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President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to promote American leadership in digital assets and establish a task force that would be responsible for proposing regulations for the crypto industry.
The news sent prices for popular cryptocurrencies higher in Friday trading. Bitcoin rose more than 1.5% to $105,880, while Ethereum climbed almost 5% to $3,397.
Here’s what investors should know about Trump’s executive order.
Crypto Executive Executive: What to know
Trump signed an executive order designed to promote American leadership in digital assets and financial technology.
Here are the key initiatives included in the order:
- The policy of the Trump Administration will be to support the responsible growth and use of digital assets, blockchain technology and related technologies.
- It establishes a working group on digital asset markets to be chaired by the special advisor on AI and crypto.
- A working group will evaluate the potential creation of a digital asset stockpile, perhaps from cryptocurrencies seized by the federal government through law enforcement efforts.
- Within 180 days of the order, the task force is expected to recommend regulatory and legislative proposals for the digital assets industry.
- The order ends all ongoing plans to create a central bank digital currency.
- It aims to protect and promote fair and open access to banking services for all law-abiding individuals and private entities.
Trump drew huge support from the crypto industry in the 2024 presidential election and crypto prices surged after his election victory on expectations he would name crypto-friendly regulators in key articles .
Days before his inauguration, he launched a $Trump meme coin that initially soared in value. First lady Melania Trump also launched a piece of memes that spiked during the launch. The $Trump coin is down 56% from its high, while the $Melania coin is down 81% from its high.
Crypto industry observers are not optimistic that the executive order will lead to regulations that help rid the industry of its many bad actors.
“Any crypto regulation should actually protect investors rather than defend the ability of cryptocurrency issuers to fill the public with another useless digital currency,” says James Royal, senior investment and wealth management reporter. “Given the crypto industry’s considerable donations to the Trump campaign and the Trump family’s personal involvement in newly launched cryptocurrencies, I am not optimistic that any regulations proposed here will do much more than pave the way for legalized scams.”
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