Omid Malekan, an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School, said in an X post on October 26th: “Trump’s election as president will be ‘bearish for Memecoins’ because they are a ‘form of economic populism and a statement against unfairness’.”
Malekan added: “The regulatory sanity in the United States is unfavorable to Memecoins because it refocuses the emphasis of cryptocurrencies on DApps and other truly important matters, leading to a long bear market where most people have lost money on Memecoins. After venture-capital-backed tokens were ‘forced’ into the cryptocurrency space due to the pressure from Senator Elizabeth Warren and SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, a ‘Republican sweep’ would bring back Initial Coin Offerings, completely open token airdrops, and ‘other kings of token sanity’.”
So, is it really as Malekan said? Let’s briefly analyze this matter:
First of all, let’s analyze the points mentioned by Malekan. Malekan believes that Memecoins are a “form of economic populism and a statement against unfairness”, which means they represent a certain rebellious spirit — especially against the backdrop of the traditional financial system and the unequal distribution of wealth. After Trump is elected, his policies are likely to focus on reducing regulations and restrictions, attempting to steer the financial market towards stability and maturity. Therefore, although Trump’s specific policies in the cryptocurrency field are still unclear, he may more traditional financial concepts, which would deal a blow to the “rebellious” image of Memecoins.
In addition, the hype and volatility of Memecoins often rely on the fluctuations of market sentiment rather than actual technical or value support. During his tenure, Trump may take some measures to suppress the speculative behavior in the cryptocurrency market to stabilize the financial market. This could lead to more stringent market regulation, which in turn would affect those Memecoins lacking fundamental support.
The Republican Party’s Attitude towards Cryptocurrency Regulation
The Republican Party is generally open to blockchain technology, especially supporting applications such as DApps and DeFi, but is relatively conservative towards highly speculative Memecoins. Trump’s election may promote the application of cryptocurrencies to return to “truly meaningful” innovations such as DApps and smart contracts, rather than the highly speculative Memecoins. Therefore, the shift in regulatory focus may also cause Memecoins to lose their advantages and further hit their market performance.
Senator Elizabeth Warren and SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, as relatively radical cryptocurrency regulators within the Democratic Party, their policies are often more punitive. However, after the Republicans come to power, although they may relax the regulation of some traditional crypto assets, this “sane” regulation may not include Memecoins. In other words, the Republican Party is more concerned with “functional” crypto assets rather than short-term speculative assets. From this perspective, the coming to power of the Republican Party may bring about a brand-new atmosphere in the cryptocurrency market, that is, promoting the development of value-oriented projects while restricting non-functional speculative assets.
The Future of Memecoins: Bubble or Value Transfer?
Supporters of Memecoins often believe that they are not just a speculative tool but also a community consensus and cultural phenomenon. However, in a more rational regulatory environment, Memecoins may lose many of their enthusiastic supporters. Without strong policy support and with the market paying more attention to “truly valuable” crypto assets, Memecoins may gradually lose their mainstream status in the market.
Therefore, if Trump is elected president and implements policies oriented towards blockchain applications, the “economic populism” label of Memecoins may be weakened, and market funds may flow to projects with higher practical application values such as DeFi, NFTs.
