How Institutional Money, Deregulation, and Memes Have Shaped Crypto’s Wild Ride

Crypto never fails to surprise. If you’ve been in the space for the last few years, you’ve seen hype cycles come and go, regulations shift, and institutions either run for the exits or double down. 

But the most recent wave? It’s something else entirely.

What we’re seeing isn’t just another market cycle, it’s a complete shift in the underlying dynamics of how crypto functions, driven by deregulation, institutional money, meme narratives, and geopolitical tension. 

Let’s break it all down.

The Great Deregulation Misconception

Deregulation was expected to be the golden ticket. More freedom, fewer barriers, and a surge of institutional money pouring into the space. But the reality? It didn’t work out that way. 

While everyone got excited and went long, the actual impact of deregulation turned out to be far different from what many expected.

Why? Because decentralized applications (dApps) don’t generate meaningful fees, nor do they have significant user adoption. 

So instead of fueling growth, deregulation simply ramped up token supply, which, unless offset by massive demand, leads to lower prices.

The exceptions? Coins that had been heavily suppressed by regulatory overhangs, like XRP. 

Once the U.S. government eased off, these assets outperformed — not because of broader market enthusiasm, but because they were finally allowed to breathe.

DOGE and the Co-Opted Libertarian Narrative

Meanwhile, institutions that had once been bullish on crypto started looking at it through a different lens — one that involved meme coins in ways we hadn’t seen before. 

The emergence of DOGE as a more “serious” asset may have seemed laughable at first, but it wasn’t a joke. It was a reflection of how the “government is corrupt” narrative had been hijacked by figures like Elon Musk.

Instead of Bitcoin being the ultimate libertarian asset, DOGE took on that role. The irony? A coin that started as a meme became a legitimate outlet for distrust in centralized power. And it worked.

Gold, Silver, and the Wealth Effect

At the same time, a mechanical squeeze on gold and silver prices made them the “fastest horse” for macro funds. 

The unexpected wealth effect largely driven by FTX estate payouts that turned out far better than expected — fueled even more risk-taking. 

Crypto was already a high-volatility space, but this additional capital injection made everything even more extreme.

Add in the intersection of retail traders and Solana memes, and you get a perfect storm of speculation. And, naturally, with high speculation comes high volatility. That’s exactly what happened.

Trump’s Meme Coin and the Market Breakdown

Then there was Trump. His entry into the meme coin space wasn’t a coincidence, it was strategic. 

He launched it before regulatory concerns about demand reduction could set in, and the effects were immediate.

The result? A prolonged mental breakdown in the market, culminating in events like the chaos around Milei’s coin and bizarre social media witch hunts. Market participants were spiraling, and the absurdity reached new heights.

And yet, in the background, Michael Saylor was playing a completely different game.

Michael Saylor’s Boomer Strategy

While the rest of the market was in meltdown mode, Saylor was using MicroStrategy’s pumped-up stock to sell expensive convertible bonds to retail investors. 

The result? A massive inflow of boomer money into Bitcoin.

The Bitcoin ETF had already opened the floodgates for institutional investors, but this took it to another level. 

Even Norges Bank, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world, aped into MicroStrategy.

This shift changed the market’s composition. Solana-based retail traders were wiped out by FTX unlocks, institutions dumped their SOL holdings, and Bitcoin dominance soared. 

Funds that had been long SOL and ETH found themselves in a tough position, and they started making increasingly risky bets to compensate. That’s how we ended up with bizarre plays like OM hitting a $14B fully diluted valuation.

Ethereum’s Self-Inflicted Wounds

Ethereum had its own problems. While many expected it to be the go-to institutional asset, it suffered from top-down mismanagement. 

Vitalik’s strange behavior, constant leadership churn, and questionable hiring decisions hurt Ethereum’s credibility.

On top of that, Ethereum’s reliance on Layer 2 solutions made it harder to justify as a core asset. 

If L2s don’t directly benefit ETH supply, then what’s the point? Add in major hacks (like the Bybit incident), and Ethereum’s “moneyness” narrative took a major hit.

AI, On-Chain Activity, and the Reality Check

Despite all the hype around AI, we haven’t seen meaningful blockchain integration yet. Concepts like AI agents transacting on-chain, ZK-powered inference, or AI-driven DeFi have largely remained theoretical. 

Even Solana fees are at six-month lows, reinforcing the idea that these narratives haven’t translated into real adoption.

The one bright spot? Tether.

Tether’s supply continues to climb, now sitting at $142B, despite Binance actively trying to compete with it. Tether also reportedly printed over $13B in profits last year, giving it an enormous war chest. 

If a regulatory crackdown were imminent, we probably wouldn’t have seen Thiel backing Plasma, a startup focused on moving Tether transactions back to Bitcoin.

The Trump Wild Card and the Crypto Summit

The biggest wildcard in all of this? Trump’s stance on crypto. After a disastrous meeting with Zelensky, Trump hinted that he wanted to investigate what happened to billions in military aid to Ukraine. 

If a significant portion of that money ended up in crypto, and if the U.S. government decided to track it down, we could see a massive crackdown.

That said, the likelihood of this happening seems low. Trump is still taking crypto seriously — serious enough to hold a summit on it. His son Eric has even tweeted bullish messages about ETH. 

This suggests that rather than cracking down, Trump might actually introduce pro-crypto policies, like tax exemptions for U.S.-based projects or even the creation of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.

The Boomer Pivot: Where Do We Go From Here?

The market is shifting. We’re moving away from meme speculation and into an era where institutional investors need to justify their holdings.

Coins that fit the “serious business” narrative think finance-related assets like HBAR — are likely to dominate. The days of hoping Popcat hits a $1T valuation might be over.

For those looking to navigate the next phase of the market, the playbook is simple:

1. Look for assets institutions can pitch to their investors. If a fund manager can talk about it on CNBC and sell it to boomers, it’s likely to do well.

2. Follow the money. Lower interest rates and high AI valuations mean more capital for venture funds. That money will flow somewhere.

3. Don’t fight the macro trends. If Bitcoin dominance remains high and funds are forced to rotate into BTC-heavy positions, play along.

It might not be as exciting as the last cycle, but this is where the real money is made. Time to buy a suit.

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