Trump To Bolster Crypto Industry In Flurry Of Day-One Executive Orders

President-elect Donald Trump will issue multiple cryptocurrency-related executive orders on Inauguration Day that could advance efforts to mainstream the industry, anonymous sources told The Washington Post.

If issued, the executive orders are expected to address issues of “de-banking” — the practice of banks terminating services to those involved with cryptocurrency, which became more prominent after the collapse of crypto exchange FTX — and repeal a policy requiring banks holding cryptocurrencies to list them as liabilities on their balance sheets.

“The Trump team has made it very clear that this is a priority,” a person involved with the situation told The Washington Post.

The first of the president-elect’s likely executive orders includes the establishment of a presidential “crypto council,” which would predominantly enlist tech founders and CEOs, anonymous sources told Decrypt. Further potential executive orders seek the aforementioned repeal of SAB 121, a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rule that discourages banks from holding digital assets. President Joe Biden vetoed a bill in May that would have repealed SAB 121.

Trump, who said cryptocurrency was “not money” and “based on thin air” in 2019, became increasingly friendly with the industry throughout his 2024 presidential campaign, promising to foster a more crypto-friendly regulatory environment and potentially position the U.S. as a leader in the digital asset space. In the month following his election last November, Bitcoin surged more than 40% to all-time highs, surpassing $100,000.

The president-elect also promised to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet,” likening the crypto sphere to the “steel industry of 100 years ago” at the annual Bitcoin conference in July.

The incoming Trump administration’s warm relationship with AI and cryptocurrency coincides with major companies making inroads into the industry, including BlackRock and Fidelity, who have created Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) for retail and institutional investors.

Bitcoin’s price hovers around $96,000 less than a week before Trump’s inauguration.