A giant golden statue of former President Donald Trump holding a Bitcoin was unveiled Wednesday outside the US Capitol, the latest in a growing wave of crypto-fueled political stunts blending blockchain culture with national politics.
The 12-foot statue appeared just off Union Square on Washington, DC’s National Mall, a symbolic stretch leading toward Capitol Hill and located roughly a mile from the White House.
The unveiling was orchestrated by a group of memecoin creators tied to Pump.fun, a popular platform for launching meme tokens.
Organizers described the display as a tribute to Trump’s perceived role in championing Bitcoin and “decentralized technologies,” according to a website linked to the stunt.
“This is our thank you, our statement, to the president,” said Hichem Zaghdoudi, one of the only publicly named organizers, in an interview with local station DC News Now.
The statue’s appearance coincided with the Federal Reserve’s decision to cut interest rates by 25 basis points, the first rate cut of the year, prompting renewed bullishness across risk markets, including crypto.
Zaghdoudi told ABC 7News that the statue aimed to spark public discussion about the future of government-issued currency, calling it a “symbol of the intersection between modern politics and financial innovation.”
Supporters of the stunt credit Trump for paving the way for institutional Bitcoin adoption, citing his deregulatory stance during his presidency and the crypto industry’s current financial backing of his 2024 campaign.
Still, some observers point out that the current Bitcoin bull market began under the Biden administration, fueled largely by anticipation around the SEC’s approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs and wider institutional access to digital assets.
The statue itself, made from hard foam for easier transport, was built over several days and featured in livestreams on Pump.fun, where the organizers also launched a Trump-themed memecoin.
Clips shared on their X (formerly Twitter) account show the head of the statue being carved by machine and a group carrying the golden figure into place.
One participant on a livestream joked that he hoped Trump would “walk out there and see it,” seemingly unaware that the former president was visiting the UK at the time.
While political stunts are not new to the National Mall, this one marked a notable departure: previous Trump-related statues in the area this year have taken a more critical tone.
In June, activists installed a statue titled “Dictator Approved” showing a golden hand giving a thumbs-up while crushing the Statue of Liberty’s crown, protesting Trump’s militaristic posturing.
Another, appearing later that month, showed Trump dancing on a television alongside convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a pointed critique of the administration’s reversal on unsealing Epstein-related documents.
