

Donald Trump has issued an executive order “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology.” The order prevents federal de-banking and regulatory pressure on legal industries, and creates a working group to evaluate creating a national stockpile of digital assets. The order also bans the establishment of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), highlighting concerns over risks to financial stability, privacy, and U.S. sovereignty. (White House)
An overhaul in leadership at the Senate Banking Subcommittee, SEC, CFTC, and Treasury have begun with vocally pro-crypto appointees:
*Digital Assets Chair at Senate Banking Subcommittee, Cynthia Lummis (Investing.com)
*Acting SEC Chair, Mark Uyeda (Reuters)
*Head of Crypto Task Force at SEC, Hester Pierce (Bloomberg)
*Acting CFTC Chair, Caroline Pham (Bloomberg)
*Nominated for Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent (Reuters)
The SEC under new leadership has rescinded SAB-121, which forced companies to treat all crypto assets as liabilities. (Investing.com)
Less than 24 hours after Donald Trump dove into crypto with meme coin $TRUMP, Melania Trump launched her own $MELANIA coin on Sunday. (Rolling Stone) On chain activity shows $47M from these World Liberty Financial treasuries were swapped into WBTC just hours before inauguration. (@DavidFBailey)
Bank of America CEO, Brian Moynihan suggests that banks will embrace crypto if new regulations allow it: “If the rules come in and make it a real thing that you can actually do business with, you’ll find that the banking system will come in hard on the transactional side of it.” (CNBC)
Chris Pavlovski, $3.6B Rumble CEO: “On Friday, Rumble $RUM made its first ever purchase of Bitcoin $BTC. It won’t be the last.” (@chrispavlovski) The video sharing platform also announced the development of a crypto wallet. (@chrispavlovski)
MicroStrategy has purchased another $1.1B in Bitcoin, bringing its total to $29.3B. (@saylor) Also announced was the redemption of $1.05B of 2027 convertible notes settled in shares. (MicroStrategy)
Critical Metals Corp (CRML) announced plans to purchase up to $500M in Bitcoin to its treasury reserves. (Critical Metals Corp)
KULR Technology (KULR) continues adding Bitcoin to its treasury with a $8M purchase, bringing its total to $50M. (KULR Technology)
Semler Scientific (SMLR) announced a proposed private offering of $85M in convertible senior notes due 2030, with plans to use a portion of the net proceeds for general corporate purposes, including the acquisition of Bitcoin. (Semler Scientific)
Ross Ulbricht, serving a life sentence for creating and operating the "dark web" marketplace Silk Road, has been pardoned. (New York Times)
Summary
The week began with Donald and Melania Trump diving into the cryptocurrency market, launching their own meme coins with Trump’s World Liberty Financial. On-chain activity shows $47M from these treasuries being swapped into WBTC just hours before the inauguration. Following this, Donald Trump issued an executive order titled "Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology." This order aims to prevent federal de-banking and regulatory pressure on legal industries. It also establishes a working group to evaluate creating a national stockpile of digital assets. Additionally, it bans the establishment of a central bank digital currency (CBDC). Alongside these developments, there has been a notable overhaul in leadership at key financial regulatory bodies. Vocally pro-crypto appointees include Cynthia Lummis at the Senate Banking Subcommittee, Mark Uyeda as acting SEC Chair, Hester Pierce heading the SEC's Crypto Task Force, Caroline Pham at the CFTC, and Scott Bessent nominated for Treasury Secretary. The SEC under new leadership has rescinded SAB-121, which previously required all companies to report all crypto assets as liabilities. Bank of America's CEO suggests that banks are ready to embrace crypto if new regulations allow it. Several companies, including Rumble, MicroStrategy, Critical Metals Corp, KULR Technology, and Semler Scientific, have either purchased substantial amounts of Bitcoin or announced plans to do so. Lastly, Ross Ulbricht, known for founding Silk Road, has been pardoned.