The Great Crypto Migration: Why America Will Win the Global Infrastructure War

The cryptocurrency industry is maturing past its early cypherpunk anti-establishment rhetoric and entering a transitional period, marked by the emergence of more institutionally friendly infrastructure. What began as innovating beyond borders is adapting to the realities of geopolitical regulatory policies and their benefits. There are distinct advantages for projects to establish themselves in pro-crypto jurisdictions with clear regulatory guidelines. Nowhere else is this more apparent than in the USA, where the current administration's crypto-friendly agenda stands in stark contrast to the previous President’s position.

We have explored how America is establishing itself as a global crypto epicenter through proactive legislative policies, such as the GENIUS and CLARITY Acts, as well as the establishment of national DePIN and Layer 1 blockchain projects that are laying the foundation for this new chapter in crypto. This article will build on those themes as well as the most recent post on American crypto treasuries and examine the role that access to capital can have on attracting AI and crypto projects.

Let’s begin by examining the importance of regulatory clarity and its role in creating a safer environment for developers to operate, as well as providing institutional investors with confidence to invest. We’ll then move on to explore how America’s unique position as the dominant global capital allocator makes it an ideal environment for crypto projects to establish operations. Finally, let’s examine how these factors are driving enterprise adoption in the U.S. and conclude with an explanation for why the United States is likely to emerge as the winner in the global infrastructure war.

Regulatory clarity

We have recently covered the impact that anti-crypto policy agendas can have on a project's willingness to remain or establish itself in the U.S. The more opaque and obfuscated that regulations are, the more projects open themselves up to unwelcome scrutiny and fines. This was most prevalent during Gary Gensler’s policy of regulation by enforcement during his tenure as Chair of the SEC.

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In stark contrast to Gensler’s chairmanship, the Trump administration has leveraged its position to clarify regulatory uncertainty and advance a pro-crypto agenda. This has been clear by the President's willingness to revoke previous anti-crypto executive orders and to establish a Crypto Task Force under the newly appointed pro-crypto SEC Chair Paul Atkins, with a mandate to provide regulatory clarity on federal securities laws regarding crypto assets.

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By having an administration commit to and following through with pro-crypto regulation, it creates an environment where domestic projects can plan long-term strategies with the confidence that they will not be targeted or penalized for simply existing. This is a significant advantage over regions that remain in regulatory obscurity or are subject to burdensome administrative oversight policies.

American regulatory clarity directly translates to increased institutional confidence. By having an administration commit to policies and having them enshrined in law, institutional investors are freed to explore crypto as additional asset classes. Additionally, this creates a virtuous cycle that brings extra capital to the space, further incentivizing companies to remain onshored in the U.S.

If we look at the pace of cryptocurrency adoption by American institutions, we can see how the trajectory might look moving forward. Starting from when Grayscale launched its first Bitcoin investment vehicle, $GBTC, back in 2013, to when Michael Saylor and Microstrategy became the first public company to hold Bitcoin, the adoption was minimal while fraught with potential legal and regulatory roadblocks. Since then, with the clear regulatory frameworks under the new administration, adoption has accelerated at an unparalleled pace with a rush from public companies to add Bitcoin ETFs to their balance sheets.

Capital Access

An often overlooked advantage that U.S. projects have is their proximity to the world’s largest venture capital ecosystem. Between the financial centers of Silicon Valley, New York, Chicago, and the emerging tech markets of Austin and Miami, this is an attractive time to be a crypto startup looking for capital. This concentration of American investors creates funding rounds that international projects have a hard time matching. 

Following the prolonged investor fallout from the FTX collapse in November 2022 and the regulatory uncertainty under the Biden White House, the crypto industry started seeing a return of VC funding with the election of President Donald Trump in Q4 2024. His pro-crypto agenda has been a catalyst for the reinvestment, as venture capitalists become more confident in the space’s long-term viability. 

Coinciding with the FTX collapse, AI investment saw a massive surge after the release of ChatGPT3.5 to the public in November 2022, now making up 37% of the total amount of venture funding. This explosion in American VC funding is further accelerated by institutional adoption of innovative technologies. Crypto and AI projects that operate outside of the U.S. not only face significant regulatory hurdles compared to American companies, but with the passage of the Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(K) Investors Executive Order, they remain locked out of tapping into this massive source of funds.

The result of this policy shift and the allowance of crypto to be applied to American 401(K) investment plans is a two-tiered market where American projects can secure the capital necessary to build enterprise-grade infrastructure, but international teams remain dependent on smaller retail adoption with limited capital allocation capabilities.

Enterprise Adoption

It is not simply funding or regulatory clarity alone that is driving the U.S. onshoring of crypto and AI investment. Projects that establish themselves within the United States and leverage U.S.-based infrastructure are often preferred by American enterprises, which tend to favor domestic projects due to their familiarity with regulatory compliance, operational expertise, and reduced exposure to geopolitical risk. 

The overlap of infrastructure and data centers between domestic AI and crypto projects enables U.S. investors to develop a more concentrated investment strategy based on familiar technology stacks. 

Domestic projects can then take advantage of the network effects that enterprise adoption provides. As more U.S. companies adopt domestic crypto infrastructure, it becomes easier to attract additional investment and adoption, resulting ining a compounding virtuous cycle for American-based crypto projects.

America Will Win the Global Infra War

The emerging global crypto ecosystem appears destined for bifurcation, with American projects dominating institutional and enterprise markets through regulatory clarity, capital access, and government backing. These advantages create self-reinforcing cycles that strengthen the American market position over time.

International alternatives face increasing marginalization in high-value markets due to geopolitical risks, compliance gaps, and limited access to US capital markets. While these projects may effectively serve specific regional markets or retail, institutional dominance appears increasingly concentrated in American hands.

The great crypto migration toward American infrastructure may ultimately reshape international financial relationships, creating new dependencies and power structures. The stakes involve nothing less than control over the next generation of global financial infrastructure, and the United States is well-positioned to benefit.