Crypto industry dreams of a golden era under Trump

The sector expects lighter regulation and wider adoption under the President-elect, but some worry about systemic risks.

- Nikou Asgari and Chloe Cornish

In mid-December, two jubilant groups came together to celebrate their recent, interconnected turns in fortune: the freewheeling cryptocurrency industry and the family of the victorious US President-elect Donald Trump.

Trump's second son, Eric, was the star attraction at the Bitcoin Mena 2024 conference in Abu Dhabi on Dec 10. In front of a whooping crowd of industry figures, he assured them that his father would keep his promises to be "the most pro-crypto president" yet. Indeed, he drew a link between the two movements as victims of the same establishment.

"The nastiness in the system... guys, they made our life miserable," he said of the US government. "But had it not been for those attacks, I don't think my eyes would have been as open to the crypto industry... I saw them come after you. I saw them strip your bank accounts."

The dawn of Trump's second term promises to mark a turning point for crypto, bringing it out of the shadows and into the mainstream - and without the levels of regulatory scrutiny it has faced in recent years.

The industry believes the President-elect - whose family has a personal investment in the crypto story with its platform World Liberty Financial - and his Republican-controlled Congress will unleash a golden era for them.

BANKING ON TRUMP

On the campaign trail, Trump promised to create a strategic bitcoin stockpile, which would in effect turn it into a reserve asset, and to install a crypto advisory council. He has nominated Mr Paul Atkins, a pro-crypto businessman, to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Crypto owners are euphoric. When bitcoin broke through the US$100,000 (S$137,000) level for the first time, a month after the election, Mr Eric Trump called his father at 6am to relay the news.