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State of Crypto: Trump’s Second First Week

Donald Trump is officially the 47th President of the United States, and the U.S. government is going in some different directions from the last administration.
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Executive order
The narrative
U.S. President Donald Trump was sworn into office on Monday and quickly signed a flurry of executive orders. While it took him a few days to get to crypto-specific items, we’ve seen a number of actions from his administration already — not to mention the broader Republican Party.
Why it matters
These agencies and Congressional bodies’ initial actions set the tone for what we can expect as the new Congress and administration really get going this year.
Breaking it down
There’ll be time to go more into detail on some of these later, but for now:
White House/Administration
Donald Trump signed a highly-anticipated executive order on crypto. Among its provisions are items that:
Create a working group composed of Cabinet officials, White House advisers and others tasked with identifying regulations that address crypto and recommending whether they be changed. AI and crypto czar David Sacks will chair this working group.
Task the working group with evaluating a digital asset stockpile.
Ban any central bank digital currency, with a somewhat broad definition of a CBDC.
Revoke former President Joe Biden’s executive order on crypto, which mostly just directed his Departments to craft reports about various aspects of crypto and consumer protections.
Trump also announced that Sacks would co-chair his President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, now operating under Acting Chair Mark Uyeda, formed a crypto-focused task force headed up by Commissioner Hester Peirce. Trump previously named Paul Atkins as his pick to serve as the agency’s chair, once he’s confirmed by the Senate.
One of the SEC’s first moves was to rescind Staff Accounting Bulletin 121, which directed publicly traded companies holding crypto for their clients to mark those holdings on their own balance sheets. SAB 121 was strongly opposed by the crypto industry, which argued that it made it more difficult for banks to provide certain crypto services.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is now operating under Acting Chair Caroline Pham. Pham named CFTC Senior Policy Advisor Harry Jung as the regulator’s lead for crypto industry engagement. Trump has not yet named a nominee to take over as permanent chair.
Trump pardoned Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht, saying on Truth Social that he did so «in honor of [Ulbricht’s mother] and the Libertarian Movement, which supported me so strongly.» Ulbricht was convicted on criminal enterprise, narcotics distribution and various conspiracy charges and sentenced to double life in prison and 40 years with no parole.
Trump announced he would rename the existing U.S. Digital Service as his Department of Government Efficiency, the entity headed up by Elon Musk (Vivek Ramaswamy, who was previously a co-head, has now left to run for Ohio governor). Initially, the entity’s website just had the Dogecoin logo on it. Companies are also filing for dogecoin exchange-traded funds now.
Trump spoke with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele shortly after signing his crypto executive order, though an official readout of the call did not mention crypto in any form.
Senate
The Senate Banking Committee has confirmed the creation of a subcommittee focused on digital assets, led by Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.). The subcommittee’s other members include freshmen Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), who unseated former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) with $40 million worth of support from crypto political action committee Fairshake, Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), who received $10 million worth of support and Dave McCormick (R-Pa.), among others.
The Banking Committee is also holding a hearing on Feb. 5, though the specific time and witness list have yet to be announced.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) introduced a joint Congressional Review Act resolution alongside House Rep. Mike Carey (R-Ohio) to overturn the IRS’ recent crypto broker rule. The rule, finalized late last month, defines the term «broker» for IRS tax reporting purposes, but has already drawn a lawsuit from the Blockchain Association. The industry lobbyists argue the final rule «puts unlawful compliance burdens on software developers.»
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the new lead Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, is also asking the U.S. Office of Government Ethics to look into the TRUMP token. She sent an open letter co-signed by Massachusetts Representative Jake Auchincloss.
House of Representatives
The House Oversight Committee sent out a letter announcing it would investigate whether banks de-banked crypto companies at the government’s behest.
The House Financial Services Committee has already scheduled two hearings on crypto next month. The first, on Feb. 6, 2025, will focus on the aforementioned debanking. The second, set for Feb. 11, is titled «A Golden Age of Digital Assets: Charting a Path Forward.»
The leading Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Gerry Connelly, asked the panel’s leading Republican, Rep. James Comer, to probe Trump’s issuance of the TRUMP coin and his ties to World Liberty Financial.
Stories you may have missed
Coinbase Asks U.S. Appeals Court to Say On-Platform Crypto Trades Aren’t Securities: Coinbase has filed its request to file an interlocutory appeal with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, having received permission from the district judge overseeing its SEC case to do so.
Ethereum Core Developer Eric Conner Departs as Vitalik Dismisses Calls for Leadership Change: Ethereum and the Ethereum Foundation are going through some disagreements.
Vitalik Buterin Calls for Added Focus on Ether as Part of the Network’s Scaling Plans: Also relevant to that previous item.
Ledger Co-Founder’s Kidnapping Highlights Threat of Crypto Robberies: Ledger co-founder Davad Balland and his wife were kidnapped for ransom, and the kidnappers reportedly cut off his finger as part of the extortion scheme.
Real Estate Firm Propy Is Rolling Out Crypto-Backed Loans to Buy Houses: Propy is letting prospective buyers for a Hawaiian condo take out a loan by putting up collateral in bitcoin or ether.
This week
Tuesday
16:00 UTC (9:00 a.m. MT) The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in Custodia Bank’s ongoing case against the Federal Reserve.
Elsewhere:
(Sam Curry) Some security researchers discovered they could track and control certain Subaru cars (i.e. ones connected to the internet). The vulnerability has been patched, per the writer of this.
(Bloomberg) Walgreens spent $200 million replacing refrigerator doors with screens whose vendor is now in a legal fight with the pharmacy/convenience store chain.
If you’ve got thoughts or questions on what I should discuss next week or any other feedback you’d like to share, feel free to email me at nik@coindesk.com or find me on Bluesky @nikhileshde.bsky.social.
You can also join the group conversation on Telegram.
See ya’ll next week!
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Circle Valuation Is ‘Outside Our Comfort Zone,’ Initiate at Underweight: JPMorgan

