result? A tidal wave of investment and optimism has flooded the market, creating a new class of winners. While most other economic sectors have treaded water this year, crypto and AI have been the standout performers.
Here’s a look at who is riding the Trump crypto boom.
The Assets: Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the New Star of the Show
First and foremost, the cryptocurrencies themselves have soared.
- Bitcoin (BTC): The original and most popular cryptocurrency has been on a tear. Since Trump’s election, its price has surged over 68%, hitting an all-time high of $122,838 on July 14, according to data firm CoinGecko.
- Ether (ETH): The second-largest crypto has finally awakened from its slumber. The price of Ether, the native token of the Ethereum blockchain, has climbed 74% to $4,205.37 since the election. While still shy of its 2021 peak, analysts predict it will surpass the symbolic $5,000 threshold in the coming months.
- Stablecoins: This is arguably the biggest winner of Trump’s policies. Thanks to the Genius Act, stablecoins—digital tokens pegged to a stable asset like the U.S. dollar—have become the talk of the town. A stablecoin like USDC works simply: for every digital token, there is a real dollar held in reserve. This gives it price stability, making it incredibly useful for payments and trading without the wild volatility of Bitcoin. Now, everyone from traditional banks to retail giants like Walmart and Amazon is exploring how to use them.
The Companies Betting on Bitcoin
A handful of publicly traded companies made massive, risky bets on Bitcoin years ago. That gamble is now paying off spectacularly.
Tesla: The electric carmaker has held Bitcoin since early 2021. Though it has sold some of its holdings, Elon Musk’s company still possesses 11,509 BTC, according to Bitcoin Treasuries. Purchased for an average price of about $33,500 each, its initial $386 million investment is now worth a staggering $1.34 billion as of time of writing.
Block: The fintech company co-founded by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey holds 8,692 BTC. Its $271.6 million investment is now valued at over $1.01 billion, a gain of 272%.
MicroStrategy: Led by the famous Bitcoin maximalist Michael Saylor, the software company is what the crypto world calls a “whale”—an entity that holds so much of an asset it can influence the market. MicroStrategy, recently renamed Strategy, owns an incredible 628,791 BTC, currently worth over $73 billion.
Riot Platforms: This relatively unknown company is one of the largest publicly traded Bitcoin miners in the U.S. Bitcoin mining involves using powerful computers to solve complex puzzles, which secures the network and earns the miner new coins. Riot’s strategy was to accumulate and hold the Bitcoin it mined. Its stash of 19,239 BTC, acquired for a pittance, is now a treasure trove worth $2.24 billion.
The Public Faces of Crypto
The companies that act as the gateways for everyday investors have also seen their fortunes explode.
Coinbase: The largest and only publicly traded crypto exchange in the U.S. has seen its valuation soar from $60 billion on election day to nearly $80 billion today.
Circle: The company behind the USDC stablecoin, went public on June 5. In a matter of weeks, its stock exploded by an almost unprecedented 675%, adding over $42 billion to its market cap. Its business model is brilliant in its simplicity: you give them a dollar, they give you a digital USDC token, and they collect the interest from safely investing your dollar.
Robinhood: The popular retail investing app has been a massive beneficiary of the renewed crypto hype. Its valuation has grown from $22 billion last November to nearly $100 billion today, a gain of almost $80 billion.
The First Family’s Windfall
The boom has also directly benefited the President’s own inner circle. Members of the Trump family, including the President himself, have disclosed holdings in various cryptocurrencies, meaning their personal portfolios have swelled in value thanks to the very policies the administration is enacting.
Furthermore, the TRUMP meme coin ($TRUMP), while not officially affiliated with the President, has a market value of $2 billion as a direct result of his political brand and pro-crypto stance. This has led critics to raise serious concerns about unprecedented conflicts of interest, arguing that the President is creating regulations that personally enrich his family and brand-adjacent assets.
And, of Course, the Early Believers
Finally, there are the countless anonymous investors who bought Bitcoin when it was cheap, whether in its early days or during the “crypto winter” of 2022. For them, the gains have been colossal. The Trump boom has solidified their fortunes and minted a new generation of crypto millionaires.
Our Take
The Trump administration’s embrace of cryptocurrency marks one of the fastest policy-to-market turnarounds in recent history. With legislation like the “Genius Act” and a regulatory green light for crypto in retirement accounts, the U.S. has gone from a patchwork approach to actively championing digital assets. The result: vast wealth creation for early believers, institutional players, and a handful of companies that have tied their fortunes directly to Bitcoin and its crypto cousins.
