Under the Trump administration, the rise of corrupt cryptocurrency schemes has mirrored a broader trend of deregulation and political opportunism. Cryptocurrency, largely unregulated and often exploited by the wealthy to sidestep financial transparency and legal accountability, has become a favored tool for grift and influence. A recent example is Coinbase's sponsorship of Trump’s so-called “dictator parade” on his birthday—an event celebrating authoritarian leaders and drawing criticism for its open embrace of anti-democratic symbolism. This follows a pattern: Trump and Melania were previously accused of scamming supporters during his inauguration, directing funds toward lavish, self-serving expenditures with little transparency. As crypto continues to operate in a legal gray area, its entanglement with figures like Trump underscores how the technology is being co-opted not for innovation, but as a mechanism for enriching elites and evading scrutiny.