FRANCE – JANUARY 20, 2025: In this photo illustration, the Trump Meme (Cryptocurrency President Trump) is displayed on a smartphone screen. (Photo: Romain Doucelin/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
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Cryptocurrency company bosses are optimistic about changes to comprehensive federal rules passed this year for the industry as Bitcoin supporter Donald Trump returns to the White House.
CEO of Coin libraryBinance and Circle told CNBC that they now see a clearer path to ensuring some concrete rules for digital assets — unlike the previous U.S. government, which took aggressive enforcement actions against several major crypto companies.
Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong said he believes cryptocurrencies will enter the “dawn of a new day” under a Trump-led U.S. administration.
“You have to remember: over the past four years, we have really felt like we were under attack by this administration,” Armstrong told CNBC in an interview at the World Economic Forum’s annual event in Davos, Switzerland.
“They try to take advantage of the lack of clarity in the rules to really fight back, even against good actors,” Armstrong added. “To be fair, there are some bad actors too – but I think they even really try to follow Good actors, just like us.”
Coinbase is the largest cryptocurrency trading platform in the United States, and the company often markets itself as a regulated alternative to offshore exchanges such as Binance.
Regulatory clarity promotes industry development
On Tuesday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced the launch of a “Cryptocurrency Working Group” It aims to “develop a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for crypto-assets.”
According to a statement from the agency, the committee is tasked with developing a clear set of rules for the cryptocurrency industry while addressing issues regarding coin registration.
Coinbase’s Armstrong said the crypto industry’s top priority right now is working to pass legislation in the U.S. to provide clarity.
“The industry is ready for this new change,” he told CNBC. “They’re ready for clear rules. That’s a big push from us.”
Binance CEO Richard Teng highlighted token issuance, trading and asset management as some of the key things he expects to see progress on U.S. cryptocurrency legislation
Teng said he believes there will be “clearer regulations” in the U.S. this year, which will support Bitcoin and other digital assets.
“If you look at past cycles, this year will be the year we see all-time highs in the crypto industry,” Teng said during a fireside discussion hosted by CNBC in Davos, Switzerland.
Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, surpassed the $100,000 price milestone for the first time last year, and traders are increasingly optimistic about the future of the crypto industry under the Trump administration.
As of Wednesday, the coin was trading at about $104,000, according to CoinGecko data.
U.S. Bitcoin Strategic Reserve
Binance’s Teng also expects the U.S. to build a strategic reserve of Bitcoin — something Trump advised him to do during the campaign.
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said he believed it was “prudent for central banks to hold some reserves in the form of Bitcoin,” adding that this could lead to a return to commodity-backed currencies.
“If we look back at what happened when we decoupled from non-sovereign commodity currencies, we did see incredible abuses through fiat currencies around the world, and that continues,” Allaire said. “The world Most governments in the world are heavily in debt.”
“In places like Argentina, there’s some kind of open-heart surgery and shock therapy to get out of this vicious cycle. I respect that this is an important topic for the U.S. government,” he added.
Trump has previously said that the U.S. national Bitcoin reserve could be bolstered by crypto assets seized from criminal activities such as hacking and fraud groups.
Anticipated Stablecoin Laws
Allaire stressed that it was “absolutely appropriate” that in addition to a pro-crypto president, the United States now has senators and representatives who support the technology and want to impose regulations.
Allaire noted that “American champions” have emerged in the cryptocurrency space, such as Circle, Coinbase and blockchain platform Solana. “I think it’s likely that under the new administration we’ll see rapid progress on rulemaking and policy development to move the industry forward,” he said.
Circle’s CEO believes legislation is moving forward in the U.S., particularly around so-called stablecoins — digital tokens designed to be pegged to real-world assets such as the U.S. dollar — because Congress already has bipartisan support for such tokens . circle behind U.S. Department of Agriculturewhich is one of the largest stablecoins.
this Payment Clarity Stablecoin ActA bill to establish a regulatory regime for licensing stablecoin issuers was before Congress ahead of last year’s election. The bill has yet to pass a House vote.
