Trump Administration Signals Pro-Crypto Shift with Executive Order and SEC Initiatives
On January 23, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order (EO) titled “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology.” This directive outlines the administration’s policy to support the development and use of digital assets and blockchain technology across various sectors of the economy.
Executive Order’s Key Objectives
The EO establishes five primary goals:
- Protecting lawful use of blockchain networks, including participation in asset mining and validation and individual asset custody without unlawful censorship.
- Promoting dollar-backed stablecoins.
- Ensuring fair and open access to banking services.
- Providing regulatory clarity for digital assets based on defined jurisdictional boundaries.
- Prohibiting Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs).
As part of this initiative, the EO rescinds President Biden’s Executive Order 14067 from March 9, 2022. That order prioritized research into a potential United States CBDC. Moreover, the EO also eliminates the Department of the Treasury’s “Framework for International Engagement on Digital Assets” issued on July 7, 2022, which aimed to foster international cooperation on digital assets while upholding U.S. values.
A White House statement accompanying the EO indicates the rescinded framework “suppressed innovation and undermined U.S. economic liberty and global leadership in digital finance.”
Establishment of a Working Group
The EO also directs:
- The establishment of a Working Group on Digital Asset Markets. The group will be led by a Special Advisor for AI and Crypto and will include the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of the Treasury, among other high-ranking officials.
- The Working Group’s directives include:
- Identifying existing regulations, guidance documents, and orders related to the digital asset industry within 30 days.
- Submitting recommendations for rescission, modification, or regulatory adoption within 60 days.
- Providing President Trump regulatory or legislative proposals to (a) establish a federal framework for digital asset issuance, including stablecoins, and (b) evaluate the option of creating a national digital asset stockpile.
CBDC Prohibition
The EO specifically prohibits the development of CBDCs, which are considered a threat to financial stability the White House emphasized that and individual privacy. The EO mandates the immediate termination of ongoing plans related to CBDCs and prevents any further development or implementation of such initiatives.
While the White House statement highlighted the Trump Administration’s commitment to making the U.S. the center of digital financial technology innovation, halting aggressive enforcement actions and regulatory overreach has stifled crypto innovation under previous administrations. The administration seeks to ensure “regulatory frameworks are clear” to ensure the “growth of digital financial technology in America . . . remain[s] unhindered by restrictive regulations or unnecessary government interference.”
SEC’s Shift in Approach
In a related move, the SEC rescinded accounting guidance from 2022 concerning how regulated entities should account for digital assets held for platform users. The guidance previously required certain entities to treat these assets as liabilities. In a press release, two days prior to the Executive Order, the SEC announced the launch of a crypto task force led by Acting SEC Chairman Mark Uyeda. The task force is “dedicated to developing a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for crypto assets.”
The SEC noted it “has relied primarily on enforcement actions to regulate crypto retroactively and reactively, often adopting novel and untested legal interpretations along the way. Clarity regarding who must register, and practical solutions for those seeking to register, have been elusive”, which has resulted in market confusion the SEC stated. Adding that the task force will “help draw clear regulatory lines, provide realistic paths to registration, craft sensible disclosure frameworks, and deploy enforcement resources judiciously.”
The actions signal a departure from the previous administration’s approach and align with President Trump’s promise to establish the U.S. as the “crypto capital of the planet.” It is yet to be determined whether this pro-crypto stance will be realized through shifts in enforcement, new regulations, or legislative measures. However, the crypto industry can expect a more favorable U.S. regulatory climate in the future.
