Trump Administration Signals Crypto-Friendly Shift
In a move signaling a potential shift in the regulatory landscape for digital assets, President Trump issued an executive order on January 23, 2025, alongside related actions from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Executive Order on Digital Financial Technology
The executive order, titled “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology,” outlines the administration’s policy to support the responsible growth of digital assets, blockchain technology, and related technologies across all sectors. The order, aiming to position the U.S. as a leader in digital finance, rescinds President Biden’s Executive Order 14067 from March 9, 2022, which focused on U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) research, and also rescinds the Department of the Treasury’s “Framework for International Engagement on Digital Assets” issued on July 7, 2022. The White House stated that the framework suppressed innovation and undermined U.S. economic liberty and global leadership.
The EO establishes five primary policy objectives:
- Protecting lawful blockchain network use, participation in mining and validation, and self-custody of digital assets.
- Promoting dollar-backed stablecoins.
- Ensuring fair and open access to banking services.
- Providing “regulatory clarity” for digital assets based on well-defined jurisdictional regulatory boundaries.
- Prohibiting Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs).
As a key action, the EO prohibits the development of CBDCs within the United States, stating they “threaten the stability of the financial system, individual privacy, and the sovereignty of the United States.” The order immediately terminates any ongoing CBDC plans or initiatives across all agencies.
To further these aims, the EO establishes a “Working Group on Digital Asset Markets.” This group will be chaired by a Special Advisor for AI and Crypto and include key officials such as the SEC Chairman, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of the Treasury. Within 30 days, the Working Group must identify existing digital asset regulations. They are then tasked with submitting recommendations for these regulations within 60 days, and finally with proposing recommendations for regulatory and legislative proposals to (1) establish a Federal framework for digital assets, including stablecoins, and (2) evaluate the potential creation and maintenance of a national digital asset stockpile. The White House statement emphasized aims to make “the United States the center of digital financial technology innovation”.
SEC Signals Enforcement Shift
Concurrent with the executive order, the SEC rescinded its 2022 accounting guidance on safeguarding crypto-assets held for platform users, which required certain entities to account for these assets as liabilities. Acting SEC Chairman Mark Uyeda also announced the launch of a crypto task force, whose mission is “dedicated to developing a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for crypto assets.” According to an SEC press release, the task force aims to provide clear “regulatory lines, provide realistic paths to registration, craft sensible disclosure frameworks, and deploy enforcement resources judiciously.” The SEC stated that until then they had primarily relied on enforcement to regulate crypto retroactively.
Potential Impact
These actions reflect President Trump’s stated goal to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the planet,” as expressed at the Bitcoin 2024 conference. The combination of the executive order and the SEC’s shift from more aggressive enforcement strategies could signal a more accommodating regulatory environment for the cryptocurrency industry, potentially creating clearer pathways for innovation and growth. The industry now awaits the recommendations of the Working Group on Digital Asset Markets for concrete guidance and regulations.
