Author: YBB Capital Researcher Zeke

Preface

For President Donald Trump, the world is one giant episode of The Apprentice. Less than a month into his term, numerous individuals — from internal government employees to foreign leaders — have already received their metaphorical “You’re fired” notices from him. As the show continues for the next four years, how can crypto, as a key contestant, successfully advance to the next round? Perhaps we must first understand the boss himself.

I. The Market Loves Surprises, but I Control the Pace

In Trump’s autobiography, The Art of the Deal, two key pillars define his negotiation philosophy: controlling the pace and creating surprises. These intertwined strategies not only built his early business empire but also shaped his political maneuvering in later years.

• “Controlling the pace”: “In a deal, you have to set the pace. If you let the other side dictate the timing, you’ve already lost half the battle.”

• “Creating surprises”: “The element of surprise is crucial. When they think you’ve given in, hit them with a new demand — it throws them off balance.”

Looking back at Trump’s early business negotiations, his mastery over deal-making rhythms was evident from the very beginning. In 1976, during the Grand Hyatt Hotel project in New York, Trump leveraged a high-stakes deadline to pressure the city government. When officials demanded that he cover the cost of renovating the nearby subway station, he threatened to walk away from the deal just three days before the city’s budget deadline. The city council, facing an imminent financial shortfall, was forced to approve a tax relief package, increasing government subsidies from $40 million to $120 million.

During the 1983 Trump Tower construction, he refined his delay tactics to an art form. With the project 90% complete, he suddenly sued the contractors for construction delays, exploiting their urgent need for final payments. This legal maneuver allowed him to slash construction costs by 23%.

The 1985 Atlantic City casino acquisition showcased his “ambush strategy” at its peak. After eight months of negotiations, when the seller, Pratt Hotel Group, had finalized the sale and prepared for the signing ceremony, Trump introduced an unexpected new demand — requiring the seller to take on $300 million in liabilities just 48 hours before closing. This seemingly reckless move was, in fact, a calculated gamble. He knew that the seller had already spent $2 million in legal fees and that a failed sale would trigger a financial crisis, forcing the company into bankruptcy. Facing mounting pressure, the seller ultimately conceded, allowing Trump to acquire the casino at a 40% discount below market value. This “sunk cost extortion” tactic became a signature move, epitomized in The Art of the Deal: “When they think they’ve secured victory, that’s the perfect moment to strike the fatal blow.”

Fast-forward to the present day, and Trump continues to apply these strategies on the geopolitical stage. On February 28, he engaged in a globally televised bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House. True to form, Trump orchestrated his moves with precision.

1. On the eve of the meeting, he made a shock agreement with Russia, establishing four key points of consensus. The most significant of these was a mutual commitment to future geopolitical and economic cooperation, contingent on the resolution of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

2. He initially demanded a $500 billion repayment from Ukraine, but during the meeting, he adjusted this request — insisting that 50% of Ukraine’s future revenues from strategic resources like rare earth metals, lithium, and graphite be funneled into a US-led “Reconstruction Fund.”

3. The meeting, broadcasted live to a global audience, left viewers stunned. In an unprecedented move, Trump abruptly asked Zelensky to leave, resulting in the breakdown of negotiations.

Meanwhile, Trump’s aggressive trade measures have been met with equal retaliation from foreign counterparts, making for a turbulent weekend for the president.

From these cases, we can distill Trump’s negotiation doctrine into four key principles:

1. Set an extreme initial demand to pressure opponents into settling for less-than-optimal conditions.

2. Exploit every available leverage to maximize gains.

3. Remain unpredictable, making it difficult for adversaries to anticipate his moves.

4. Leverage the media’s power to amplify events and shift public perception.

However, as recent countermeasures from multiple nations demonstrate, the most effective way to neutralize Trump’s tactics might be surprisingly simple: Refuse to engage. Refuse to negotiate.

II. Strategic Reserves

On the Sunday following the U.S.-Ukraine bilateral meeting, Trump took to his social media platform, Truth Social, to post two consecutive statements: XRP, SOL, and ADA would be included in the “Crypto Strategic Reserve,” while ETH and BTC would remain the core holdings.

Following this announcement, the market saw a bullish surge. According to CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin soared 9% to $93,969, Ethereum jumped 13% to $2,516, Solana skyrocketed 24% to $174.64, Cardano surged 70% to $1.11, and XRP spiked 34% to $2.93.

However, the reaction from the crypto community was notably different from the usual enthusiasm. The key point of contention stemmed from a suspicious user on Hyperliquid who, at a seemingly perfectly timed moment, used millions of dollars and 50x leverage to long BTC and ETH. Social media analysts suggested that this individual deliberately executed trades on a DEX to avoid revealing their KYC information to centralized exchanges.

Conspiracy theories quickly spread — some speculated that the Sunday timing was strategically chosen to allow institutions to offload their holdings on Monday, effectively using the crypto market as a liquidity exit. Others argued that Trump’s shock announcement of a crypto reserve aligned with his typical maneuvering tactics — but that the real motivations were far more complex.

Based on Trump’s “Art of the Deal” philosophy, some possible strategic objectives include:

1. Aiming high to settle for less — While multiple cryptocurrencies were listed as strategic reserves, the actual goal may simply be securing BTC’s strategic status. This would pressure other nations into buying Bitcoin, ensuring that the U.S. maintains dominance over the asset.

2. Leveraging influence to control market trends — As president, Trump now holds unparalleled power to orchestrate narratives around strategic reserves, similar to how the Bitcoin ETF hype drove market cycles.

