Trump has entrusted the power to formulate crypto policies to a series of supporters of Cryptos, many of whom may have potential conflicts of interest with the Industry.
The elected president of the USA, Donald Trump, is about to take office, and a series of cryptocurrency supporters and holders he has promoted will soon influence the USA's crypto policy.
The crypto industry has been struggling against lawsuits and enforcement actions by the USA government for years, so there are hopes that the incoming Trump administration will bring a shift in policy.
Politicians appointed by Trump will be scrutinized for potential conflicts of interest with the crypto industry, and some have already committed to selling their Hold Positions.
Here are some key members of the incoming Trump administration and their positions on cryptocurrencies.
Scott Bessenett
Billionaire hedge fund manager Scott Bessenett has been selected by Trump as Secretary of Treasury, and he has expressed admiration for cryptocurrencies.
"Cryptocurrency represents freedom, and the crypto economy will continue to exist," he told Fox News last July. "I believe Bitcoin has unlimited potential."
According to a financial disclosure document submitted last month, Besant holds shares in Blackrock's Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), valued between 0.25 million and 0.5 million dollars. Besant wrote in a letter to the USA Treasury last week that he would divest his interests in the Fund and other investments within 90 days after being nominated.
Besant did not respond to requests for comment.
Howard Lutnick
Lutnick, the Commerce Secretary appointed by Donald Trump, is also a public supporter of Bitcoin.
Lutnick is the CEO of the New York brokerage Cantor Fitzgerald, which earns fees for managing tens of billions of dollars in US Treasury Bonds for the company Tether that issues stablecoins.
"Do I own Bitcoin? I certainly do," Lutnick said at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in July this year. "Does Cantor Fitzgerald own Bitcoin? A ton of it."
Elon Musk
The Tesla CEO and the world's richest man has been chosen by Donald Trump to oversee the government's cost-cutting efforts, called the "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE), and has long supported Cryptos including Bitcoin and Dogecoin.
In recent years, his public statements and actions of his company have influenced the prices of Bitcoin and Dogecoin. Dogecoin is a smaller token that was regarded as a joke during the early crypto bubble.
The acronym for 'Department of Government Efficiency'—DOGE is a tribute to Dogecoin. With its $4.5 billion circulation, Dogecoin is now the seventh largest crypto token in the world.
In 2021, Tesla purchased $1.5 billion in Bitcoin, becoming one of the largest companies holding cryptocurrency, and subsequently sold off most of its holdings. A financial report from the company showed that as of September 2024, it held a total of $0.184 billion in digital assets.
Vivek Ramaswamy.
This former presidential candidate and entrepreneur will collaborate on DOGE with Musk, who is the founder of Strive Asset Management.
Last September, Strive stated that it manages over $1 billion in Assets. Last month, the company filed to establish an ETF that invests in corporate bonds for Bitcoin.
Ramaswamy stated in a press release that the company's wealth management division was established last November to aim at integrating Bitcoin into the investment portfolios of Americans.
According to a financial disclosure document, in June 2023, Ramaswamy held Bitcoin valued between $0.1 million and $0.25 million and Ethereum valued between $0.15 million and $0.05 million.
David Sacks
As a former PayPal executive, Sacks was appointed last December as the White House's head of AI and cryptocurrency affairs, responsible for establishing the legal framework in the USA that the crypto industry has long sought.
Sacks is a co-founder of the venture capital firm Craft Ventures. The company's website shows that it has invested in crypto companies including BitGo and Bitwise.
Steve Witkoff
Witkoff, a real estate mogul and Trump's Middle East envoy, is a donor to the incoming president and founded a digital asset company called World Liberty Financial last November.
World Liberty, which sells a proprietary token, lists Trump on its website as one of the individuals entitled to share in any revenue generated by the company.
Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Barron Trump
Eric told Reuters last year that he was deeply involved in World Liberty, which he and his brother Donald Jr.—considered the most influential members of the Trump family—and their half-brother Barron helped to establish.
Eric stated at a Bitcoin conference last December that cryptographic technology is a 'financial revolution' and that his father would make the USA the world capital of crypto.
JD Vance.
According to a financial disclosure document, USA Vice Presidential candidate Vance holds between 0.25 million and 0.5 million dollars in Bitcoin as of August 2024.
The website of the venture capital company co-founded by Vance shows that he has invested in Vivek Ramaswamy's asset management company Strive and the video platform Rumble.
Last November, Rumble announced that it would allocate excess cash reserves to Bitcoin. The company also received a 0.775 billion dollar investment from the stablecoin company Tether last year.
When asked to comment on Vance's and Trump's son's stance on cryptocurrencies, spokesman Brian Hughes of the Trump-Vance transition team accused Washington bureaucrats of attempting to stifle innovation through more regulation and higher taxes, but did not provide evidence.
'Trump will deliver on his promise to encourage the USA to take a leadership role in cryptocurrencies and other emerging technologies,' he said in a statement to Reuters.
Paul Atkins.
Atkins is a lawyer and former senior official of the USA Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), chosen by Donald Trump as the SEC chair, advocating for deregulation. His attitude towards Cryptos is expected to be more moderate than that of current chair Gary Gensler.
Atkins is the CEO of the consulting company Patomak Global Partners. According to Patomak's website, the company advises "cutting-edge crypto-native companies" and traditional financial firms on how to "leverage digital assets for growth."
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