The new lesson for the chives: Presidential endorsement ≠ value guarantee! Warnings from $TRUMP and $LIBRA

The memes of Qin Shi Huang V50 and the FOMO of presidential tokens seem to suggest that "presidential coins" are more reliable, but the speed of the scythe's swing depends on the abundance of leeks rather than the height of their understanding.

As we stepped into 2025, we witnessed two so-called presidential tokens rise high only to collapse: the $TRUMP token issued by the Trump family experienced an epic surge followed by a crash, and the $LIBRA token briefly endorsed by Argentine President Javier Milei faced a lightning-fast collapse. These two events not only reveal the madness and fragility of the meme coin market but also expose the deep risks of the combination of political power and cryptocurrency.

1. $TRUMP Token: From "Make Meme Coins Great Again" to Harvesting Tool

Since the launch of the $TRUMP token by the Trump family in January 2025, it has stirred up a market frenzy with its political halo. At its peak, the token's market value exceeded $42 billion, with a single-day increase of 41,200%. However, its collapse was equally astonishing: due to insider trading allegations, family members diverting funds from the token, and unmet policy expectations, the price of $TRUMP plummeted from a peak of $82 to $17, evaporating over 80% of its market value.

2. $LIBRA Token: The "Flash" Farce of Political Endorsement

In contrast to the continuous hype surrounding $TRUMP, the $LIBRA token endorsed by President Milei of Argentina resembled a carefully designed "performance art." On February 15, Milei recommended $LIBRA on social media, claiming it would support small and medium-sized enterprises in Argentina, causing the token's market value to soar to $4.3 billion within half an hour. However, just a few hours later, Milei suddenly backtracked, stating he "did not understand the project's details," leading to an instant collapse in the token's price. The intricacies and the distancing of various market makers have become tiresome to analyze; the truth no longer needs verification, delayed justice is merely an unbearable outcome.

Milei's tweet clearly marked the token's contract address and linked to the "Viva La Libertad" project website, implying official endorsement. However, once the market frenzy was ignited, his swift attempt to cut responsibility essentially constituted a fraud against public trust. This "stir up and then distance" operational model is strikingly similar to the Trump family's manipulation of the token through multiple accounts, transforming political influence into a harvesting tool.

Meme coin speculation has evolved from grassroots revelry into a collusion game of power and capital. When political figures use tokens as tools to monetize their personal influence, and exchanges indulge in bubbles for traffic, the original intent of cryptocurrency's "decentralization" has long been distorted.

Beyond the cases of $TRUMP and $LIBRA, a more insidious crisis is emerging: political forces are attempting to reshape financial discourse through cryptocurrency. The Trump team has publicly stated that "they will use crypto donations to break through traditional campaign finance limits," while Milei's supporters claim "$LIBRA is a weapon to break the central bank's monopoly." This strategy of binding meme coins with ideology is, in essence, a parasitic exploitation of the decentralized spirit by the power elite.

Retail Investor Psychology: The Vicious Cycle of FOMO and Cognitive Dissonance

In both collapse events, the behavior patterns of retail investors exhibited astonishing consistency. Behavioral finance experts, through on-chain data analysis, found that even in the face of obvious fraud, 62% of affected investors continued to increase their positions after the token's value hit zero. Behind this irrational behavior lies the interplay of three psychological mechanisms:

1. Reinforcement of the Sunk Cost Fallacy
   During the $TRUMP crash, the slogan "buy the dip for patriotism" spread widely on social media, linking investment losses to political loyalty. This emotional blackmail led many investors to continue investing even after a 50% price drop, ultimately expanding their losses to 90%.

2. Self-Persuasion in Information Echo Chambers
   Algorithmic recommendation mechanisms exacerbated cognitive biases: in Twitter and Telegram communities, negative information was systematically filtered out, leaving token holders only with optimistic content like "Trump will win" and "Milei's economic revolution." This information closed loop made rational risk assessment nearly impossible.

3. Institutionalization of Gambling Mentality
   The meme coin contract products launched by exchanges (such as Binance's TRUMPUSDT perpetual contract) have formalized speculative behavior. When 100x leverage becomes the norm, investing has morphed into a pure gamble. Research from the University of Chicago shows that among investors participating in high-leverage meme coin trading, 78% exhibited pathological gambling tendencies.

Conclusion

Presidential endorsement ≠ value guarantee, especially when it comes from a president with an expiration date; they are essentially memes driven by emotional hype, akin to perishable instant food. Expired food is hard to rekindle enthusiasm for, after all, you have already tasted it.

Those at the pinnacle of power are like tigers; considering the companionship of tigers involves more than just convenience and means, but a firm resolve not to become food on the menu. When technological idealism is corroded by political speculation, and the promise of decentralization devolves into a cover for code dictatorship, the cryptocurrency industry is about to face a crossroads of life and death.