{"id":20646,"date":"2025-01-26T19:16:16","date_gmt":"2025-01-26T17:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/this-week-trump-era-crypto-regulation-and-bitcoins-new-high\/"},"modified":"2025-01-26T19:16:16","modified_gmt":"2025-01-26T17:16:16","slug":"this-week-trump-era-crypto-regulation-and-bitcoins-new-high","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/this-week-trump-era-crypto-regulation-and-bitcoins-new-high\/","title":{"rendered":"This week: Trump-era crypto regulation and bitcoin\u2019s new high"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump was inaugurated as US president, bitcoin hit a fresh record, the Silk Road founder was pardoned, the SEC<\/span> let banks custody cryptocurrencies, and other highlights of the week.<\/p>\n

A volatile market<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This week the crypto market resembled a rollercoaster more than usual. On Monday night bitcoin tumbled from $106,000 to $100,000.<\/p>\n

By midday, however, the asset rebounded just as swiftly and set<\/a> a new all-time high (ATH) of $109,588 on Binance.<\/p>\n

After Mr Trump\u2019s inauguration came a more restrained dip to $100,000, then a fresh rise to $107,000. Volatility gradually subsided and, by week\u2019s end, the leading cryptocurrency went sideways around $104,000.<\/p>\n

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Hourly chart of BTC\/USDT on Binance. Data: TradingView<\/a>.\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the time of writing the asset trades at $104,980, with a market capitalisation of $2.07trn.<\/p>\n

Bitwise experts noted<\/a> that digital gold has become a portfolio hedge against \u201csovereign defaults\u201d, and its fair value is about $219,000. Yet volatility remains a barrier to broad adoption.<\/p>\n

Other large-cap assets broadly followed the flagship. Ethereum sits around $3,300, up 3% on the week. Solana fell 7.7% after last week\u2019s ATH.<\/p>\n

\"Snimok-ekrana-2025-01-26-v-16.39.44\"
Data: CoinGecko<\/a>.\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LINK climbed to 12th in the rankings; its price rose 10.5% in seven days to $25.25.<\/p>\n

Total crypto market capitalisation stands at $3.75trn. Bitcoin\u2019s dominance is 55.5%, Ethereum\u2019s 10.6%.<\/p>\n

Mr Trump and his TRUMP<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Mr Trump was sworn in on January 20th. He did not mention cryptocurrency in his inaugural address or in statements later that day, prompting a market pullback.<\/p>\n

Among them fell<\/a> the meme tokens linked to Mr Trump and his wife\u2014TRUMP<\/a> and MELANIA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The president\u2019s \u201cofficial\u201d coin plunged 58% on the week to $29. MELANIA dropped from $13 on Monday to $2.6 at the time of writing.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Snimok-ekrana-2025-01-26-v-17.13.03-1\"
TRUMP\/USDT performance. Data:\u00a0CoinGecko<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Snimok-ekrana-2025-01-26-v-17.12.29-2\"
MELANIA\/USDT performance. Data:\u00a0CoinGecko<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n

Meanwhile, Congress took an interest in the ethics of Mr Trump\u2019s crypto ventures, suspecting a possible conflict of interest.<\/p>\n

In a letter to the chair of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Congressman Gerald Connolly noted that the sitting president may profit from the World Liberty Financial (WLFI) platform and the TRUMP meme token. In his view, this potentially creates national-security risks.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cEthics experts have already expressed serious concern that Trump \u2018is literally cashing in on the presidency by creating financial instruments so that people can transfer money to his family in connection with the office he holds\u2019,\u201d Connolly stressed.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

At the same time, the positions of the overwhelming majority of TRUMP holders are<\/a> at breakeven or in losses of up to $1,000. Many in the market said the project\u2019s tokenomics is \u201coutdated\u201d and the coin itself has no utility.<\/p>\n

A first promise kept<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Despite the crypto community\u2019s initial disappointment, Mr Trump moved quickly. On January 22nd he signed<\/a> the pardon he had promised during the campaign for Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht.<\/p>\n

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Data: X<\/a>.\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The president phoned Ulbricht\u2019s mother, thanking her and the Libertarian movement for election support.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThe scum who worked on his conviction are the same lunatics who are involved in the modern weaponization of government against me. [Ross] got two life sentences plus 40 years. Ridiculous!\u201d, Mr Trump said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Many in the crypto community welcomed the decision and congratulated Ulbricht. They included bitcoin historian Pete Rizzo, the Satoshi Nakamoto Institute, Bitcoin Magazine\u2019s CEO David Bailey and others.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Coinbase\u2019s director of product Conor Grogan discovered<\/a> 430 BTC across dozens of wallets presumably linked to the Silk Road founder. The assets had sat untouched for 13 years and are not related to the roughly 174,000 BTC seized by the US government from the marketplace.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThey were probably dust wallets then, and now their total value is around $47m. Welcome back, Ross,\u201d Grogan wrote.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

What to discuss with friends?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
    \n
  • The head of Goldman Sachs called<\/a> bitcoin \u201cstill a speculative asset\u201d.<\/li>\n
  • Lawyer: decentralised prediction markets are not gambling.<\/li>\n
  • Justin Sun proposed<\/a> reforms for the Ethereum Foundation.<\/li>\n
  • OpenAI released an AI agent, \u201cOperator\u201d.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    A new direction for US regulation<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    After Mr Trump\u2019s inauguration, agencies and stakeholders felt freer to shape digital-asset rules. One of the week\u2019s key events was the resignation<\/a> of SEC chair Gary Gensler on the new president\u2019s swearing-in day.<\/p>\n