By Alan Suderman, Associated Press Business Writer
When Trump administration’s cryptocurrency emperor David Sachs recently held a press conference and announced a new Congressional working group to advance cryptocurrency regulations, many digital asset enthusiasts were unimpressed and overwhelmed. Ta.
“There were a lot of people in X who felt this wasn’t an amazing announcement,” Sachs said on the podcast a few days later on a social media outlet, formerly known as Twitter. However, Sachs said it is worth celebrating that key members of the White House and Congress have pledged to pass major cryptography next year, perhaps within six months. “It’s pretty monumental because we’ve never had it before,” he said.
Sacks’ defenses highlight a new reality in Washington. After spending so much money on electing Trump and other crypto-friendly lawmakers, the industry wants to solidify its influence in politics and the mainstream financial system.
“Time matters,” said Ji Hun Kim, president and acting CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation Council, a recent House committee member who heard a hearing titled “The Golden Age of Digital Assets: Painting the Way of Progress.” I mentioned it at the meeting.
The Crypto industry has been in several early days since Trump took office, including the repeal of accounting rules by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the executive order by the president that directs working groups to research and propose changes to crypto regulations. I won. Possible formation of strategic government reserves of cryptocurrency within 180 days.
As the industry demands more substantive action, some crypto companies are trying to gain influence by trying to punish their old enemies.
Tyler Winklevoss, co-founder of Crypto Exchange Gemini, said his company would not hire MIT alumni as punishment for rehiring former SEC chairman Gary Gensler to teach classes.
“Even internships in the summer internship program,” Winklevos told X. The move came after Coinbase CEO announced that he would not work with the law firm that hired former agent for Jensler, who committed “bad acts.” Crypto industry. The Gensler SEC was the most aggressive financial regulator trying to police the crypto industry.
Congress complained about how crypto supporters were treated during the Biden administration in recent weeks, particularly about regulators being said to have forced banks to cut ties with crypto companies. He held several public hearings that aired.
And the new Republican leader in the SEC criticised the agency’s past performance under Gensler, promising a new day, but made it clear that the day wasn’t tomorrow.
“It took a long time to fall into this mess,” SEC Commissioner Hester Perth, who leads the new Cryptody Task Force, said in a lengthy statement on the agency’s website. “Please hold on.”
The SEC recently asked federal court to suspend an ongoing lawsuit against Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, as leadership reconsidered previous enforcement actions.
The senile and code-friendly lawmakers hope that two laws will become law. It sets regulations and reservation requirements for stubcoin issuers whose popularity is explosive and whose value is a kind of crypto that is usually associated with dollars or other traditional currencies.
Other laws aim to set clear rules about crypto exchanges and how other companies operate, which digital assets are regulated as securities such as stocks, and which digital assets. It is intended to determine whether a product should be considered a product such as gold or oil. Securities typically face stricter regulations.
Similar laws have stagnated over the past few years, but many in the crypto industry are hoping for broad, bipartisan support for this passing. This is partly due to heavy political spending by the crypto industry. Fairshake, Crypto Super PAC, one of the biggest spenders in last year’s election, recently said it has already accumulated a big war chest for the mid-term next year. One of the crypto industry’s biggest victories last year was to help knock out Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat and crypto critic who led the Senate’s Banking Committee.
“The Democrats received the message,” said Anthony Scaramucci, a crypto investor who briefly served as communications director during Trump’s first term, “They take part in a 2026 campaign with crypto troops against them. I don’t want to do that.”
As with crypto prices, the popularity and influence of the industry is prone to wild upswings and falls. A few years ago, the Super Bowl was filled with celebrities doing commercials for crypto companies, and mogul Sambankmanfried had easy access to top-level powers.
Its popularity and influence faded after the collapse of the bank’s Fried company amid massive criminal fraud, market meltdowns and other scandals before raving after Trump’s victory.
However, while presenting the united front of elections, debates over cryptographic and other policy proposals risk exposing fault lines between many different tribes in the industry and powerful and eccentric characters.
For example, Ripple’s CEO said he wanted the US government cryptocurrency to include multiple digital assets, not Bitcoin, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency. It caused it. This idea is a non-starter for many Bitcoin Die Hard.
A new report from JPMorgan also states how some of the proposals in the stubcoin Act related to how to hold these coins can pose “critical challenges” to Tether, the world’s largest stubcoin. It emphasizes.
Tether’s CEO, who recently moved to code-friendly El Salvador, has challenged the bank’s findings and responded on social media by calling analysts “salted.”
Original issue: February 17, 2025 9:05am EST
