But the party might not continue until 2026.
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“This year has been a good year for crypto… although there is still a lot of work to do,” said Miller Whitehouse-Levine, CEO of the Solana Policy Institute, which advocates for policies to advance blockchain networks, speaking to Reuters NEXT.
CRYPTO PRESIDENT
Just days into his presidency, the SEC quickly ended a years-long crackdown in which it sued dozens of crypto companies that it said should have registered with the agency. The industry said the lawsuits were unfair because most crypto tokens are more like commodities than securities.
In an effort to enshrine this position into law, crypto companies and executives have donated more than $245 million during the 2024 election cycle to promote pro-crypto candidates, including Trump, according to Federal Election Commission data.
But that has stalled in the Senate, with lawmakers divided over anti-money laundering provisions and requirements for decentralized finance platforms, which allow crypto users to buy and sell tokens without an intermediary, according to three sources familiar with the discussions.
“The big elephant in the room is that this industry has spent millions of dollars trying to pass legislation,” but it’s unclear whether it will achieve this key victory, said Sheila Warren, CEO of the Project Liberty Institute, a technology-focused nonprofit, speaking to Reuters NEXT.
This would force crypto companies to rely on regulatory guidelines that could be rolled back under a future hostile administration, potentially exposing the companies to lawsuits or forcing them to scale back their U.S. operations.
In the long term, the industry cannot count on pro-crypto administrations, said David Mercer, CEO of LMAX Group, which operates a crypto exchange. “We need the Market Structure Bill.”
A spokesperson for Tim Scott, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee who co-authored the Senate version of the bill, said the committee was negotiating and “looking forward” to advancing the legislation “in early 2026.”
REGULATORY FIXES
At the same time, crypto companies are turning their attention to regulatory fixes, particularly an “innovation exemption” from the SEC.
Trump’s SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said the framework, which he plans to unveil next year, will allow crypto companies to immediately launch new business models, but it’s unclear exactly what its scope will be.
Mercer said the exemption could give projects, such as token issuers, “wiggle room” without fear of prosecution by the SEC. The SEC did not provide comment.
“It’s having an impact,” said Les Borsai, co-founder of Wave Digital Assets, who attended the first-ever crypto pre-inauguration ball in Washington in January, referring to the policy and personnel changes.
With increasing clarity, he added, institutional investors should become “much more comfortable entering the space.”
Reporting by Hannah Lang in New York; Additional reporting by Elizabeth Howcroft in Paris; Editing by Michelle Price and Matthew Lewis
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
