Omid Malekan, an adjunct professor at the Columbia Business School, stated in a X tweet on October 26 that Donald Trump's presidency would be a negative factor for MEME, although MEME coins have been thriving. He believes:
"MEME is a form of economic populism, a protest against unfair distribution models (VC coins and insider tokens)"
Malekan added, "Regulation in the US is actually detrimental to MEME, as it will refocus the crypto space on DApps and other more meaningful things, leading to a prolonged bear market where most people will lose money."
According to CoinGecko data, the total market cap of MEME tokens is $61 billion.
The professor also stated that under pressure from Senator Elizabeth Warren and SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, distribution models such as VC rounds and insider pre-sales have been imposed on the crypto industry and are becoming entrenched. A Republican sweep would bring back previously popular token distribution models like Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) and fully open token airdrops.
Nic Carter, a partner at Castle Island Ventures, agrees with Malekan's view, stating on X that MEME is largely a rebellion against the SEC's repressive regime, and if the SEC can restore rationality, retail traders' demand for trading MEME will decrease.
Source: Nic Carter
Recently, some crypto commentators and analysts have predicted that if Trump wins, the market will become more optimistic, driving Altcoin prices to new highs, due to his firm pro-crypto stance. However, some strongly oppose Malekan's theory, arguing that MEME traders are not interested in politics, and their popularity is not closely related to government policies.
Murad Mahmudov, a MEME bull, stated that "99% of MEME buyers don't care about politics at all." Mahmudov claims that the popularity of MEME is closely related to the continuously rising global money supply, which is being increased to release liquidity and stimulate consumption, and the Trump administration will not stop this.
Crypto trader Jordan Fish said that MEME is popular because people want to buy things that may go up in price.
"For the average person, it's almost impossible to get in early on non-MEME tokens."
Fish stated that even if the SEC under Trump becomes more crypto-friendly, many crypto users will not buy high-market-cap non-MEME tokens listed on exchanges like Binance, as others can get stakes in the early token sales' VC rounds. "The only important change the SEC can make is to create a crowdfunding-like exemption for decentralized token projects."
Trump had made vague promises about crypto policy during his campaign, saying he would make the US the world capital of cryptocurrency and Bitcoin, and expressed his desire for all remaining Bitcoin to be mined in the US. His statements on cryptocurrency seem to have had an effect, at least for the limited number of voters who will vote for candidates who support the crypto industry.
A poll released by Coinbase last month showed that in the swing states of Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, two-thirds of crypto holders are eager to vote for candidates who support the crypto industry. However, the reality is that crypto holders' support is evenly split between Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Harris.
With 8 days until the November 5 election, according to the FiveThirtyEight poll on October 27, Harris and Trump are nearly tied, with the former slightly leading by 1.5 percentage points.
