rewrite this title President Trump Sidesteps Crypto on Day One – Decrypt

President Donald Trump began his second term, and crypto was notably absent from his administration’s list of priorities, at least on day one.

Neither his inaugural speech nor his initial “America First Priorities” executive actions mentioned digital assets, a strategic Bitcoin reserve, or the overturning of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) controversial rule “SAB 121,” as the crypto community had hoped for.

Most glaringly, Trump has yet to issue the long-awaited pardon for Ross Ulbricht, the controversial founder of the Silk Road marketplace, who is serving a double life sentence without parole. 

The omission of crypto-related actions disappointed proponents who had argued Trump would establish a presidential crypto council or announce plans for a Bitcoin reserve. 

Bitcoin reached a historic high of $109,000 before Trump’s inauguration and has since corrected to $102,000 following the president’s silence on crypto, dampening market optimism. 

The price of the world’s largest crypto has rallied nearly 50% since Trump’s election in November, driven by expectations his administration will introduce favorable policies to the crypto sector.

Instead of focusing on crypto, Trump’s initial executive orders focused on traditional priorities such as withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord and the World Health Organization, freezing federal hiring across most agencies, and dismantling systems that allowed migrants to schedule port-of-entry appointments. 

The 47th U.S. President also directed federal employees to return to full-time, in-person work, showing his stance against remote operations in government.

Trump also did not act on Executive Order 14067, a Biden-era directive on digital assets, drawing criticism from industry leaders.

Executive Order 14067 was seen as the foundation of “Operation Chokepoint 2.0,” a policy strategy that allegedly led federal agencies to increase enforcement actions against crypto companies. 

The VanEck Digital Assets division head, Matthew Sigel, specifically criticized Trump’s crypto czar, David Sacks, for failing to prioritize its repeal. 

“It was a miss to not repeal EO 14067, which encouraged every Biden agency to pursue max enforcement [with respect to] digital assets and led to … Chokepoint 2.0,” Sigel tweeted on Monday. 

The absence of immediate action has left the crypto community in limbo. The optimism that once surrounded Polymarket’s betting odds on a strategic Bitcoin reserve creation within Trump’s first 100 days has nosedived, crashing to a bleak 36%.

Those predictions followed Trump’s campaign rhetoric, where he promised to fight against the “unlawful and un-American crypto crackdown.”

Trump’s campaign rhetoric had painted him as a savior of the crypto industry. He promised to end the “Democrats’ war on crypto,” defend Bitcoin mining, protect self-custody rights, and turn the U.S. into a global leader in digital assets.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair