The crypto industry wanted Donald Trump to become America’s 47th president, and they spent big to make it happen.
Around 48% of all corporate money contributed to the 2024 election cycle came from crypto firms, and the 2024 elections saw 250 “pro crypto” members of Congress elected along with 16 “pro crypto” senators.
Now that Trump is sitting in the White House, the sector is increasingly keen to discover what exactly the return on its investment might be. As a candidate, Trump made numerous sweeping promises and appeals to the crypto industry. As a president, he has yet to mention bitcoin in an official capacity.
But while the first few days of the 47th presidency lacked much crypto meat, the tide began to turn on Thursday (Jan. 23) as America’s first “crypto president” issued an executive order, entitled “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology,” touching on many of the sector’s wants, needs and concerns.
The executive order called for a comprehensive draft of federal crypto regulations, as well as for first steps to be taken around exploring the creation of a national digital asset stockpile and the banning of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
On Wednesday (Jan. 22), the president pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, fulfilling another one of his campaign promises to the crypto sector.
Among the more crucial of the Trump administration’s recent crypto actions was the Thursday decision of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to rescind the Biden-era Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 122 (SAB 122), an accounting bulletin that required crypto custodians to record a safeguarding obligation.
The repeal of SAB 122, observers believe, will ultimately allow banks to interact more freely with the crypto sector.
