Donald Trump took the siege of the middle at a long table, flanked on each side by applauding the members of the cabinet, Tech Bros and the cryptographic apostles who had gathered in the White House Friday afternoon for the first, “Digital Asset Summit”.
The president said: “It is a very important day in your life. There were some of you (working) for a very long time, long before people really understand what was going on, and I therefore congratulate you. It’s a great day.
The Gathering of the White House, similar to the range of technological magnates which was held behind Trump during its inauguration of January 20, was, itself, a message: the times have changed. Long assailed by regulators and legislators as a tool of launderers, crooks and terrorists, the event seemed to cement the The transformation of cryptocurrency into a respected financial asset adopted by Wall Street and now the highest level of the government.
It was also a visceral testimony of the power of money in politics. FAIRSHAKE, a political action committee funded by the main leaders and companies in the industry, has plowed more than $ 250 million (194 million pounds Sterling) in the Trump campaign and other Pro-Crypto candidates, making it the country’s unique political donor after Elon Musk.
This silver avalanche may also have fueled the conversion of Trump of skeptical crypto – he said once the bitcoin was “based on a thin air” – to a passionate supporter who is committed to transforming America into “cryptographic capital” while launching its own largely lucrative and unregulated digital currencies. After his victory in the November elections, Bitcoin went from $ 74,000 to more than $ 100,000 per room, but has dropped in recent weeks.
Brian Armstrong, the founder billionaire in Coinbase, the largest American crypto exchange, led the Lobbying Blitz and attended the summit. He said: “My goal by participating in this is really fair, first of all, to thank President Trump for helping the world capital of cryptography in the United States. I think he is up to this campaign promise so far, and we have seen a lot of work doing here positively. »»
Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase Global
Samyukta Lakshmi / Bloomberg / Getty Images
The centerpiece of the event was the creation, via the executive decree, of a “strategic bitcoin reserve” and a distinct “storage of digital assets”, both composed of currencies that the police have seized with criminals. The 200,000 Bitcoin government hiding place was worth $ 17.5 billion on Friday.
David Sacks, the billionaire of Silicon Valley Tech that Trump has appointed his Tsar Crypto, said: “The reserve is like a strong digital Knox for cryptocurrency often called” digital gold “.” The order, which also obliges federal agencies to provide “complete accounting” of the digital currencies they have in detention, promised to “exploit the power of digital assets for national prosperity, rather than let them languish in limbo”. The “war against crypto,” added Trump, was over.
However, for all the warm words, there was not as much behind the photo shoot he appeared. The bags clearly indicated that the government would not spend “a penny” to acquire more bitcoin or other digital currencies. Instead, the announcement had the effect of essentially moving the current government assets of a check account in a savings account. And the most consecutive problem – how cryptocurrencies will be regulated – have remained unanswered.
Perhaps the most revealing, the price of Bitcoin was stable on Saturday morning, at $ 67,217. It has slipped 10% of the year to date.
Change in American attitudes towards the crypto since Trump’s return can be marked by an event two weeks ago. On a clear night in Arizona. Ross Ulbricht, 40, came out of a federal penitentiary with Leaf Erickson, a falling pepper factory which, he said, “hung on life” on the threshold of his prison cell. It was his first breath of air as a free man for 11 years. Trump pulled him the second day in power.
Ross Ulbricht was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole
Reuters
Ulbricht was the creator of Silk Road, an online bazaar on narcotics and weapons where many of the hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions were made in cryptocurrency. The Dark website was an early test field for Bitcoin, showing the usefulness of a state -less digital currency to facilitate online trade between anonymous online players. The FBI arrested Ulbricht and in 2015, a judge sentenced him to life prison without parole.
His incarceration had taken on totemic importance for many cryptography enthusiasts. Announcing forgiveness, Trump established parallels between Ulbricht and his own brushes with the law, writing: “The scum that worked to condemn it was among the same crazy people who were involved in the modern weapons of the government against me.”
It was not until years later, in 2022, that Washington’s antipathy towards the crypto reached its summit. The popularity of the crypto had increased in the middle of the boom on the market powered by pandemic. Taking advantage of the lack of regulation, companies and individuals have developed new “currencies”, writing white bans on what they would do with the funds collected, then pumping their prospects on social networks. Betarers have piled up.
Then came the bust. CRIRATED PRICE, spraying 2 billions of dollars of value and exhibiting countless scams. The tales abounded by people who lost their house or who were taken to suicide after losing everything when prices collapsed or unscrupulous promoters disappeared with their money. Several of the most important figures in the industry, led by the FTX chief, Sam Bankman Fried, met in prison.
Sam Bankman Fried was imprisoned for fraud against his FTX FTX Cryptocurrency Exchange Company
Michael M Santiago / Getty Images
And yet, the American stock market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) continued to continue a strangely ineffective approach, to mark many crypto exchanges as an illegal business, while allowing them to continue to work, and in the case of Coinbase, even on the stock market.
The heart of the conflict revolves around a simple question: what is cryptocurrency? Is it “security”, like the actions of the company? Is it a commodity, like wheat or oil, or something else? Bitcoin, is the ancestor of the industry, deserves a different treatment of the thousands of pieces that followed in its wake?
Definitions are important because each designation leads to a clear regulatory regime. Under the previous SEC chief, Gary Gensler, the agency said most of the digital currencies were titles, which involves a higher level of consumer guarantees and regulations. He continued Coinbase and his rivals, notably Binance, Gemini and Kraken, saying that they illegally sold titles or directed unregulated exchanges.
Affairs rushed to court. And then Trump was elected. Gensler, who has become a figure of hatred by most crypto enthusiasts, resigned. He should be replaced by Paul Atkins, a friendly commissioner.
While the market awaits its confirmation from the congress, however, the SEC has abandoned its cases against several cryptographic companies, notably Coinbase, Kraken and Gemini, the company launched by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. At the top, Cameron said, “We never thought we would have attacked as we did in our backyard after trying to do the right thing for so many years and always try to increase the bar compared to the regulations. So it’s really wonderful to see how things have changed and how the pendulum brought back as it did. »»
And yet, the precise regulatory image remains troubled. Critics fear that in the absence of clear rules, the new administration’s leaving approach can lead to a mass recovery of people we saw just a few years ago.
Meanwhile, investors, including the president and his family, fill their boots. Indeed, it is enough to delay before its inauguration of January 20, Trump and his wife Melania both launched “mecoins”, a type of cryptocurrency without value or underlying use but which seeks to take advantage of a popular name or a meme internet.
A recent estimate brought Trump’s play at $ 350 million. Melania’s website warns that the parts are for “collection and entertainment ends only”. This added: “These are not financial instruments or investments. Always do your own research and never invest more than you can afford to lose. »»
Since the launch, Trump and Melania coins have lost 80% and 92%, respectively.
