Analyst: Trump Rode the Bitcoin Wave to Strengthen the Dollar

In a recent article, Alex Gladstein argues that Trump’s sudden embrace of bitcoin had ulterior motives. He believes Trump’s interest in crypto is more about promoting stablecoins to extend the dollar’s hegemony than about replacing fiat.

Analyst Believes Trump Used Bitcoin as a Trojan Horse for Stablecoins

The interest of the Trump Administration in bitcoin has been called into question, with analysts believing it had ulterior motives from the start. Alex Gladstein, Chief Strategy Officer at the Human Rights Foundation and a bitcoin proponent, believes that Trump used bitcoin surreptitiously with a not-so-hidden agenda, taking advantage of the momentum behind the crypto movement.

Trump’s stance on bitcoin’s utility was negative. During his first term, he labeled bitcoin and cryptocurrency as being highly volatile and stated that these could “facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity.”

So what made Trump change his mind: Stablecoins.

Gladstein states that Trump’s support of the crypto industry and bitcoin as a whole was a sort of Trojan horse to expand the dollar hegemony through what is now one of the largest sectors of the industry.

While Trump did sign a so-called strategic bitcoin reserve executive order in March, no action has been taken in this regard. Comparatively, stablecoins have experienced an exponential expansion, supported by initiatives like the GENIUS Act, which establishes clear laws for stablecoin issuance in the U.S.

Several case studies indicate that countries with ailing economies turn to the U.S. dollar in the form of stablecoins rather than bitcoin, due to the volatility of the latter. Stablecoins might be used to extend the strength of the dollar as a proxy in these use cases.

Gladstein declares that Trump had become a stablecoin president instead of a bitcoin one, using this movement to “shore up the dollar by promoting an industry that buys a lot of Treasury debt.”

Nonetheless, he believes that bitcoin will continue to grow even with the current stablecoin push, as the reasons behind its creation remain relevant even today.