Donald Trump is officially US 47. President, and the US government is going in some other directions than the last administration.
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The story
US President Donald Trump was sought in Monday and quickly signed a shower of executive orders. Although it took him a few days to get to crypto -specific items, we have already seen a number of actions from his administration – not to mention the wider Republican Party.
Why it matters
The initial actions of these agencies and congress organizations set the tone of what we can expect when the new congress and administration really get started this year.
To break it down
There will be time to go into more detail about some of these later, but so far:
The White House/Administration
Donald Trump signed a highly expected notice of crypto. Among its provisions are elements that:
- Create a working group composed of government officials, White House advisers and others who are tasked with identifying rules that deal with crypto and recommend whether to change. AI and Krypto-Zar David Sacks will chair this working group.
- Give the working group the task of evaluating a stock of digital assets.
- Ban every central bank’s digital currency with a somewhat broad definition of a CBDC.
- Called Former President Joe Bid’s Order on Crypto, which mostly just instructed his departments to prepare reports on various aspects of crypto and consumer protection.
Trump also announced that Sacks would be co -chairman of his president’s advice for science and technology.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission, now operating under acting chairman Mark Uyeda, formed a cryptophocused task force led by commissioner Hester Peirce. Trump has previously appointed Paul Atkins as his choice to act as the agency’s chairman when confirmed by the Senate.
One of SEC’s first steps was to cancel the Staff Accounting Bulletin 121, which instructed listed companies that kept crypto for their customers to mark these holdings on their own balances. SAB 121 was strongly opposed by the crypto industry, which claimed it made it more difficult for banks to provide certain crypto services.
Commodity Futures Trading Commission is now operating under acting chairman Caroline Pham. Pham appointed CFTC Senior Policy Advisor Harry Jung as the regulator’s head of commitment to the crypto industry. Trump has not yet appointed a candidate to take over as permanent chairman.
Trump pardoned Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht and said at Truth Social that he did it “in honor of [Ulbricht’s mother] And the Libertarian Movement, who supported me so strongly. ”Ulbricht was convicted of criminal business, distribution of drugs and various accusations of conspiracy and sentenced to double life in prison and 40 years without probation.
Trump announced that he would rename the existing American digital service such as his Department of Government Efficiency, the device led by Elon Musk (Vivek Ramaswamy, who was previously co-manager, has now gone to line up as Ohio Governor). Originally, the device’s website just had the Dogecoin logo on it. Companies are also applying for Dogecoin-stocked funds now.
Trump spoke with El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, shortly after signing his crypto order, although an official reading of the call did not mention crypto in any form.
Senate
The Senate Bank Committee has confirmed the establishment of a subcommittee focusing on digital assets, led by Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WYO.). The other members of the Under Committee include beginners Bernie Moreno (R-OHIO), who set aside former Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) with the support of $ 40 million from the cryptopolitan Action Committee Fairshake, Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz), which received $ 10 Millions in Support and Dave McCormick (R-PA.), Among others.
The Bank Committee also holds a hearing on February 5, although the specific time and witness list has not yet been published.
Late. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) introduced a joint Congressional Review Act resolution together with House Rep. Mike Carey (R-Ohio) to overturn the IRS ‘latest Crypto Rule. The rule, which was completed at the end of last month, defines the term “broker” for IRS tax reporting purposes, but has already drawn a trial from the Blockchain Association. Industrial lobbyists claim that the final rule “puts illegal compliance on software developers.”
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), The new leading Democrat of the Senate Bank Committee, also asks the US Office of Government Ethics to investigate the Trump token. She sent an open letter signed by Massachusetts representative Jake Auchincloss.
The House of Representatives
The House’s Supervisory Committee issued a letter announcing that it would investigate whether banks de-Banked cryptic companies at the government’s request.
House Financial Services Committee has already planned two hearings about crypto next month. The first, February 6, 2025, will focus on the aforementioned debank. The second, set to February 11, is entitled “A Golden Age of Digital Assets: Charting A Path Forward.”
The leading Democrat in the Supervisory Committee of Representatives, rep. Gerry Connelly, asked the leading Republican of the panel, rep. James Comer, about examining Trump’s issue of Trump coin and his ties to World Liberty Financial.
Tuesday
- 16:00 UTC (9:00 am MT) on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in Custodia Bank’s ongoing case against the Federal Reserve.
- (Sam Curry) Some security researchers discovered that they could trace and control certain Subaru cars (ie those connected to the Internet). The vulnerability has been corrected, according to the author of this.
- (Bloomberg) Walgreens spent $ 200 million on replacing refrigerator doors with screens whose supplier is now in a legal battle with the pharmacy/grocery chain.
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See you next week!
