Since he began an electoral campaign in which he declared himself in favor of cryptocurrencies, until his swearing-in, expectations of the cryptocurrency ecosystem have been constantly growing.
Those hopes that many members of the bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrency community placed on Trump have reached their peak this January 20.
Therefore, what many are looking forward to is that Bitcoin will receive greater recognition. They celebrate that a war has ended: the one undertaken by Joe Biden’s administration against the sector in the last 4 years.
Only two days have passed and, so far, everything indicates that the president will fulfill his campaign promises. This, despite the questions that have generated the launch of memecoins TRUMP and MELANIA, which were seen as a way to “drain liquidity from the market” and treat the industry “not seriously.”
Beyond that, in two days there is already a list of facts that point Where the Trump government is headed with bitcoin. Let’s look at some below.
The SEC begins work on regulation
With the departure of Gary Gensler and the appointment of a new pro-Bitcoin president, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) begins to make a 180-degree change in its relationship with the digital currency ecosystem. This, after several years maintaining a stance against the sector in which Gensler stood out as one of the main «villains.»
In this way, while the nomination of Paul Atkins, the pro-Bitcoin candidate selected by Trump to preside over the SEC, is moving forward, Mark Uyeda, the current interim president of the agency, has already took the first steps to create more favorable and appropriate regulation for cryptocurrencies.
This same week a working group was created, headed by pro-Bitcoin Republican Hester Peirce. The goal is to generate clear regulations to regulate cryptocurrencies, listening to recommendations from experts and with the collaboration of the government.
Ross Ulbricht freed after 11 years in prison
After a barrage of requests and fulfilling a promise made during his campaign, this January 21 Donald Trump granted a presidential pardon to the creator of Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht.
The developer was serving a sentence of two life sentences plus 40 years, after being accused of drug trafficking, money laundering and conspiracy to commit computer crimes, for create a platform in which you paid with bitcoin.
And although during his first term, Trump refused to grant him a pardon, this time he described the sentence as «ridiculous,» accepting that it was disproportionate. Therefore, just one day after assuming the presidency, he decided to give Ross «total and unconditional freedom.»
Sanctions against Tornado Cash are lifted
This January 22, the news was announced that a federal court annulled the sanctions applied in 2022 against the privacy-focused protocol Tornado Cash.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of the Treasury accused this tool of facilitating the laundering of more than 7 billion dollars in cryptocurrencies since its creation in 2019.
The agency established that Tornado Cash enabled these activities by offering cryptocurrency mixing services without effective controls. Now, with the court’s decision, it is recognized that these tools They work automatically to mix transactions.
A key element in the court’s decision to lift sanctions against Tornado Cash centered on the interpretation of what constitutes «property» under OFAC’s regulatory definition. The court argued that Tornado Cash immutable smart contracts cannot be considered “property” because, by their nature, they cannot be possessed.
In contrast, OFAC’s definition of «property» includes illustrative examples of assets that are commonly understood to belong to individuals or entities, but these contracts, once created, operate autonomously without possibility of control or beneficial ownership, which excludes them from the scope of the sanctions.
A pro-Bitcoin Congress arrives
Trump comes to the presidency with significant support from the other branches of state power. One of the most important is the legislativesince it is there where the laws intended to regulate Bitcoin are generated and approved.
In this instance everything looks favorable for Trump, since in the elections he managed to get both legislative bodies, the House of Representatives and the Senate, have a republican majority.
Additionally, with the president’s pro-Bitcoin turn, significant support from members of the Republican party was also revealed, most of whom are willing to promote laws that promote the use of cryptocurrencies.
The interest became manifest with the creation of a first Digital Assets subcommitteewithin the Senate Banking Committee, which would be led by Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis, who is the main candidate to chair it. Lummis is driving the initiative to create a bitcoin reserve. His bill, introduced last July, has a good chance of passing.
Bitcoin reserves grow
The issue of state BTC reserves is growing more and more and gaining notable momentum. And just on Monday, January 20, the same day as Trump’s inauguration, the state of Utah became the 11th entity in the country in presenting a bill to create a strategic bitcoin reserve.
For Dennis Porter, founder of Satoshi Act Fund, the state movement to create BTC hoards will continue its course. He assures that in the coming days other states will join the list.
«States need bitcoin more than the federal government. «They don’t have a money printer or unlimited budgets,» Porter said, noting that the trend will spread like fire if Trump launches the national reserve in BTC.
They will investigate Operation Chokepoint 2.0
At the beginning of the year, 25 letters from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) of the United States came to light to confirm that the regulatory agency, starting in 2022, ordered banks to stop their activities with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
The documents confirm long-held suspicions within the digital assets industry that federal regulators had coordinated to block banks’ free access to digital assets.
The documents are part of a concerted effort against the ecosystem, which the industry catalogs like Operation Checkpoint 2.0. It has been denounced as a covert operation deployed during Biden’s mandate, to prevent digital assets such as bitcoin from interacting with the traditional financial system.
In response to the complaints, members of Congress have made public their interest in clarifying these facts and announce the beginning of an investigation process. The new Digital Assets subcommittee takes the lead on the case, as Lummis promises.
Given the above, we only have to wait the next few months to see how events develop in the midst of the impressive turn that the United States takes in its relationship with Bitcoin.