WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� The price of bitcoin topped $100,000 again early Friday as a pumped up cryptocurrency industry expects early action by Donald Trump when he's sworn in as president next week.
Once a skeptic who said a few years ago that bitcoin 鈥� ,鈥� Trump has embraced digital currencies with a convert鈥檚 zeal. He's launched a and vowed on the campaign trail to take steps early in his presidency to make the U.S. into the 鈥渃rypto capital鈥� of the world.
His promises including creating a U.S. crypto stockpile, enacting industry-friendly regulation and event appointing a crypto 鈥渃zar鈥� for his administration.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e going to be very happy with me,鈥� Trump told crypto-enthusiasts at a last summer.
Bitcoin is the world鈥檚 most popular cryptocurrency and was created in 2009 as a kind of electronic cash uncontrolled by banks or governments. It and newer forms of cryptocurrencies have moved from the financial fringes to the mainstream in wild fits and starts.
The highly volatile nature of cryptocurrencies as well as their use by criminals, scammers and rogue nations, has attracted plenty of critics, who say the digital currencies have limited utility and often are just Ponzi schemes.
But crypto has so far defied naysayers and survived multiple prolonged price drops in its short lifespan. Wealthy players in the crypto industry, which felt unfairly targeted by the Biden administration, to help Trump win last November鈥檚 election. Bitcoin has surged in price since Trump's victory, topping $100,000 for the first time last month before briefly sliding down to about $90,000 earlier this week. Two years ago, bitcoin was trading at about $20,000.
On Friday, bitcoin rose about 5% to around $104,000 according to CoinDesk.
Trump鈥檚 picks for key cabinet and regulatory positions are stocked with crypto supporters, including his choice to lead the Treasury and Commerce departments, as well as of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Key industry players are throwing a first ever "Crypto Ball鈥� Friday evening, which promised on its website to include 鈥渁n elite lineup of musical entertainment鈥� to celebrate the first 鈥渃rypto president." The event is sold out, with tickets costing several thousand dollars.
Here鈥檚 a look at some detailed action Trump might take in the early days of his administration:
CRYPTO COUNCIL
As a candidate Trump promised that he would create a special advisory council tasked with providing guidance on creating 鈥渃lear鈥� and 鈥渟traightforward鈥� regulations surrounding crypto within the first 100 days of his presidency.
Details about the council and its membership are still unclear, but after winning November鈥檚 election, Trump named tech executive and venture capitalist to be the administration鈥檚 crypto 鈥渃zar.鈥� Trump also announced in late December that former North Carolina congressional candidate Bo Hines will be the executive director of the 鈥淧residential Council of Advisers for Digital Assets.鈥�
At last year鈥檚 bitcoin conference, Trump told crypto supporters that new regulations 鈥渨ill be written by people who love your industry, not hate your industry.鈥� Trump's pick to lead the SEC, Paul Atkins, has been a strong advocate for cryptocurrencies.
Crypto investors and companies chafed as what they said was a hostile Biden administration that went overboard in unfair enforcement actions and accounting policies that have stifled innovation in the industry 鈥� particularly at the hands of outgoing SEC Chairman Gary Gensler.
鈥淎s far as general expectations from the Trump Administration, I think one of the best things to bet on is a tone change at the SEC,鈥� said Peter Van Valkenburgh, the executive director of the advocacy group Coin Center.
Gensler, who is set to depart as Trump takes office, said in a with Bloomberg that he鈥檚 proud of his office鈥檚 actions to police the crypto industry, which he said is 鈥渞ife with bad actors.鈥�
STRATEGIC BITCOIN RESERVE
Trump also promised that as president he鈥檒l make sure the U.S. government stockpiles bitcoin, much like it already does with gold. At the bitcoin conference earlier this summer, Trump said it the U.S. government would keep, rather than auction off, the billions of dollars in bitcoin it has seized through law enforcement actions.
Crypto advocates have posted a draft executive order online that would establish a 鈥淪trategic Bitcoin Reserve鈥� as a 鈥減ermanent national asset鈥� that would be administered by the Treasury Department through its Exchange Stabilization Fund. The draft order calls for the Treasury Department to eventually hold at least $21 billion in bitcoin.
Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming previously proposed legislation mandating the U.S. government stockpile bitcoin, which advocates said would help diversify government holdings and hedge against financial risks. Critics say bitcoin鈥檚 volatility make it a poor reserve.
Creating such a stockpile would also be a 鈥済iant step in the direction of bitcoin becoming normalized, becoming legitimatized in the eyes of people who don鈥檛 yet see it as legitimate,鈥� said Zack Shapiro, an attorney who is head of policy at the Bitcoin Policy Institute.
ROSS ULBRICHT
At the bitcoin conference earlier this year, Trump received loud cheers when he reiterated a promise to commute the life sentence of Ross Ulbricht, the of the drug-selling website Silk Road that used crypto for payments.
Ulbricht鈥檚 case has energized some crypto advocates and Libertarian activists, who believe government investigators overreached in building their case against Silk Road.
