Political Memecoins Crash Over 75% as 'Trump Trade' Fails

According to Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu, the crypto market's bet on Donald Trump as a savior in 2025 proved to be a costly miscalculation. Siu argued that traders incorrectly priced in the new president's priorities, leading to Bitcoin facing its fourth annual decline in history. Instead of championing crypto, Trump’s focus on tariffs and trade wars created headwinds for risk assets. “When the president starts a tariff war, he’s not thinking about what’s going to happen to the price of Bitcoin,” Siu noted.

The speculative excess of 2025 was most visible in the political memecoin sector, which saw a dramatic boom and bust. The Official Trump (TRUMP) token slid more than 75% from its peak, while the Melania Meme (MELANIA) token plummeted around 90%. Siu described the collapse as “one heck of a vampire attack on the meme community,” which left many retail investors with significant losses and drained liquidity from the broader market.

Animoca Pursues Public Listing With $314M in Bookings

In this environment, Animoca Brands is charting a course toward the public markets. The company plans a reverse merger with Nasdaq-listed fintech firm Currenc Group, a deal that would leave Animoca owning 95% of the combined entity. The strategy is to position the company as a liquid “altcoin proxy” for public investors, filling a gap in the market for diversified Web3 exposure that isn't currently served by single-token investments.

The company’s fundamentals support this ambition. For the 2024 financial year, Animoca reported unaudited bookings of $314 million and has been EBITDA-positive for four consecutive years. With a portfolio of over 620 companies and investments in roughly 100 new projects last year alone, Animoca aims to replicate for altcoins what MicroStrategy has become for Bitcoin: a leveraged, public vehicle for crypto exposure.

Siu Predicts 2026 Will Be 'Year of the Utility Token'

Looking ahead, Siu believes the market is being forced to mature. He sees upcoming U.S. legislation, such as the Clarity Act and the GENIUS Act, as critical catalysts that will provide the legal certainty needed for established companies to enter the space. He expects this regulatory clarity to trigger a wave of tokenization from incumbent businesses.

The phrase we like to use is ‘Tokenize or die.’

— Yat Siu, Co-founder of Animoca Brands.

As capital rotates away from pure speculation, Siu argues that 2026 will be defined by a new focus on real-world application. “2026 will be the year of the utility token because everyone will launch a token that has a use case, and we can talk about it,” he concluded. This shift marks a necessary step for an industry that, in Siu's view, “has to grow up.”