What the Crypto Community Wants From Donald Trump’s Second Term

Key Takeaways

• Trump’s “Day One” pledges and executive orders are anticipated to cause a pro-crypto domino effect across the domestic industry.
• Crystal clear regulations are at the top of the crypto community’s wish list for Donald Trump 2025.
• Energy reforms, Bitcoin mining dominance and a BTC strategic reserve are also anticipated.

Donald Trump is set to take office on Jan. 20, 2025. His victory is already huge for crypto: Bitcoin (BTC) crypto markets surged ahead of the election and have been exceptionally bullish, following the results.

The “Bitcoin President” is here, and the crypto community is eager to see what promises he can deliver on. In short, things are looking pretty good.

Day One

Donald Trump’s “Day One” promises are broad, including appointing new regulators, energy regulations, pardons for the Jan. 6 rioters and an ambitious bid to broker peace between Ukraine and Russia.

None are directly attributed to Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies, but some will have major impacts on the direction of the industry.

A New SEC Chairman

As for getting things done the minute he’s in office, Trump pledged to fire the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman, Gary Gensler, a man who became synonymous with anti-crypto.

But, as Gensler pre-emptively announced his resignation, effective Jan. 20, 2025, Trump will have one less thing to handle during his first day in the White House.

Paul Atkins, a pro-crypto businessman , lobbyist and former SEC Commissioner, is Trump’s nominee to take over as SEC chairman.

Naturally, his appointment has sparked high hopes among the crypto community, who anticipate a night-and-day difference for crypto under Atkins’ stewardship.

Atkins is considered mostly pro-crypto, as he’s served as co-chair of pro-crypto lobbying group , the Token Alliance, since 2017. He has also been critical of the U.S. government’s unclear crypto regulations, which, he says , allowed the FTX crash to become an “international debacle.”

With all that said, it remains yet to be seen how Atkins intends to approach crypto, and his nomination may not be confirmed until March 2025.

SEC U-turn

In the same vein, Trump’s administration is likely seeking a near-immediate U-turn on the SEC’s numerous lawsuits against crypto. Notably, ones that allege a myriad of cryptocurrencies to as constitute securities offerings.

The arguably outdated classification ties them up in a web of tricky regulations to adhere to, which gave the SEC grounds to pursue legal action against the sector.

In a best-case scenario, Trump could decide to sign an executive order to see most—if not all—investigations and enforcement actions against crypto.

This would end the litigations between the SEC and the likes of Ripple (XRP), Coinbase and others, paving the way forward for crystal clear regulations on digital assets.

This would be the biggest nod to the crypto community, as the SEC’s approach under Gensler is widely viewed as heavy-handed at best. That said, U.S. spot Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) were reluctantly launched under his watch.

From there, the U.S. could then begin to build out the legislative, regulatory and tax frameworks necessary to allow the domestic crypto industry to reach its full potential

Energy Policies

It’s also worth noting that Trump’s day-one pledges do include significant energy reforms, famously stating, “I want to drill, drill, drill.”

Trump believes that increasing oil and gas drilling, as well as rolling back clean energy regulations, will be crucial in fighting inflation.

This could prove fruitful for the domestic Bitcoin mining industry, which could form the backbone of a broader plan to establish Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset.

The First 100 Days

Within the first 100 days, Trump is going to get to work rolling back policies and regulations implemented by the Biden administration.

As he did in his first term, he’s likely to sign a dozen or so executive orders that reinforce his campaign priorities, which will largely center around deregulation.

But there are some ambitious crypto-centric initiatives that could blossom as a result, which would serve to cement the U.S. as the world’s crypto capital.

Bitcoin Mining Dominance

During the campaign trail, Trump publicly declared that he wanted to see BTC “mined, minted and made in the USA.” He reiterated this sentiment several times and doesn’t want the likes of China or Russia to get ahead in terms of mining dominance.

Fred Thiel, CEO of MARA (formerly Marathon Digital) and a long-standing supporter of Trump, believes Bitcoin mining is of geopolitical significance and a national security concern. Thiel believes U.S. BTC mining will thrive under Trump.

With “ right-to-mine”  laws now being passed and introduced in several states, energy reforms would give the mining sector a huge boost. If backed by the government, it could also serve to reinforce another Bitcoin-based policy, the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR).

Strategic Bitcoin Reserve

One of the biggest promises made by Trump was to create the SBR, which according to the proposed Bitcoin Act, could see the U.S. purchase 200,000 BTC every year for five years. It’s viewed as a move that could potentially combat inflation, and reinforce the U.S.’s ambitions to be the leading crypto country.

As per Satoshi Act Fund CEO and co-founder, Dennis Porter, the Trump administration may already be mulling an Executive Order to use the Treasury’s Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF) to achieve the lofty aim.

This is already occurring at a state level, with Texas being the third and most recent to introduce its very own Bitcoin reserve legislation. It follows in the footsteps of Florida and Pennsylvania, which are all believed to have a “very good chance” of passing their proposed bills in 2025.

These states are poised for energy reforms as they have already introduced the right-to-mine laws. With the green light from Washington to “drill, baby, drill,” the SBR may also have direct industry-wide support.

Pro-crypto Appointments

With the Republican party having a majority in the House and the Senate, Trump’s government and cabinet picks will establish the most pro-crypto U.S. government in history.

As mentioned, the SEC will soon have a new chairman to guide its actions on crypto. But there remains another major regulator, the Commodity Futures and Trading Commission (CFTC).

Under the watch of Chairman Rostin Behnam, the CFTC has pulled billions in fines from crypto, largely from the FTX and Binance debacles.

However, it hasn’t played too much of a role in pursuing precedent-setting outcomes akin to the SEC. Some have argued that the SEC shouldn’t be regulating crypto in the first place as cryptocurrencies aren’t securities.

Furthermore, while a replacement for Behnam remains yet to be seen, if cryptocurrencies do eventually fall under the purview of the CFTC, a16z crypto policy lead Brian Quintenz is the favorite to take over.

The current U.S. Federal Reserve Chair isn’t exactly for or against crypto, but has recently compared it to gold. Perhaps, fortunately for crypto, Trump has said he has no intentions to remove Powell from his position.

Other notable appointments include crypto-friendly French Hill, who will lead the Financial Services Committee. Hill has championed bills that pushed the SEC and CFTC to clarify crypto regulations, collaborated on stablecoin legislation efforts.

Notably, he’s pledged to investigate “ Operation Chokepoint 2.0, ” a conspiracy that alleges the U.S. government colluded to stifle the crypto industry through banks.

Crypto 2025

There’s plenty for the crypto community to look forward to, if everything goes accordingly. There’s no real way to predict how it will go, but Trump is seemingly flooding his administration with pro-crypto thinkers.

This sets the stage for crypto in 2025, which is still riding high from the Trump victory result in early November.

Though there may be some pullback in the markets ahead of the Jan. 20, 2025, inauguration, if all nominees, appointments and day-one promises go as planned, the U.S. crypto sector is going mainstream.