As Eric Trump recently opined, legacy banks may find themselves extinct in ten years. He thinks they need to fully adopt crypto and DeFi to live, although this forecast may seem like crypto futurism at its peak. I think that’s a good wake-up call that is right in line with bedrock core conservative principles. Indeed, as conservatives, we should reconsider our hostility toward crypto—Bitcoin in particular. Let’s give credit where credit is due—to the new program’s ability to bring some financial discipline back into an age of government gluttony and monetary tomfoolery.

Broken System Demands Sound Money

The current financial system is broken. Eric Trump is right. We can already see the effects of this high and increasing national debt everywhere around us. While the Federal Reserve continues to print money and inflation slowly decimates our savings accounts, for decades, conservatives have raised alarms over the perils of fiat currency and the political bias of central banks. We have fought for the tenets of sound money, fiscal responsibility, and limited government.

Now, consider this: what is Bitcoin, at its core? It’s a decentralized, deflationary digital asset with a capped supply. It’s sort of explicitly designed to be resistant to government control and manipulation. It’s a hedge against the very inflationary policies we conservatives have been railed against for decades.

Think about it. Our anxieties about the economy, the future we leave for our children and grandchildren, are all tied to the instability of the dollar. In its value as a non-sovereign asset, an alternative currency, bitcoin provides a lifeboat in a stormy sea of global finance. No, it’s not a get-rich-quick scheme – it’s a long-term store of value that’s beyond the grasp of Washington’s fiscally irresponsible spending proclivities.

UAE's Lessons & US's Missed Opportunity

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been nurturing a crypto-friendly environment aiming to become the global hub for crypto. Their government has shown a keen awareness of the potential power blockchain technology wields and a willingness to embrace innovation. On the flip side, here in the US we’re mired in regulatory confusion, suffocating innovation and driving talent and capital abroad. That’s a big misstep in not taking the first mover advantage in a technology that has the potential to transform finance and democratize access to wealth creation.

The Trump administration made a number of largely introductory moves in the direction of crypto adoption — such as proposing creation of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. Meme coin controversies and gated D.C. dinners are sure to be controversial. The core idea of understanding the strategic significance of cryptocurrency remains.

We need to get beyond the shiny new object nonsense and concentrate on the essential promise of DeFi. What we really need is better policy that promotes innovation, safeguards consumers, and enables the US to succeed in a competitive global crypto economy.

Banks Face Disruption or Adapt

Eric Trump’s recent warning that banks should be prepared to face “extinction” is no exaggeration. The emergence of a new economy based on peer-to-peer transactions—enabled by blockchain technology—substantially undermines the existing banking model. Why throw away your hard-earned cash on exorbitant bank fees? You are now able to transfer money globally to anyone, with no intermediaries in a matter of minutes!

And some digital asset projects or collaborations are already in the experimental pipeline for major banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs. They recognize the writing on the wall. The question is: will they adapt quickly enough, or will they be disrupted by more agile, decentralized platforms?

So don’t be afraid of this disruption, welcome it! Don’t miss this opportunity to shape a financial system that works better for all Americans—efficient, transparent, and accessible. People have less money taken away from them. After all, financial institutions have to compete for their business. This is the free market at work, pure and simple.

Accepting cryptocurrency is more than just chasing a new trend. It reorients us towards the values of real money, personal freedom, and small government. This is about creating a financial system that works for all Americans and not the other way around. It’s the smart way to save money long-term and ensuring we leave a healthier world for our kids. That's a conservative vision worth fighting for.