The White House has laid out its plan to usher in a “new American Golden Age,” with cryptocurrency at its center.
In a 160-page report published Wednesday, White House representatives outlined a series of recommendations to federal government officials as they set about building a legal framework and regulatory ruleset for companies handling crypto assets in the US.
If put into action by lawmakers and regulators, the recommendations would effectively gift the crypto industry—which spent hundreds of millions of dollars influencing 2024 congressional races—practically everything it had been calling for during the Biden administration.
Among other items, the White House recommends that Congress enact laws that resolve the long-running debate over the classification of crypto assets and embrace the concept of decentralized finance; that financial watchdogs use safe harbors and regulatory sandboxes in the meantime to “allow innovative financial products to reach consumers without bureaucratic delays”; and that regulators allow banks to deal in crypto assets and prevent further alleged discrimination against crypto businesses.
“Digital assets and blockchain technologies can revolutionize not just America’s financial system but systems of ownership and governance economy-wide,” the report claims. “American entrepreneurs who pioneer new industries using these technologies deserve both clarity on the policies that affect their efforts and praise for the progress they have made.”
The report—described as a “regulatory bible” by the leader of the Digital Chamber, a crypto trade body—was compiled by the working group established by President Donald Trump shortly after he returned to the White House in January. Its members include White House crypto and AI czar David Sacks, whose VC firm has invested in multiple crypto startups, and commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, who until taking office led the financial institution Cantor Fitzgerald, which services the world’s largest stablecoin provider, Tether.
Many of the working group’s recommendations are already being put into action. In mid-July, the CLARITY Act, a piece of legislation that would establish a taxonomy for crypto assets and divide regulatory jurisdiction between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, passed the House of Representatives. The same week, Trump signed a separate, stablecoin-focused bill into law.
“A few years ago, the crypto guys were not great at playing the lobbying game,” says Charley Cooper, COO at crypto firm Ava Labs and former COO at the CFTC. But in Trump, he says, “the crypto industry saw an ally. Though a late convert to crypto, once he got there, the door was open.”
The working group report directly echoes claims prominent in crypto circles that the Biden administration sought to crush the industry through a campaign of “regulation by enforcement.” It even borrows terminology—like Operation Chokepoint 2.0—coined by the industry to describe the purported discrimination it allegedly suffered.
“The Biden Administration’s approach to crypto was marked by regulatory overreach that countered the American tradition of embracing new technologies,” the report claims. “President Trump’s election marked an end to this misstep. It was America’s hard fork—the end of one chain of poor policy decisions in favor of an updated, better approach.”
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