Who Helped Bitcoin and Crypto Markets?
Few topics divide the crypto industry more than politics. Donald Trump is often referred to as “America's first cryptocurrency president,” while the Biden administration has earned a reputation for being hostile to the sector.
But when discourse is stripped away and replaced by market data, the picture becomes even murkier. The real question is not which administration spoke more positively about crypto, but whose leadership Bitcoin ultimately performed better.
Bitcoin Performance: The numbers tell a clear story
In the year In the 2024 US presidential election, Trump presented himself as a pro-crypto candidate, promising to make America the “crypto capital of the world.” To stop anti-crypto measures, crack down on SEC leaks, and in his own words:
“Stop Joe Biden's war on crypto and we'll make sure the future of crypto and Bitcoin is made in America.”
This added to the optimism in the market and fueled the prospect of a bull run. Fast forward to late 2025, and Bitcoin is down about 5%.
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By comparison, during Biden's first year as president, the world's largest cryptocurrency gained nearly 65%. Performance weakened in 2022, but momentum returned in subsequent years.
Bitcoin has rebounded strongly, rising an estimated 155% in 2023 and a further 120.7% in 2024.
Analyzing Trump's first term as president, the analyst described it as the “greatest crypto bull run” in history, during which the total crypto market capitalization increased by 115 times from the beginning to the end of his term.
Biden's tenure returned 4.5x from start to finish, and even at his worst, he never went below the annual opening for his tenure. Trump's 2nd term is less than a year open so far, but has 3 more years to go, he wrote.
Bitcoin under Trump
So what happened this year? Going Back 2025 alone is not something that can be understood by looking at the title.
In January, momentum was largely on Bitcoin's side. Before Trump's inauguration, BTC hit a new high at the time, rallying above $109,000. There have also been developments on the regulator's side, with the SEC creating a task force to provide a clear regulatory framework for digital assets.
However, Trump's next steps have erased all of these victories. After he announced tariffs on the European Union and later extended the date of independence against them, cryptocurrency markets fell along with the equities.
In particular, the announcement of the standoff led to a modest recovery. This highlights the market's exposure to broader macroeconomic developments and increases volatility.
Meanwhile, state-level Bitcoin adoption continues to grow as reserve initiatives and institutional involvement increase. Bitcoin prices continued to rally higher, posting four consecutive months of positive returns from April to July.
A key trend during this period was the emergence of Digital Asset Treasuries (DTs). Following the popular micro (strategy) playbook, public companies began accepting Bitcoin as a reserve asset.
Bitcoin has benefited from this shift, as many experts argue that institutional involvement reduces volatility and signals the maturity of the asset in traditional finance.
As the self-confidence increases, the appetite and consumption increases. It has attracted widespread attention from high-risk, high-leverage traders. On the macroeconomic front, the Fed cut interest rates in September. This again was tricky for a disaster property.
Bitcoin hit $125,761 on October 6 to hit a new all-time high for the month of October. Many projected even higher, with year-end targets ranging from $185,000 to $200,000.
This optimism is supported by favorable macroeconomic indicators and Bitcoin's historically strong performance during the fourth quarter.
BeenCrypto reports that on October 11, Trump's announcement of 100% tariffs on China sent the market lower. Over $19 billion of leveraged positions were wiped out, causing huge losses for many traders.
Broader declines continued in the coming months, compounded by gains.
“It also appears to be a structural and mechanical failure. It all started with institutional outflows from mid-to-late October. In the first week of November, crypto funds saw $1.2 billion in outflows. The problem became excessive levels of leverage. Amid these flows…excessive levels of leverage led to a market that seemed to have high risk,” Kobeissi Letter in a November post.
Bitcoin fell 17.67% in November and has since lost another 1.7% of its value this month, according to Coinglass data.
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From Bitcoin ETFs to Altcoins: Regulatory Changes and Market Reaction
The Trump and Biden administrations differ on several key issues, one of which is crypto ETFs. Under the Biden administration, the SEC initially took a more cautious approach to the crypto sector. This stance extends to crypto ETFs.
However, the regulatory position has changed following a ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, which ordered the SEC to convert Greyscale Investments' application to convert its flagship GBTC fund into a Bitcoin ETF.
Thus, the SEC approved the Bitcoin ETFs position in January 2024 and later the Green Lite Ethereum ETFs in July.
In particular, after Gary Gensler left the SEC, asset managers quickly filed multiple applications for altcoin ETFs. Other firms, including Bitwise, 21 Capital and Canary Capital, have filed documents to launch crypto-based investment products.
In September, the SEC approved comprehensive listing standards, eliminating case-by-case approvals. Following this change, asset-linked ETFs such as SOL, HBAR, XRP, LTC, LINK and DOGE entered the market.
In November, Canary Capital's XRP ETF saw $58.6 million in first-day trading volume, making it the strongest debut among more than 900 ETFs launched in 2025. Bitwise's Solana ETF also attracted strong interest, generating $56 million in first-day volume while other products saw relatively low activity.
From a regulatory perspective, ETFs have increased market access, and reduced buyer barriers for issuers. However, early performance data suggests that the introduction of more crypto ETFs has yet to translate into a commensurate increase in total market returns.
In the year By 2024, spot Bitcoin ETFs will attract $35.2 billion in net inflows. In the year By 2025, inflows into Bitcoin ETFs will drop to $22.16 billion, according to SoSoValue data. This divergence suggests that growth in ETF offerings may coincide with a reallocation of capital across products rather than an expansion of overall crypto exposure.
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In the Trump family's crypto empire
Although Donald Trump's influence on the market is clear, he is also directly involved in the crypto space. In January, the president introduced a meme coin, soon followed by a similar token launched by Melania Trump.
In March, US President Donald Trump's sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., launched Bitcoin Corporation of America in partnership with Hat8.
These ventures have generated enormous wealth for the US president and his family. According to a Reuters analysis, they earned more than $800 million from crypto asset sales in the first half of 2025 alone.
It can be argued that these measures helped legitimize the sector and accelerate adoption. Still, Trump's direct and indirect involvement in crypto-related activities raises concerns about optics, governance, and market integrity. While meme coins are not new to the crypto space, their association with a sitting US president is unprecedented.
These moves have drawn sharp criticism from regulators and consumers alike. The Trump meme coin, WFI, and the US Bitcoin Corp have all seen steep declines, leading to heavy losses among supporters.
Conclusion
Taken together, the data suggests that who has helped crypto the most The answer depends on how “help” is defined. Under Trump, crypto has benefited from a friendlier regulatory tone, reduced enforcement burdens and faster approval of new investment products.
These changes lowered barriers for issuers and expanded market access.
However, market performance tells a different story. Bitcoin's strongest gains occurred earlier during Joe Biden's presidency.
Meanwhile, Trump's first year back in office has been characterized by high volatility.
