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On July 27, 2024, Donald Trump went before a crowd of people in Nashville and told them exactly what they wanted to hear. At the Bitcoin 2024 conference, he promised that, if elected, he and Fire Sec chief Gary Gensler would make the US the “crypto capital of the planet.”
This appearance, along with other pro-Crackpot moves, mobilized a voting bloc that was larger than some gave it credit for. Kamala Harris’ campaign would later try to cater to them with a watered-down message with little success. Trump was, without a shadow of a doubt, the “crypto candidate.”
So when he failed to mention blockchain or cryptography in his opening speech on Monday, there was some lack of understanding. I too was looking forward to hearing more details about his plans for blockchain technology. But what I keep coming back to is something else He said To the crowd in Nashville last year:
“We will have regulations, but from now on, the rules will be written by people who love your industry, not hate your industry.“
No matter what he said (or didn’t say) during the inauguration, this promise actually stands. His appointments, nominations and actions indicate that common sense regulation is on his way. It could include his “golden age” of America – no,
People who love our industry
Not everyone involved in Crypto gets the opportunity to negotiate with policymakers. I’ve been lucky enough to be in the room for some of these conversations over the years, and let me tell you – it would have been impossible with the previous administration.
He was basically stonewalling at every turn, even painting innovative solutions with the same brush as the scams. Industry leaders were so frustrated they took their operations elsewhere or at least stopped raising their hands to ask questions. That did not happen, although some party members were pushing internally for change.
So, the industry waited. I’ve waited and watched support for Trump steadily grow among the crypto community, if only he would promise not to get in the way. When he won re-election, they cheered (quietly, in some cases) because it meant they could chase their ambition again. They can build the things they dreamed of.
In the months that followed, the incoming administration reinforced this belief and support. Just a few weeks after the election, Trump nominated Howard Lutnick, a huge supporter of StableCoins and head of brokerage firm Cantor Fitzgerald, as Secretary of Commerce.
Paul Atkins, a crypto lawyer and CEO of Patomak Partners, was chosen as Gensler’s replacement at the SEC. In early December, it was David Sachs’s turn, joining the White House as Trump’s “artificial intelligence and cryptography.” The former PayPal executive has been publicly pushing for a “new global currency” for decades and believes wholeheartedly in Web3 technology.
These are the people who love our industry. They are the people who will not stand in the way of innovation or create our rules.
Not all that brilliance is gold
This innovation — not just investment — will determine whether the golden age of Trump’s America is achieved.
The solutions we have now are limited and still need improvement if they are to see widespread enterprise adoption. Take stablecoins, for example. While it is, in theory, the ideal answer for cross-border transactions, treasury management, and trade finance, institutions are still reluctant to integrate it.
Part of the problem is their inherent anonymity and what that means for regulatory bodies. The chains they exist on were specifically designed to transition to a central bank, and any contracts you build on top are merely ancillaries.
There must be an identification layer at the protocol level, such as that in Concordium, to provide the accountability and compliance necessary to meet regulatory requirements and user trust.
With that in place, dollar-backed stablecoins built on a transparent and reliable chain would enhance the dominance of the US dollar even further and remove any need for a CBDC. Trump’s pro-Treasury Secretary nominee, Scott Bessent, said at his recent Senate confirmation hearing. Bessent explained that CBDCs, in his opinion, are intended for developing countries and dismissed any idea of the United States offering one.
Approach 2025
Like many of his peers in the Trump administration, Bessent is focused on innovative policies for innovative technologies. When asked about the darker history of crypto, he simply explained that the US needs a “2025 approach.”
Hear, hear, the crypto industry. We have been trapped in a loop of 20th century politics for too long. Change is coming, one way or another, and the United States appears ready to take the lead. If they stay out of their way, Trump’s “golden age” will spill over into the crypto, blockchain, and Web 3 revolution.
