By Tom Westbrook, Elizabeth Howcroft and Chibuike Oguh
NEW YORK/SINGAPORE/PARIS (Reuters) – Bitcoin, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency, neared a record high from the previous session on Tuesday in choppy trading as the top U.S. markets regulator unveiled a plan to overhaul rules for the sector.
hit a record $109,071 on Monday when Trump, who has promised to be a “crypto president,” was sworn in, but sank when crypto was not included in a flurry of executive actions on the first day.
Bitcoin prices rose 3.8%, while , the second-largest cryptocurrency, rallied 1.4% as the market shook off some of that disappointment.
New leadership at the Securities and Exchange Commission said Tuesday it has established a task force to develop a regulatory framework for digital assets, the first major move by the new Trump administration to overhaul crypto policy.
“The president moved quickly with his plan,” Coinbase (NASDAQ: ) Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal said in a telephone interview. “The SEC has made it clear that it understands that and wants to be a part of it.”
However, some analysts have warned of volatility until the Trump administration starts announcing concrete policies that the crypto industry has long hoped for.
“The digital asset market is disappointed that it was not mentioned in the inauguration speech or the executive orders on the first day,” said Geoffrey Kendrick, global head of digital asset research at Standard Chartered (OTC:).
“My guess is that Bitcoin will eventually fall until we get news from Trump on the digital asset. A break below $100,000 seems inevitable.”
Trump’s own “meme coin,” tagged $TRUMP, launched Friday night, fell on Tuesday, according to cryptocurrency price tracker CoinMarketCap.
World Liberty Financial, a separate Trump-linked crypto project, also said Monday that it had completed its initial token sale, raising $300 million, and would issue additional tokens. Trump has vowed to hand over management of his assets to his children, but ethics experts have criticized his crypto ventures for raising conflict-of-interest issues and fueling speculation in the volatile asset class.
The office of SEC Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda said Tuesday that the agency’s new task force will help draw clear regulatory lines, provide pathways to registration, disclosure frameworks and allocate enforcement resources.
Reuters reported earlier this month that Uyeda and fellow Republican Commissioner Hester Peirce were poised to launch a review of crypto policy.
Trump is also expected to issue executive orders in the coming days that will further promote Bitcoin adoption, Reuters and other media reported.
Speaking to the Reuters Global Markets Forum at the start of this week’s annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Jeremy Allaire, CEO of stablecoin issuer Circle, said he expects imminent executive orders that could allow banks to trade crypto, offer crypto investments to wealthy clients and hold it in portfolios.