3. Expanding his family’s influence in crypto — The Trump family, having pivoted from real estate to crypto, seeks power and leverage in every possible sector.

4. Unveiling a deeper financial network — The selection of these specific cryptocurrencies suggests that there are undisclosed interests behind the “White House-approved” tokens.

5. Forcing the U.S. government to unlock seized crypto — The U.S. holds billions in confiscated crypto assets, and Trump may be attempting to push these into official reserves or use them to issue related bonds.

6. Redefining strategic reserves in a digital economy — Traditional strategic reserves (such as oil, gold, and cash) serve a clear purpose. Even if BTC can be likened to gold, what justifies including SOL, ADA, and XRP? Trump may already have plans to push these chains toward mass adoption in key industries, positioning their tokens as the “oil” fueling blockchain infrastructure.

III. Survival Through Destruction

Trump’s decision-making style is deeply influenced by his father, Fred Trump, who instilled a zero-sum worldview — one where relationships are built on winners and losers, dominance and submission. This shaped Trump’s combat-oriented approach to business, diplomacy, and even his controversial encouragement of the January 6th Capitol riot after losing the 2020 election.

Crypto investors often hail Trump as the “Crypto President”, but it’s crucial to question whether their interests truly align with his. Trump’s “America First” and “Family First” philosophy will undoubtedly extend into his crypto policies. While the exact impact on non-U.S. and non-Trump-affiliated crypto projects remains uncertain, the overarching trend is clear: Trump is replicating his trade war tactics to ensure U.S. and Trump-affiliated projects dominate the blockchain space.

Three immediate trends are emerging:

1. U.S. crypto projects will receive priority through ETFs and strategic reserves.

2. U.S.-based projects may benefit from tax exemptions on capital gains, while non-compliant or non-favored projects could face targeted taxation.

3. Trump-affiliated projects may receive special privileges, such as regulatory sandboxes, preferential treatment, and direct capital injection.

Beyond these visible trends, Trump could go further by targeting non-U.S. Bitcoin mining pools, ensuring that every newly minted BTC is as close as possible to being “Made in USA.”

Additionally, regulatory control could extend to the protocol layer itself, requiring projects to integrate U.S. regulatory interfaces — effectively limiting on-chain growth to “America-approved” ecosystems.

Over the next four years, Trump has multiple levers to pull, and the Americanization of crypto is already entering its irreversible phase. For those navigating this new reality, there are only two choices:Align with the new order — or refuse to play the game.

IV. The Shadow of DOGE

Trump’s close friend, Elon Musk, played a pivotal role in the 2021 crypto bull market, turning Dogecoin (DOGE) — originally created as a joke — into a coin that reached both a market cap moonshot and a literal lunar mission.

Born from an internet meme, Dogecoin was initially developed in 2013 by engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer as a satire of the rampant speculation in crypto at the time. The coin was coded in just three hours, featured infinite inflation, and even labeled mining as “digging holes”, directly contradicting Bitcoin’s narrative of scarcity.

However, Musk gave this old meme a new life. Since 2019, he has publicly embraced the title “Dogefather,” fueling market enthusiasm with slogans like “To the Moon” and “The People’s Currency.” In 2025, he even named SpaceX’s lunar satellite mission “DOGE-1,” making it the first space project fully funded by Dogecoin. This meme-driven mania propelled Dogecoin over 7,000% in 2021, briefly surpassing $85 billion in market cap, overtaking General Motors and other corporate giants — a stunning transformation from a joke to a top-ten crypto asset.

The greatest tragedy in the world is becoming what you once despised. Crypto is now repeating the trajectory of its original oppressors. Bitcoin, once a weapon against centralized control, has now become a tool of American financial dominance.

Markets move at the whim of Trump’s tweets — flowing from BTC to Trump Coin, Melania Coin, and now these so-called “strategic reserves.” Where the baton points, the market follows. Crypto has lost its independence.

When the revolutionaries become the establishment, the cycle is complete. The industry that once challenged authority has now become its extension, embodying the very thing it sought to destroy. The dragon slayers have become the dragon.

V. A Double-Edged Sword

Putting aside personal interests, Trump is undoubtedly a political and business legend in American history. And yes, BTC will go to the moon with him.

But what innovation can survive under authoritarian intervention and hyper-regulation?

I once felt frustration at altcoins for their lack of ambition, but now, I pity their misfortune. The struggle between power and attention is now fully entrenched on-chain. As Vitalik Buterin recently responded to Ethereum OGs on X:

“When I hear crypto Twitter and VCs praise a ‘99% loss rate PvP, KOL gambling casino’ as the most fitting product-market match for crypto — and then call the desire for something better ‘elitist’ — should I feel happy?”

This trend will only escalate. PvP is merely a microcosm. In the next four years, the so-called “best projects” may only exist within Trump’s tweets.

Trump’s vision of crypto has always been a double-edged sword.

Crypto will fracture — splitting into “traditional” and “Americanized” factions. The public chain wars of the past will now expand to an even larger battlefield. Under Trump’s aggressive strategies and overwhelming influence, this war will be brutal.

But for crypto to truly be reborn, it must endure this reckoning.

About YBB

YBB is a web3 fund dedicating itself to identify Web3-defining projects with a vision to create a better online habitat for all internet residents. Founded by a group of blockchain believers who have been actively participated in this industry since 2013, YBB is always willing to help early-stage projects to evolve from 0 to 1.We value innovation, self-driven passion, and user-oriented products while recognizing the potential of cryptos and blockchain applications.

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