The future of America’s crypto industry will largely depend on the outcome of November’s presidential election. At the 2024 Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, former President Donald Trump outlined his ambitious vision for making America the “crypto capital of the planet and the Bitcoin superpower of the world.”
In addition to its symbolic significance, Trump’s appearance at the conference and his pro-crypto plan are historic firsts among major presidential candidates. Trump’s plan includes establishing a Strategic National Bitcoin Stockpile, appointing a crypto-friendly regulatory board, firing Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler, and ending the Biden-Harris administration’s “anti-crypto crusade.”
In stark contrast to the Biden-Harris administration’s approach toward cryptocurrency, Trump’s platform would invigorate the crypto industry and promote its growth.
The current hostility toward cryptocurrency has been spearheaded by SEC Chairman Gensler, a Biden-Harris administration appointee. The SEC, under Gensler’s leadership, brought a record number of enforcement actions against crypto industry players in 2023 and imposed $281 million in penalties from settlements in 2023 alone. The SEC has imposed a staggering $2.89 billion in penalties on the crypto industry through the end of 2023.
Gensler has aggressively targeted cryptocurrency industry stakeholders and companies, all the while failing to provide clear regulatory guidance for the crypto industry. Much of the SEC’s enforcement actions center on the question of whether cryptocurrency is a “security” under U.S. law (based on the Howey test).
No Explicit SEC Regulation
Despite Gensler’s belief that cryptocurrencies should be regulated as securities, there is no explicit SEC
