America has a new leader. Yesterday, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States – and the first cryptocurrency-friendly one in the country’s history.
In his campaign last year, Trump openly voiced his support for the new asset class, with bold promises such as making the U.S. a global cryptocurrency hub and creating a strategic national Bitcoin reserve. However, on his first day in office, the issue was left entirely in the shadows.
Immediately after taking office, Trump exercised his powers as president by signing dozens of executive orders and presidential actions, mind you, none referring to digital assets.
“Today I will sign a series of historic executive orders. With these actions, we will begin the full restoration of America and the revolution of common sense,” he said during the inauguration speech, without making any reference to Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies.
Trump signs dozens of executive orders
Among those orders, the president-elect signed to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement and the World Health Organization, again; granted pardons to more than 1,500 of his supporters charged with crimes in the January 6, 2021 Capitol bombing, including people who attacked police; and ordered to continue operating TikTok for 90 days.
Trump continued to sign orders in the Oval Office of the White House, in which he addressed immigration promises, economic policies, and provisions to curb the enactment of new regulations pushed by the previous administration.
Thus, the President revoked several immigration orders from Joe Biden’s presidency and declared a national emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border. In this regard, he also ordered the federal government to resume construction of the border wall that began during his first term.
He also granted formal powers to the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, directed and proposed by Elon Musk. The office, dubbed “DOGE” – a name curiously reminiscent of the memecoin, Dogecoin – is not an agency of official character. Nevertheless, Trump seems willing to grant Musk wide latitude to recommend cuts in government programs and spending, according to information from the AP news agency.
New chairmen for the SEC and CFTC
In financial matters, Trump named new interim chairmen for the two main regulatory agencies, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Mark Uyeda remained at the helm of the securities regulator for the time being, while Caroline Pham took over as chair of the CFTC.
The change came in line with a previous promise by Trump to fire former SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, a personality who has long been viewed as hostile to the cryptocurrency industry. Gensler had confirmed weeks earlier that he would resign on January 20 after Trump’s inauguration.
Trump’s lack of comments about cryptocurrencies during his inaugural address, and then the lack of related executive actions, sent a clear bearish signal to the market that resulted in a huge cascade of over USD $1.2 billion in liquidations in 24 hours. Bitcoin retreated after reaching a new high above USD $109,000.
