Trump 2.0: What new changes are coming to cryptocurrency regulation? A review of key policy adjustments in the eight weeks since he took office

In just eight weeks, from the resignation of the SEC chairman to Trump's signing of two consecutive executive orders - announcing the development of digital assets and officially announcing the strategic reserve of Bitcoin, to the White House holding the first digital asset summit, the crypto market has been constantly responding, and the entire industry has been both excited and nervous with various policy changes.

Since Trump officially started his second presidential term on January 20, the US cryptocurrency regulatory landscape can be described as "plot" compact and climax. In just eight weeks, from the resignation of the SEC chairman to Trump's signing of two consecutive executive orders - announcing the development of digital assets and officially announcing the strategic reserve of Bitcoin, to the White House holding the first digital asset summit, the crypto market has been constantly responding, and the entire industry has been both excited and nervous with various policy changes.

This article will review these significant crypto regulatory policy measures according to the division of different policies, and interpret their far-reaching impact on the crypto industry.

Trump signs executive order on strengthening U.S. leadership in digital financial technology

On January 23, the third day after U.S. President Trump took office, he signed the crypto executive order on strengthening U.S. leadership in digital financial technology, proposing the establishment of a "Presidential Digital Asset Market Working Group" to explore federal regulatory measures for stablecoins and related plans for national digital asset reserves, and explicitly prohibiting the "establishment, issuance, circulation or use" of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

SEC chairman changes, major adjustments to multiple regulatory strategies

Last July, at the Bitcoin 2024 conference held in Nashville, Trump delivered a speech, promising to remove SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who has been criticized by the crypto industry, on his first day in office. On November 22, 2024, the SEC issued an announcement that Gary Gensler would step down on the first day of Trump's inauguration. He officially stepped down on January 20 this year. He was succeeded by Paul Atkins, CEO of Patomak Global Partners LLC and former SEC Commissioner, and the nomination is currently awaiting confirmation by Congress.

On January 22, the SEC immediately established a crypto task force and began to adjust its regulatory strategy, reducing the team that was responsible for cryptocurrency enforcement actions and transferring some lawyers. The SEC also launched the website of the Crypto Task Force. The head of the task force, Hester Peirce, listed ten priority tasks, focusing on the classification and regulation of crypto assets.

On January 24, the SEC announced the withdrawal of SAB 121, a crypto accounting policy that has been criticized by the crypto industry, in its latest Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 122. SAB 121 (Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 121) requires digital asset custodians to treat digital assets as liabilities and list them on the balance sheet at fair value. The cryptocurrency industry is generally concerned that it may prevent banks from keeping digital assets and exclude banks from the crypto market.

In addition, on May 22 last year, the FIT21 Act was passed by the House of Representatives, which was regarded as a historic breakthrough in the US crypto industry. The bill resolves the long-standing differences between the SEC and the CFTC on cryptocurrency regulation, and the bill is currently being promoted.

SEC withdraws lawsuit against crypto companies

On February 27, the SEC terminated its investigation into Gemini Trust and took no enforcement action. Prior to this, the SEC had withdrawn its lawsuit against Coinbase and terminated its investigation into OpenSea, Robinhood, and Uniswap. In the seventh week of Trump's inauguration (March 3-March 9), the SEC agreed to withdraw its lawsuit against Kraken without paying fines, admitting violations, and Kraken's business model was not affected.

Redefining "Exchange" and overturning the IRS's DeFi broker rules

On March 11, the SEC was evaluating a proposal to redefine "exchanges," which could provide clearer guidance for the regulatory framework for U.S. crypto trading platforms.

At the same time, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution to overturn the IRS's broker rules for decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms. The rule requires crypto entities to collect specific taxpayer and transaction information, which is difficult for DeFi platforms to enforce. Previously, the U.S. Senate had voted to pass the resolution, but due to budget rules, it still needs to vote again before it can be sent to President Trump for signature.

Pardon Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht

On January 22, Trump fulfilled another promise at the Bitcoin 2024 conference and pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, who was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. Ross Ulbricht later expressed his gratitude to Trump on Twitter for releasing him after 11 years in prison.

SEC, CFTC, Treasury Department, Commerce Department, etc. appoint crypto-friendly officials

On January 20, after completing the presidential inauguration ceremony, the White House stated that the new President Trump, who was sworn in, had appointed Republican member Mark Uyeda as acting chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission SEC. Previously, Trump announced that he would nominate Paul Atkins as chairman of the SEC.

In the second week of Trump's inauguration, the Senate confirmed his nomination of new Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a financial tycoon who is open to cryptocurrencies.

In the fourth week, Trump nominated Brian Quintenz, a former CFTC member and executive of the sports betting market Kalshi, as the new chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

In the fifth week, billionaire Howard Lutnick was confirmed as the next Secretary of Commerce, and the market immediately began to pay attention to how he would affect the regulatory environment of the crypto industry.

In both the Senate and the House of Representatives, there are also crypto-friendly officials in important positions. On January 23, the Senate Banking Committee established a Digital Asset Committee, chaired by Senator Cynthia Lummis, to promote industry compliance. On March 3, the Republican leader of the U.S. House of Representatives and Congressman Ritchie Torres are jointly establishing the "Congressional Crypto Caucus" to promote legislation that is beneficial to the crypto industry and form a voting coalition in the lower house of Congress to support digital assets.

Official announcement of strategic Bitcoin reserves and digital asset reserves

In the sixth week of his presidency (February 24-March 2), Trump announced five major crypto strategic reserve categories on social media platforms. The US cryptocurrency strategic reserves will include five major asset categories: BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL, and ADA. The inclusion of ADA has caused controversy and has been dubbed "advertising space" by some market participants. But on March 7, David Sacks, the AI ​​and cryptocurrency czar, said that ADA, SOL, and XRP were mentioned because they are the top five cryptocurrencies in terms of market value.