Wall Street heavyweight JPMorgan (JPM) initiated coverage of stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL) with an underweight rating and an underwhelming $80 price target.
The shares were trading 4.5% higher at around $189 at publication time.
Circle is well positioned, the bank said, and its USDC stablecoin has an «early-mover advantage,» with growing use cases in payments.
«We think highly of the Circle management team and are confident in the outlook for outsized stablecoin and USDC growth,» analysts led by Kenneth Worthington wrote.
Still, the analysts see the company’s market capitalization as elevated, and initiated coverage with an underweight rating. The stock priced at $31 a share in its initial public offering (IPO), and hit a record high of $299 last Monday.
Other Wall Street analysts were not as bearish. Broker Bernstein initiated coverage with an outperform rating and a $230 price target, saying Circle was an «investor must-hold.»
«CRCL is building a market-leading digital dollar stablecoin network, with a strong regulatory edge, liquidity headstart and marquee distribution partnerships,» analysts led by Gautam Chhugani wrote.
Bernstein is also bullish about the wider stablecoin market, and expects total market cap to reach around $4 trillion in the next decade from $225 billion today.
Rival broker Canaccord Genuity started coverage of Circle with a buy rating and a $247 price target.
The firm’s analysts view the issuer of USDC as «having many of the key attributes that could make it a long-term winner in this potentially very large and new market for truly digital money.»
Read more: Circle Mania Grips South Korea as Retail Investors Pile Into Stablecoin Play
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Popular Financial Advisor Ric Edelman Says Investors Should Allocate Up to 40% of Wealth to Crypto

Prominent financial advisor Ric Edelman says investors should consider putting as much as 40% of their wealth into cryptocurrency, a bold recommendation that reflects how far digital assets have come in recent years.
“Today I am saying 40%, that’s astonishing,” Edelman told CNBC’s Crypto World on Friday. “No one has ever said such a thing.”
Edelman, founder of the Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals, has been active in crypto for over a decade. He first urged investors to allocate part of their portfolios to bitcoin BTC in 2018. In his 2021 book “The Truth About Crypto,” he described even a 1% crypto allocation as “reasonable” for most people.
Now, Edelman believes the case for crypto exposure is far stronger, pointing to what he called a “massive change” in the industry over the past four years. In particular, he highlighted growing political support for digital assets, especially following the election of U.S. President Donald Trump.
“Today, all those questions have been resolved,” Edelman said, referring to regulatory uncertainty and institutional hesitation. “It’s radically changed and is now a mainstream asset.”
Edelman’s firm, Edelman Financial Engines, manages nearly $300 billion in assets. Though traditionally known for retirement planning and wealth management, the firm’s growing attention to digital assets mirrors a broader trend among financial institutions embracing crypto as a legitimate asset class.
Even though Edelman described crypto as the “best investment opportunity of the decade,” he acknowledged that a 40% allocation may not suit everyone, suggesting a more conservative 10% for those with lower risk tolerance.
Edelman’s recommendation marks one of the most aggressive calls from a mainstream financial figure to date. Most financial advisors in the U.S. are currently recommending well under 5% to their clients.
Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.
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BitMine Immersion Stock Triples as It Raises $250M for Ether Treasury, Adds Thomas Lee to Board

BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) has secured $250 million via a private placement of common stock and will use the funds to launch an ether (ETH) treasury.
When the deal closes, expected July 3, the Las Vegas-based miner said it will rank among the largest publicly traded holders of ETH.
The financing, priced at $4.50 a share, brought together investors including Founders Fund, Pantera Capital, Kraken, Galaxy Digital and Republic. Cantor Fitzgerald advised lead investor MOZAYYX, while ThinkEquity placed the deal.
BitMine justified its choice of ether as a primary reserve asset saying Ethereum currently leads in stablecoin payments, tokenized assets, and decentralized financial applications.
“By having a direcT ETH treasury position, the company has access to native protocol-level activities, such as staking and decentralized finance mechanisms, on the Ethereum network,” the company wrote.
The move also reshapes BitMine’s leadership. Fundstrat founder Thomas Lee, long known on Wall Street for his crypto research and bullishness, was newly appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Lee said the round reflects “the rapid and continued convergence of traditional financial services and crypto” and set a new key performance metric for the company: ether per share.
SharpLink Gaming (SBET) is one of the few other publicly traded companies creating and ether treasury, having recently boosted it to 188,478 ETH. Most other companies creating crypto treasuries focus on bitcoin (BTC).
BitMine’s shares have more than tripled in premarket action to nearly $14.
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