Crypto Sector Hopes Trump Brings ‘Level Regulatory Playing Field’

For years, the cryptocurrency sector has asked the U.S. for a clearer regulatory framework.

With a new president to take office, the industry is hoping it will get its wish, Bloomberg News reported Sunday (Jan. 19).

Near the top of the crypto world’s “wish list” from the Trump administration, the report said, is an executive order requiring regulators to work together on a digital asset policy framework. Although the classification of crypto assets is still up to Congress, an executive order could lead regulators to produce research pushing the issue forward, the report added.

As Bloomberg noted, the president-elect has chosen a number of pro-crypto figures to fill out his Cabinet, such as former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner Paul Atkins to oversee that agency and Scott Bessent as Treasury secretary. 

Trump also plans to have an artificial intelligence and crypto czar, a new position held by David Sachs, a noted regulatory skeptic who is general partner of venture firm Craft Venture, co-founder of PayPal.

“Those people are ultimately going to make the policy,” Ari Redbord, global head of policy and government at blockchain intelligence company TRM Labs, told Bloomberg.

“They understand that you need to thread the needle as a regulator between enabling lawful users’ privacy within an open financial system, but at the same time stopping bad actors and ensuring consumer protection.”

The report added that increased clarity would accompany efforts by the crypto sector to increase its access to banking services.

During the Biden administration, regulators had warned of the risks that come with banking digital asset companies. The collapse of crypto friendly banks Signature and Silvergate in 2023 heightened concern about banks being pressured to not work with crypto companies.

“A level regulatory playing field between the banking and crypto sectors as well as clear rules for permissible crypto-related products and services will support a more secure environment for consumers and the financial system,” Rebeca Romero Rainey, president of the Independent Community Bankers of America, said in a statement Friday.

Meanwhile,  PYMNTS wrote last week about the emergence of stablecoins as a way for banks to offer clients the crypto and FinTech innovation they desire.

“This isn’t about replacing existing systems. It’s about providing an additional option,” FV Bank CEO Miles Paschini told PYMNTS. “Where stablecoins offer superior benefits, customers will naturally gravitate toward them.”