Trump Pushes Pro-Crypto Policies : Former President Donald Trump has taken a bold step in reshaping the U.S. cryptocurrency landscape by announcing a series of regulatory rollbacks and pro-crypto policies. Hosting CEOs and investors at a White House event on Friday, Trump signaled a significant shift in the industry’s fortunes, which had been under scrutiny during the Biden administration.
Trump Pushes Pro-Crypto Policies
Flanked by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and White House crypto and AI czar David Sacks, Trump revealed an executive order signed on Thursday to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. Calling it a “virtual Fort Knox for digital gold,” Trump stated that the reserve would be housed within the U.S. Treasury and composed of digital assets acquired through criminal and civil forfeiture proceedings.
Additionally, the order created a U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile, which will include cryptocurrencies beyond Bitcoin. While the Bitcoin reserve is intended for long-term holding, the Treasury and Commerce secretaries will have discretion over managing other tokens within the stockpile, ensuring a “budget-neutral” approach, according to Sacks.
Regulatory Relief for Crypto Industry
In a sweeping move, Trump’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has paused or dismissed litigation against seven cryptocurrency firms, including Coinbase, Kraken, and Robinhood, which were previously targeted under the Biden administration. Industry leaders, such as Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad, welcomed the shift, saying it marked a transition from regulatory hostility to policy inclusion
New Tax and Regulation Policies Under Consideration
The pro-crypto momentum is also gaining bipartisan traction in Congress. Recently, the Senate passed a resolution rejecting a Biden-era crypto tax rule, and lawmakers are debating a bill to regulate payment stable coins, digital tokens pegged to the U.S. dollar for financial transactions.
“My administration is working to end the federal bureaucracy’s war on crypto, which was going on wildly under Biden,” Trump declared during the summit.
Despite this surge in policy focus, cryptocurrency adoption among Americans remains limited. A 2024 Pew Research Center survey found that only 17% of American adults have engaged in crypto transactions—a figure unchanged since 2021.
Trump’s Personal Ties to Crypto Raise Questions
Beyond policy, Trump has personally promoted the $TRUMP cryptocurrency token to his massive online following. Reports indicate that World Liberty Financial, a digital firm linked to the Trump Organization, controls 80% of the token’s supply and collects fees from sales. Critics argue this raises conflict of interest concerns, as the president’s personal business interests appear intertwined with his official policy decisions.
Crypto’s Rocky Past and Uncertain Future
The cryptocurrency industry continues to recover from the 2022 collapse of FTX, once a leading exchange, whose founder Sam Bankman-Fried misappropriated billions in customer funds. Bankman-Fried, now serving a 25-year prison sentence, expressed optimism about the industry’s future under Trump during a recent interview with right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson.
As Trump works to establish the U.S. as the “crypto capital of the world,” the long-term implications of his policies remain uncertain. Whether these measures will spark a new era of crypto expansion or introduce new financial risks is yet to be seen.
