Trump’s Golden Dome Hits Economic and Tech Wall—Crypto Crowd Smirks
The so-called ’Golden Dome’—Trump’s latest vanity project—is buckling under economic realities and tech failures. A perfect storm for crypto maximalists who’ve seen this movie before.
Infrastructure? More like ’fraud-structure.’
The Dome’s promised ’cutting-edge’ payment systems can’t handle basic blockchain integrations. Meanwhile, DeFi protocols process billions daily without breaking a sweat.
VCs circling like vultures
Silicon Valley sharks smell blood in the water. They’ll probably pump-and-dump a Dome-themed token before the scaffolding comes down. (Seed round already oversubscribed—naturally.)
Another legacy project learning the hard way: in 2025, you either build on-chain or get left in the fiat dust.
Golden Dome’s total cost remains uncertain
President TRUMP recently said the effort would run about $175 billion over the coming years. The Congressional Budget Office has offered estimates as high as $831 billion, in part by looking at past rocket-launch expenses. And Senator Tim Sheehy of Montana warned that the full project could reach into the trillions over time.
Last week, House Republicans approved spending $25 billion as a first installment on the Golden Dome. The WHITE House has not yet detailed exactly what systems the down payment will cover. Hegseth said the Pentagon is working with the Office of Management and Budget to nail down specifics before sending a full fiscal 2026 budget proposal to Congress.
U.S. missile-defense programs have a history of running over budget. A smaller effort to build a defensive shield in Guam has already exceeded $8 billion because of high construction costs and the difficulty of linking land and sea-based systems that use separate command networks.
Not everyone is sold on the idea of an orbital intercept layer. Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts criticized the concept as “economically ruinous” and questioned whether it could work. He urged the administration to pursue arms-control talks instead, calling Golden Dome “nothing more than a gold-plated giveaway to billion-dollar defense contractors.”
Supporters say new technology will keep costs down. “The price point that we’re talking about is so much less than people thought it would be,” said Senator Kevin Cramer of North Dakota. “We have a lot of systems already that we just need to knit together.”
Military tech is backlogged due to the Ukraine-Russia conflict
In the NEAR term, weapons experts expect Golden Dome’s first step will be to boost ground-based defenses inside the United States. But those interceptors are already backlogged because of heavy use in Ukraine and the Middle East. “It takes time to build the missiles,” said Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. “Even things that are already in production, you would be lucky to get that delivered within two to three years.”
Lockheed Martin, one of the main defense contractors, said it is working to meet rising demand for its PAC-3 Patriot missiles and the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, system. Patriots are best at shooting down shorter-range cruise missiles, and THAAD interceptors protect only a small area. Another type of interceptor meant to stop long-range ballistic missiles is still in early stages and could take years to scale up.
Defense firms in the West are under pressure to boost output, but face hurdles such as tight labor markets and the need for complex parts from hundreds of suppliers. Those challenges have slowed efforts to expand existing programs, let alone launch a grand new system.
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