In the morning of March 7, Beijing time, the strategic Bitcoin reserve promised by Trump is here! David Sacks announced on the X platform that US President Trump has officially signed an executive order to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve and a digital asset reserve. However, since both reserves are mainly supported by "proceeds from criminal or civil asset forfeiture", the prices of tokens such as BTC in the market reacted negatively in the short term, and then rebounded slightly.

In addition to the president's executive order, in terms of congressional legislation, on March 12, U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis has resubmitted the Bitcoin Act (Boosting Innovation, Technology, and Competitiveness through Optimized Investment Nationwide Act of 2025) to the 119th Congress, which will allow the U.S. government to hold more than 1 million bitcoins. The bill was originally proposed in July 2024, requiring the U.S. government to purchase 200,000 bitcoins per year for five years, with funds coming from adjustments to existing funds from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department. After this revision, the U.S. government can hold additional bitcoins through legal means (including civil or criminal confiscation, donations, or transfers from federal agencies).

Convening the first White House digital asset press conference and the White House digital asset summit

In the third week of Trump's presidency (February 3-February 9), David Sacks and several U.S. congressional lawmakers held their first press conference on digital assets on Capitol Hill, detailing the White House and Congress' latest plans to implement the development of digital assets in the United States. Sacks said at the meeting that he looks forward to working with congressional lawmakers and making a high-profile announcement to "create a golden age of digital assets."

On March 7, local time, the United States held its first White House Digital Asset Summit, and President Trump delivered a brief speech at the summit. He said that last year, I promised to make the United States a global Bitcoin superpower and the world's crypto capital. We are taking historic action to fulfill this promise, and suggested: "From today, the United States will follow the rules that every Bitcoin holder knows well-never sell your Bitcoin." Trump mentioned that he would end the "Stranglehold 2.0" against the crypto industry under the Biden administration. However, despite news from the scene that the summit was recognized by industry leaders, the meeting did not bring about price increases in assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, and the cryptocurrency market fell significantly after the summit. The market ushered in a wave of applications for crypto ETFs As of March 12, the tokens that have applied for ETFs include at least DOGE, LTC, HEAR, SOL, XRP, SUI, AVAX, DOT, LINK, ADA, APT, AXL, etc. According to Bloomberg analysts James Seyffart and Eric Balchunas, the current market has a relatively high probability of approval for LTC, DOGE, SOL and XRP spot ETFs. The market's expectations for other mainstream crypto asset ETFs to be launched in the US capital market have significantly increased.

As the SEC has undergone important personnel changes, its policies tend to be more friendly to cryptocurrencies. If the United States launches an altcoin ETF, it may directly lead to other countries and regions in the world to follow suit. Bloomberg analysts expect the SEC to make a decision on the proposed altcoin ETF in October this year.

The Senate held a hearing, and "de-banking" caused widespread discussion

On the evening of February 5, the U.S. Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee held a hearing on the theme of "Investigating the Real Impact of Debanking on the United States." Witnesses included Nathan McCauley, co-founder and CEO of Anchorage Digital, Stephen Gannon, partner of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, Mike Ring, president and CEO of Old Glory Bank, and Aaron Klein, senior fellow in economic research at the Brookings Institution. The hearing explored the impact of bank account closures and financial service restrictions on businesses and individuals, and studied relevant policy responses.

On February 11, local time, at a hearing of the Senate Banking Committee, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that in view of the criticism that the crypto industry has been excluded from banking services, it is time to "re-examine" the issue of debanking. Tim Scott, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and Republican Senator from South Carolina, asked Powell if he agreed to commit to working with lawmakers to end debanking; Powell agreed. Discussions on "debanking" are expected to be further developed this year.

U.S. states show strong interest in Bitcoin reserves

As of March 4, 24 U.S. states have proposed draft crypto reserve bills, and most states' bills are still in the draft proposal or House deliberation stage. A few states have made rapid progress (such as Texas and Utah), while 5 states (Pennsylvania, Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming, South Dakota) have been rejected. The reasons for the veto were concerns about the risks and volatility associated with digital assets, taxpayer funding risks, high energy consumption of cryptocurrency mining, and the possibility that digital currencies could be used for illegal activities.

Texas, which is at the forefront, had its Senate pass SB 21, which provides for the creation of a state-managed fund to hold Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The Texas Comptroller will be responsible for overseeing the reserve, which will hold cryptocurrencies with a market value of at least $500 billion and be eligible for state budget appropriations.

Legislation around the stablecoin regulatory framework

On February 5, U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty proposed the Stablecoin Regulatory Act (GENIUS Act), which would include stablecoins such as USDT and USDC in the Federal Reserve's regulatory framework and provide compliance guidance. As of March 12, the U.S. Senate had updated the bill, and the updated bill specifically expanded the "reciprocal terms for stablecoin payments in overseas jurisdictions."

At the White House summit, Trump instructed his policy implementers to promote stablecoin legislation and planned to complete it before the August congressional recess. The original goal was to submit legislation within the first 100 days of his term, but the timeline has now been extended by four months.

Conclusion

In general, since Trump took office eight weeks ago, a series of major adjustments have taken place in US crypto regulation, from policy direction to key personnel changes, all pointing to a more open regulatory environment. Can the United States really become the world's cryptocurrency capital as Trump said? Policy uncertainty remains, and the market response is also cautious, so future regulatory trends still need to be continuously monitored.