- The first week of Trump’s presidency has ended
- He passed a record number of executive orders
- Pro-crypto decisions were also in abundance
- SEC Crypto 2.0 framework is coming
- Trump released his memecoin $TRUMP
- He rescinded SAB 121 passed under Biden
- He also ordered to explore Bitcoin & Crypto Reserve
Donald Trump has had his first presidential week, and it is impossible to overstate how full it has been of fundamental decisions in all areas of politics, economics, and technology.
Pro-crypto initiatives have not been far behind. One event was the launch of his memecoin $TRUMP, and many probably thought that this would become the most high-profile one of the near future. However, even before the end of the week, he made some fundamental decisions like rescinding SAB 121, ordering to exploration of a Bitcoin & Crypto Reserve, and more.
More About Donald Trump’s Initiatives During His First Days in Office
Many promises, even those not taken very seriously, have been fulfilled in the first days of the presidency, although many more are just ahead. In particular, Donald Trump made 26 executive orders on inauguration day, and many appointments to key positions.
Trump’s inauguration day has already yielded a record number of executive orders and appointments, and judging by the statistics this difference is quite striking.
Looking at the historical data, there is reason to think that there will be a lot more. At the end of the year, Trump also led in the number of executive orders relative to Joe Biden.
Moreover, he reinforced his direct opposition to Joe Biden’s policies and rescinded 78 Biden-era executive orders, actions, and memoranda.
“I’ll revoke nearly 80 destructive and radical executive actions of the previous administration.”
Also on the first day, he made several key appointments that should continue his policies in various areas of economy, technology, and security:
- James McHenry as acting attorney general
- Robert Salesses as acting Secretary of Defense
- Dorothy Fink as acting Secretary of Health and Human Services
- Benjamine Huffman as acting Secretary of Homeland Security
- Mark Averill as acting Secretary of the Army
- Tom Sylvester as acting CIA director
- Mark Uyeda is the acting chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission
- Andrew Ferguson as chairman of the Federal Trade Commission
Among his key executive orders in the first days were the expected, but until recently skeptical, ones that touched on migration, environment, health, diversity, economy, and security. He also declared two national emergencies, namely in the immigration and energy sectors.
Among his other intentions was to make Canada the ’51st state’, similar to Mexico in an attempt to create a unified Western power and promised large trade duties if they refused. Alongside these Elon Musk statements are the statements about the Make Europe Great Again (MEGA) project, another Western party in the context of competing against the East and China.
Canada is one of the biggest suppliers to the US in the context of energy, however, already here Trump probably played ahead of the curve and made his first official meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. They discussed not only investments in the US, which Trump plans to increase from $600B to $1T but also asked Saudi Arabia and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to bring down the cost of oil.
This is indirectly related to another of his promises, namely to end the war in Ukraine in the early days of his presidency, probably expecting to limit Russia’s availability of resources to fight it.
“If the price came down the Russia-Ukraine war would end immediately.”
In total, Donald Trump has made more than 115 personnel changes and more than 200 executive orders in the first few days of his presidency.
Another decision of strategic importance, on which the record investments are directed turned out to be AI. To be more precise, Donald Trump signed a blueprint for a record $500B AI infrastructure investment as the demand for computing is skyrocketing and so is the competition in the form of China.
More About Donald Trump’s Crypto Initiatives In His First Week in Office
But you may rightly ask, did we really not see pro-crypto initiatives among all this? Of course, we have, and they have been long-awaited and fundamental.
On inauguration day, Trump assigned a crypto task force, and his appointee, acting Chairman Uyeda, has already gotten to work. They announced SEC Crypto 2.0 and the development of a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for crypto assets. Commissioner Hester Peirce will lead the task force. Richard Gabbert, Senior Advisor to the Acting Chairman, and Taylor Asher, Senior Policy Advisor to the Acting Chairman, will serve as the task force’s Chief of Staff and Chief Policy Advisor, respectively.
This can probably be seen as a fundamental, and even telling, shift in the SEC’s stance on crypto and the end of the ex-Chairman Gary Gensler era. Expectedly, the first to react was Ripple, which rose from ~$2.8 to ~$3.3, given its longest court history.
While the potential of this decision is huge—and it would have been enough for crypto industry optimism for the first week—Trump didn’t stop there. He also rescinded SAB 121, which restricted banks from owning Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. This was another blow to Biden’s policy on cryptocurrencies, although initiatives against them had been in place even before Donald Trump.
Also, a very high-profile decision that was one of the key ones among his campaign promises was the ban on the creation of CBDC. Interestingly, shortly before his election, perhaps due to the expectation that Kamala Harris would succeed, many countries like Canada and India began to explore the possibility of establishing CBDCs. However, during this time, outraged voices were also heard in Europe, claiming that CBDC restricts rights and freedoms, and could lead to a totalitarian society.
Donald Trump, perhaps to the surprise of many, has kept his promise and banned the creation of a CBDC, seemingly canceling the uncertainty in the global vector regarding this issue, as it is likely that many countries will follow the U.S. in this and many other issues.
Perhaps, the most important decision was the most long-awaited one, which may have been prompted by the preceding one: Senator Cynthia Lummis was appointed as a Chair of the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Digital Assets.
Almost immediately afterward, Donald Trump signed executive orders to explore Bitcoin reserve and Crypto reserve. Yes, the expectations that the reserve will not be limited to Bitcoin have come true, and perhaps we should wait for a big dynamic among altcoins caused directly.
Conclusion
The first week of Donald Trump’s presidency has likely exceeded any expectations of the relative quantity and thoroughness of decision-making, regardless of the parties’ positions.
Such big decisions will inevitably have long-term effects that have yet to be observed and evaluated, with the fact that these decisions will surely not be the last.
The crypto market will not be an exception, and we should probably expect strong dynamics in one direction or another. However, reasons for optimism are definitely in place.
But it’s worth realizing that everything Donald Trump does has a surprise factor and you need to be prepared for different scenarios, as Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, accurately noted in MoneyWeek “No-one, but no-one, knows what Trump is going to do.”
Be aware and stay tuned.
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