Cryptocurrency firm bosses are optimistic about sweeping federal rule changes for the industry to be enacted this year now that bitcoin-backing Donald Trump is back in the White House.
The CEOs of Coinbase, Binance and Circle told CNBC that they now see a clearer path toward securing some concrete rules on digital assets — unlike the previous US administration, which took aggressive action against several major crypto companies.
Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong said he sees cryptocurrencies entering the “dawn of a new day” with the Trump-led US administration.
“You have to remember: For the last four years, we really felt like we were being attacked by this administration,” Armstrong told CNBC in a TV interview at the World Economic Forum’s annual event in Davos, Switzerland.
“They tried to use the lack of clarity in the rules as a weapon to really push back, even on good actors,” Armstrong added. “There were some bad actors, to be fair – but they even really tried to go after good actors, I mean, like us.”
Coinbase is the largest crypto trading platform in the US. The firm is often touted as a regulated alternative to offshore exchanges, such as Binance.
Regulatory clarity to strengthen the sector
On Tuesday, the US Securities and Exchange Commission announced the launch of a “crypto task force” aimed at “developing a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for crypto assets.”
The SEC’s board will be tasked with developing a clear set of rules for the crypto sector, while also addressing issues related to coin registration, the agency said in a statement.
Coinbase’s Armstrong said the current top priority for the crypto industry is to work toward legislation in the US that will offer clarity.
“The industry is just ready for this new change,” he told CNBC. “They are ready for clear rules. And that’s our big incentive.”
Richard Teng, CEO of Binance, highlighted token issuance, trading and asset management as some of the key areas where he expects to see progress in terms of crypto-specific legislation in the US, SEEbiz reports.
Teng said he sees “much clearer regulation” happening in the US this year – and that would be to support bitcoin and other digital assets.
“If you look at past cycles, this year will be the year we see a new all-time high for the crypto industry,” Teng said in a discussion hosted by CNBC in Davos, Switzerland.
Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, broke the $100,000 mark for the first time last year as traders grew optimistic about the outlook for the crypto industry under the Trump administration.
As of Wednesday, the token was trading at around $104,000, according to CoinGeck.
America’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve
Binance’s Teng also expects the US to establish a strategic bitcoin reserve – something Trump suggested he would do during his campaign.
Jeremy Allaire, Circle’s chief executive, said he believed “it would be wise for central banks to hold some reserves in something like bitcoin,” adding that it could cause a return to commodity-backed money.
“If we look back when we broke away from non-sovereign commodity money, we really saw incredible abuses around the world through fiat and that continues,” Allaire said. “The vast majority of governments in the world are significantly indebted.”
“It takes a kind of open-heart surgery, shock therapy, in a place like Argentina to break out of this vicious circle. And I appreciate that this is an important issue for the US government now,” he added.
Trump has previously suggested that the US national bitcoin reserve could be backed by crypto assets seized in criminal operations, such as hackers and fraud rings.
Stablecoin laws are pending
Along with a pro-crypto president, the U.S. now has senators and representatives who support the technology and want to introduce regulation — something that is “absolutely appropriate,” Allaire stressed.
Allaire noted that there are already “American champions” in the crypto space such as Circle, Coinbase and blockchain platform Solana. “I think under this new administration we are very likely to see rapid progress in making rules and policies to improve this industry,” he said.
Circle’s CEO sees the US moving forward with legislation specifically around so-called stablecoins — digital tokens designed to be pegged to real assets like the dollar — given that there is already bipartisan support for such tokens in Congress. Circle is behind USDC, which is one of the largest stablecoins.
The Stablecoin Payments Clarity Act, a bill that seeks to establish a regulatory regime for licensing stablecoin issuers, was making its way through Congress before last year’s election. It has yet to pass a vote in the House.
