Tom Westbrook and Elizabeth Howcroft
New York/Singapore/Paris (Reuters) – Crypto markets tumbled on Friday, still holding below recent highs, even after President Donald Trump ordered a new task force to craft the industry’s long-hoped-for crypto regulations creating a US stockpile of cryptocurrencies.
has been broadly stable since Trump took office on Monday, pushing the world’s largest cryptocurrency to a new record high of $109,071. The last trader on Friday is around $106,000 as there is some euphoria around the hoped-for revolution in crypto-currency regulation.
Bitcoin was one of the most spectacular “Trump trades”, gaining 50% to break above $100,000 and hitting fresh highs since Trump’s victory in November.
Trump cashed in on the crypto campaign with promises to reverse the Biden administration’s crackdown on the industry and be the “crypto president,” and this week his administration began delivering on that pledge.
In an executive order on Thursday, he declared the digital asset industry “crucial” to American innovation, created a task force to craft new crypto rules and research crypto stocks, while the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) pushed accounting guidelines that The That The industry has said adoption of cryptocurrencies is lagging.
Those measures, while light on details, appeared to ease some disappointment after crypto reform failed to feature in Trump’s one-day announcement on Monday.
At 1714 GMT, Bitcoin was up 2.8% on the day at $106,048, and the smaller cryptocurrency Ether was up 4.1% at $3,383.
“What we’re seeing is a bit of profit taking in line with the uncertainty we’re seeing now from Trump,” said Nick Twidale, chief market analyst at ATFX Global in Sydney.
“It doesn’t build on some of its promises, but it probably won’t go as hard and fast.”
$ Trump token
Trump-related crypto ventures, including the meme coin known as $Trump and tokens issued by World Liberty Financial, have hit highs in recent days.
The $Trump token, launched last Friday, was trading around $32.62, according to CoinmarketCap, after losing about half its value from a peak of around $75 on Sunday. It was trading under $10 early on Sunday.
Adding to the chorus of critics who said the Trump coin and a similar melania melania coin launched by first lady Melania Trump raise ethical questions, top Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren took issue with U.S. regulators on Thursday.
“$Trump and $Melania pose serious risks to President Trump’s ability to impartially govern our people — and investors in these coins,” she wrote in the letter.
The White House did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment. Trump has pledged to manage his children’s assets.
Executive order
Thursday’s executive order also required banking services for crypto companies to be protected and banned the U.S. central bank’s development of digital currencies that could compete with Bitcoin and other established tokens.
The task force must provide a report by July recommending regulatory changes and assessing the potential for creating a national stockpile of digital assets.
Analysts say Bitcoin’s price gains may take a breather for a while until the implications of the policy directives become clearer.
“Although President Trump’s eagerly anticipated executive order on cryptocurrencies largely fulfilled his campaign promises, the lack of an explicit strategic reserve for Bitcoin left the crypto market reeling into the weekend,” said Jehan Chu, founder of Kenetic Capital, a Hong Kong Blockchain Venture. Capital firm.
