By Gram Slattery, Chris Prentice and Jarrett Renshaw
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President-elect Donald Trump plans to use his executive powers to ease the regulatory burden facing cryptocurrency companies and promote digital asset adoption in his first few days in office , according to three people briefed on the plan.
Trump, who teased cryptocurrency on the campaign trail with promises to be a “crypto president,” is expected to sign an executive order creating a crypto advisory council, an idea he first floated in July, said two of the sources who requested anonymity. discuss private conversations.
Bloomberg News first reported on Thursday that Trump planned to issue an executive order creating a crypto council, which would help advise the government on crypto-friendly policy. It could have up to 20 members, according to one of the sources.
Trump's advisers have also discussed using an executive order to direct the Securities and Exchange Commission to cancel a 2022 accounting directive known as “SAB 121” that has made it too costly for some companies, especially banks , to hold cryptocurrencies on behalf of third parties, the people said.
Trump is also expected to order the end of “Operation Choke Point 2.0,” the term crypto executives use to describe what they say has been a massive effort by bank regulators to crack down on crypto companies. choke out the traditional financial system by ordering banks to reject them. services.
Bank regulators deny the existence of such an attempt.
Reuters could not determine whether Trump would direct the changes through one or several executive orders, but sources said the goal was to quickly send a strong signal that the new administration has broad support. to take digital assets.
If implemented by the appropriate regulators, Trump's expected policy directives have the potential to push cryptocurrencies into the mainstream, say regulatory and crypto experts.
That's in stark contrast to President Joe Biden's administration which, in an effort to protect Americans from fraud and money laundering, cracked down on crypto companies, suing Coinbase (NASDAQ 🙂 exchanges, Binance, Kraken and dozens more in federal court.
Critics of the cryptocurrency industry point to top crypto executives Sam Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced to 25 years for fraud, and Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who was jailed for money laundering violations, as evidence. on the risks of the business.
A representative for Trump, who counts several crypto advocates among his financial backers and key cabinet picks, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The SEC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Cryptocurrency regulation is just one of several topics that Trump should address with executive orders in the opening days of his second four-year term.
The incoming president's team has promised dozens of executive orders on topics ranging from energy production to illegal immigration.
