The six warning signs as crypto is welcomed into the US mainstream

In a single week, the Trump family have increased their on-paper wealth by more than $6.5bn after Eric and Don Jr's crypto company American Bitcoin debuted on the Nasdaq and the family's stablecoin venture, World Liberty Financial, started selling tokens. As their enrichment continues, Richard Lambert examines the history of market hysteria and why crypto's rise under this president has all the alarm bells ringing

- Richard Lambert

It is official: the path to future prosperity will be built on an exciting new platform of digital finance. That was the message of a series of recommendations published in July by a White House working group that, if implemented, "will ensure crypto becomes a hallmark of the new American Golden Age". And with the strong backing of the president and bipartisan support on Capitol Hill, it is more likely than not that these proposals will be pushed through. The crypto markets were already surging ahead. The price of a bitcoin, by far the most popular crypto asset, has risen to about $110,000 (£83,000), nearly seven times where it stood at its low point at the end of 2022. Then there are the stablecoins, digital tokens that are supposed to be protected against wild fluctuations in their purchasing power because they are backed by conventional assets such as treasury bills. Tether, the market leader, said it was holding $127bn in US treasuries at the end of June as backing for the stablecoins it had sold. This makes it one of the world’s largest investors in US government debt.

Overall, the value of the global crypto market has risen to more than $4tn, a rise of roughly three-fifths since the start of Donald Trump's second term.

But for anyone with an interest in financial history, parts of this story sound familiar. Red lights have been flashing in the crypto market for some time, and they are not getting any dimmer.

Here are six warning signals.

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