Forbes: How Trump Made Crypto Assets "Shape of America"

Light regulation, but coupled with U.S. dominance, Trump is turning cryptocurrencies into the shape of the United States. This article is from "How Trump's Bitcoin Policies Are Making The U.S. A Crypto Superpower" by Leigh Cuen, Senior Editor of Forbes, compiled and rewritten by Luffy, Foresight News. (Synopsis: Trump shouts the golden rule "gold price breaks through $3380", another case of market manipulation? (Background added: Trump's dismissal of Ball will cause disaster!) U.S. President Donald Trump (right) and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele both pursue economic strategies in favor of Bitcoin, making them unique in the global crypto market. Image source: Bloomberg Trump is overhauling cryptocurrency regulation, updating tax policies, and embarking on a national bitcoin reserve strategy that puts the U.S. on the path to becoming the first G7 economy to fully embrace cryptocurrencies. Forbes author Sandy Carter writes, "Trump's second administration is already reshaping the U.S. cryptocurrency landscape." Small countries like El Salvador have attracted bitcoin businesses by building strategic bitcoin reserves and crypto-friendly policies. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently restricted El Salvador's future bitcoin purchases, but it has accumulated about 6,101 bitcoins as a strategic reserve. Tether, one of the world's most profitable crypto companies, has reportedly also moved its headquarters to El Salvador. Similar to President Bukele of El Salvador, Trump attracted voters in the crypto space during his 2024 campaign. Last July, he made a compelling promise to the enthusiastic crypto crowd at the Bitcoin conference in Nashville. Susie Violet Ward, author of Forbes who attended the meeting, wrote that Trump called "the United States going to be a 'bitcoin mining powerhouse' and urged supporters to never sell bitcoin." Susie Violet Ward wrote: "The combination of political determination and financial innovation marks a defining moment in the Trump era and means that Bitcoin is gaining wider acceptance in mainstream politics." Despite the market chaos caused by Trump's erratic tariffs, his crypto-friendly policies helped the price of bitcoin avoid falling below the high of about $73,000 in the previous cycle. The relative stability of cryptocurrency prices may be partly due to the new softer regulatory stance adopted by the US government. The Republican Party sees Singapore's success with a minimalist regulatory approach and is adapting this crypto strategy to suit the situation in the United States Trump's crypto policy follows the light regulatory model of Singapore and Dubai Zennon Kapron, a Singapore-based fintech writer and director of the Asian Securities and Financial Markets Association, writes that Singapore has built a reputation as a crypto hub by avoiding complex regulation, and it doesn't even need to build a strategic reserve of bitcoin. "Crypto companies are pouring into Singapore not so much because of what specific measures the country has taken, but because it doesn't ban anything," Kapron said. He added that with a minimalist approach to regulation, Singapore became the third largest blockchain investment hub in the world in 2023, behind the United States and the United Kingdom. Trump sees the case of Singapore's rapid rise with a light regulatory model, and he has established a similar regulatory framework in his own administration. This relatively laissez-faire strategy is closer to the non-intervention policy enjoyed by crypto investors in other regions such as the Cayman Islands and Hong Kong. Along these lines, Trump signed H.J. Res. 25 on April 10, simplifying the otherwise complex (and sometimes operationally impossible) tax paperwork for decentralized finance (DeFi) brokers. Robert Woods, tax writer for Forbes, explains: "Taxpayers must know when they bought cryptocurrency, how much they paid, and what they received. For stocks and real estate, this may be simple, but for cryptocurrencies, it can be much more complicated. Many crypto investors make multiple purchases at different times and over many years." Although crypto users and companies are still required to report taxable events, simplifying paperwork makes it easier for Americans to comply with the law. The new tax guidance follows a letter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in March repealing a guidance that made it difficult for banks and thrifts to provide crypto services. Earlier this month, a DOJ memo revealed that the government had disbanded a team of prosecutors focused on crypto companies. Forbes contributor Andrea Tinianow writes that this shift by the Department of Justice could have a positive impact on pending court cases related to crypto privacy tools such as Tornado Cash, which will determine "whether developers are criminally liable for open source code used by others to commit financial crimes." According to a memo issued by U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, law enforcement will no longer act as a "digital asset regulator" that "regulates through prosecution" and will instead focus on cracking down on "bad actors." "The DOJ will no longer crack down on virtual currency exchanges, mix-in services and offline wallets due to their end-user actions or unintentional violations," the memo states. In short, the Justice Department does not hold developers who develop cryptographic tools, as well as tax-paying businesses that provide legitimate cryptographic services, accountable. The Trump administration wants the government to stop pre-encrypting the industry. Forbes tax writer Joshua Smeltzer wrote: "This move aims to reduce the regulatory burden, encourage responsible innovation, and ensure that banking activities are treated consistently regardless of whether the underlying technology involves blockchain or not." This may have been inspired by smaller countries that take a more relaxed approach to crypto regulation. Dubai-based lawyer and Forbes contributor Irina Heaver writes that hundreds of crypto companies, which are regulated by the Dubai DMCC, have poured into the UAE. They now contribute 7% of the UAE's gross domestic product (GDP). "Regulatory clarity is the cornerstone of Dubai's success as a crypto hub," Heaver wrote. Recently, President Trump's son Eric Trump and younger brother Donald Trump Jr. jointly announced the formation of a new bitcoin mining company, American Bitcoin, and Trump has made no secret of the reason he cleared the way for the crypto industry: aiming to bring high-paying jobs and crypto mining dominance to the United States. According to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, the most powerful crypto mining companies in 2022 are from China or Russia. Since then, dozens of companies have moved to Texas, but the shift stalled under the Biden administration. Now, Trump's second term coincides with the quadrennial bull cycle in the crypto market; Since Trump won the election six months ago, the price of Bitcoin has risen by nearly 30%. Abubakar Nur Khalil, a Forbes contributor, Bitcoin Core developer and venture capitalist, writes: "The price of Bitcoin rises sharply in every halving cycle, both in the year of the halving and two years later. Unlike previous halvings, investors can now take advantage of a growing number of financial instruments and methods to capture Bitcoin's price movements, from direct purchases of Bitcoin, Bitcoin...