Bitcoin Approaches Record High as SEC Unveils Plan to Overhaul Crypto Rules

Bitcoin hit a record high $109,071 on Jan 20 when Mr Trump, who has pledged to be a "crypto president," was sworn in, but sank when crypto was not included in a flurry of executive actions on Day One.

Bitcoin approached the record high hit earlier this week on Friday as the top U.S. markets regulator announced a task force to develop a regulatory framework for digital assets.

Bitcoin hit a record high of $109,071 on Thursday as Trump, who has promised to be a “crypto president”, was sworn in, but sank when crypto was not included in a flurry of executive actions on Day One.

Bitcoin prices rose 3.8% on Friday while ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency, gained 1.4% as the market shrugged off some of that disappointment.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s new leadership said on Friday it had created a task force to develop a regulatory framework for digital assets, the first major move by Trump’s new administration to overhaul crypto policy.

“The president has moved quickly on his agenda,” Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal said in a phone interview. “The SEC has made it clear they understand that and want to be a part of that.”

Some analysts warned, however, of volatility until Trump’s administration starts to announce concrete policies long hoped for by the crypto industry.

“The digital asset market is disappointed to not have been mentioned in the inauguration speech or Day One executive orders,” said Geoffrey Kendrick, global head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered.

“I suspect Bitcoin will end up going lower so long as we get no news from Trump on digital assets. A break back below $100,000 seems inevitable.”

Trump’s own $TRUMP-branded “meme coin,” launched on Jan. 17, fell on Friday, according to cryptocurrency price tracker CoinMarketCap.

World Liberty Financial, a separate Trump-linked crypto project, also said on Jan. 20 it had completed an initial token sale, raising $300 million (S$406 million), and that it would issue additional tokens.

Trump has pledged to hand management of his assets to his children, but ethics experts have criticized his crypto ventures as raising conflict of interest issues and stoking speculation in a volatile asset class.

Acting SEC Chair Mark Uyeda’s office said on Friday the agency’s new task force will help draw clear regulatory lines, provide paths to registration, craft disclosure frameworks, and deploy enforcement resources.

Reuters reported earlier this month that Uyeda and fellow Republican Commissioner Hester Peirce were poised to kickstart the crypto policy overhaul.

Trump is also still expected to issue executive orders in coming days that will further promote Bitcoin adoption, according to Reuters and other media reports.

Speaking to the Reuters Global Markets Forum at the start of this week’s World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Jeremy Allaire, chief executive officer of stablecoin issuer Circle, said he expected imminent executive orders that could allow banks to trade crypto, offer crypto investments to wealthy clients, and hold it in portfolios.