🪙 100 days of the crypto president

We haven’t hit it quite yet, but as we approach the symbolic 100-day mark of Trump’s second term, we thought it was worthwhile to check in on how the “crypto president” is doing on his ambitious campaign promises.

On the campaign trail, Trump pledged:

• To establish a national bitcoin reserve; 

• To mine all bitcoin in the US and take bitcoin to the moon; 

• To make the US the “crypto capital of the world”;

• And to reverse the previous administration and former SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s sterner stance toward the industry and end the “war on crypto.”

Bitcoin rallied immediately after the news that Trump had won the 2024 election and hit an all-time high on Inauguration Day, but as this chart shows, while it’s still higher than it was on Election Day, the coin’s price dipped below the six-figure mark at the beginning of February and hasn’t neared that mark since. 

Part of the reason has to do with promise No. 1: the bitcoin reserve. On January 23, Trump signed an executive order to establish regulatory clarity for digital financial technology, saying this was proof he was fulfilling his promise to make the US the planet’s crypto capital. But it wasn’t until March that he provided any details on the reserve, which would include not only bitcoin but other cryptocurrencies as well. While that was disappointing to some bitcoin purists, the real disappointment came from how the reserve would get its bitcoin. 

On the “wins” side of the column, Trump has created a new, crypto-friendly administration. The SEC, with Paul Atkins now confirmed as chair, has dismissed many crypto companies’ litigations, including those against Coinbase, Kraken, Crypto.com, and Ripple. Trump has also appointed David Sacks as his “Crypto Czar” and has staunch crypto proponent Hester Peirce leading the SEC “Crypto Task Force.” While some said the first Crypto Summit “delivered almost nothing,” others noted that “the mere fact that the POTUS has signaled openness and support for digital assets has completely changed the attitude toward crypto.” 

On the “losses” side of the column, we’ve got to point out that things are not going great for bitcoin miners. Or we could let this chart do the work for us. 

The Takeaway

It’s still early days, but we don’t have the space to get to everything this administration has done — which speaks to crypto and its future in the US being a priority for this administration. Trump signed his first piece of crypto legislation on April 10 and stablecoin bills are advancing through both the House and Senate. Still, some say that “the delta between campaign swagger and policy delivery is wide,” and many feel let down that “this is nothing like the raging bull market that was expected.”

We’ve got a much deeper dive into Trump’s progress on his crypto agenda here.

• Meet the Michael Saylor of solana: On April 7, Janover, an AI-powered real estate company, announced it had adopted a treasury policy that would prioritize solana as the principal holding on its balance sheet. Since then, the company has tripled down on its bet and now holds $21 million worth of the crypto. CEO Joseph Onorati told Sherwood News why he thinks solana is even better than bitcoin. 

• Why XRP may win the ETF race: There are over 60 altcoin ETFs in the race to be the next crypto-based ETF to launch in the US (solana having already won that race in Canada), including ones for solana, dogecoin, litecoin, and XRP. A new report from Kaiko Research found that XRP has not only the most irons in the fire, but also the overall edge for a number of reasons.

Meme coins were among the best-performing crypto sectors in 2024, but this year the sector has declined roughly 55%. Last week, though, the animal spirits rose, taking coins inspired by cats, dogs, frogs, and penguins with them.

What experts think the rebound foretells.