The South’s Relationship with Cryptocurrency
Let’s be real: most folks in the American South aren’t sitting around talking about blockchain. Crypto just hasn’t hit the cultural mainstream there the way it has in places like San Francisco or New York City. It’s not that Southerners aren’t capable of understanding it. That’s not what I’m suggesting. There are certainly crypto bros everywhere. It’s just that the whole world of crypto, NFTs, meme coins, etc. has been marketed to a different audience and in different regions. Think tech bros, libertarians, and finance guys.
In a part of the country (the South) where financial literacy is already a challenge and tech infrastructure is struggling to catch up in rural areas, it’s not surprising that crypto feels like something happening “over there.” Out of sight, out of mind. Add to that a healthy dose of skepticism related to digital currencies (which is warranted), and you’ve got a cultural blind spot that makes the South particularly susceptible to overlooking, or just not hearing about, Trump’s crypto corruption.
What Is Trump Coin, and Why Should We Be Paying Attention?
Here’s the rundown: Donald Trump has launched something called a Trump Coin. It’s a digital collectible tied to the MAGA brand, and his family has also started a crypto platform that works kind of like an online bank. But this isn’t just some novelty item. Trump Coin is part of a whole blockchain system that allows Trump and his inner circle to profit off people buying and trading his coin. The more people buy in, the more money flows directly into his and his family’s personal pockets.
There’s even a leaderboard tracking who’s buying the most Trump Coins. The top buyers get rewarded with dinners with Trump or private White House tours. People are literally being promised access to the president in exchange for how much of his personal coin they purchase. This could be one of the most openly corrupt moves ever made by a U.S. president, even worse than Nixon.
It’s shady and chaotic, but what makes it truly dangerous is that it’s happening in a financial gray zone. Trump and his team are dodging the kinds of regulations that usually come with political donations or financial institutions, while branding this thing as a patriotic investment opportunity. And to make it even sketchier, Trump is calling the shots on crypto regulation while simultaneously profiting from it.
So why should we be talking more about this? A lot of people (especially in the South) just aren’t talking about crypto yet. Financial literacy and tech access are already major challenges in rural communities where a big part of his base lives, and Trump’s team is counting on that. They’re counting on people not knowing how this works. They’re hoping it just won’t raise red flags for the majority of people.
And yes, sure, people on both sides of the aisle will say things like, “Well, politicians have always rewarded their donors with special access.” But this is something new. This is straight-up selling access to the United States president through a coin with his face on it and the money goes into his personal accounts, not a campaign.
We don’t need to be crypto experts to see what’s happening. Trump is using this coin to create yet another loyalty scheme, one that enriches him personally and blurs the lines between politics and profit.
And that should concern all of us.
Crypto Confusion and a Southern Blind Spot
It’s ironic, really. If you ask most Southerners what they value, and they’d tell you things like honor, integrity, and good morals. Folks in the South don’t take kindly to being conned, and if this coin scheme were coming from anyone other than Trump, they’d call it a corrupt and sketchy pyramid scheme. But because it’s packaged in patriotic marketing and sold by their beloved leader, the red flags are overlooked.
The Cost of Falling Behind
The Trump coin mess is actually just one symptom of a much bigger issue. The South is being left behind in tech, education, and digital infrastructure. And when people don’t have access to the tools or knowledge to navigate what’s coming, they’re easier to exploit.
When Big Tech sets up shop in Southern towns, they aren’t investing in the South to uplift it. They’re looking for ways to exploit the cheap land and labor. Honestly, this deserves a whole separate deep dive. The cost of falling behind is real, and it’s only getting more dangerous.
Don’t Let the South Get Played
So yes, it’s easy to laugh at the Trump Coin. It’s absurd. But it’s also serious.
If you’re reading this and thinking, “I don’t know much about crypto either,” that’s okay. Most people don’t. That’s kind of the point. I’m certainly not suggesting that we all need to become blockchain experts overnight, but we need to stay alert, ask questions, and talk about this stuff openly, especially in communities where it’s not really on the radar yet.
At the end of the day, Trump is constantly creating schemes and new ways to line his pockets. We don’t need to be crypto experts to spot a scam. What’s happening here is clear: Trump is turning loyalty to him into currency, selling direct access to himself and the White House, and wrapping it all in red, white, and blue.
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