White House Crypto Czar?

Plus: Trump's crypto business ties deepen.

Nov 28, 2024, 3:11 a.m.

We don't know a lot yet about Donald Trump's crypto plans, but we can at least see what's happened so far.

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The narrative

Nearly three weeks after the 2024 election, we're still waiting for clear signs of how President-elect Donald Trump's administration might approach crypto. Here's what we know so far.

Why it matters

A large chunk of the crypto industry is betting that Trump's administration will be friendlier toward crypto than President Joe Biden's administration was. Companies are filing for new exchange-traded products tied to crypto and prices shot up in the immediate aftermath of the election.

Breaking it down

The next administration may include a White House official specifically to oversee crypto policy. It's unclear just what this person might do, what sort of budget or staff they may command or just how much authority they will wield. Nevertheless, there are discussions about creating a crypto czar to either oversee policymaking or liaise with policymakers.

Bloomberg first reported that Trump might appoint a crypto czar.

As a White House position, the role would likely be more focused on political engagement than policymaking, perhaps as a liaison with federal regulators or the independent agencies. The czar could drive the White House's priorities around crypto — whatever those might end up being — as lawmakers draft bills. A lot remains to be seen.

Trump's business ventures also appear to be tightening their relationships with the industry. World Liberty Financial, the Trump-backed crypto project, sold $30 million worth of WLFI tokens on Monday to Justin Sun, best known for his roles with Tron and HTX (formerly Huobi), as well as his brief stint as an ambassador for Grenada to the World Trade Organization.

Prior to Sun's buy, World Liberty Financial had only sold about $21 million worth of tokens. At the $30 million mark, a company Trump controls would begin to receive proceeds from further sales — and Sun's buy pushed the total sales past that threshold. World Liberty Financial's sales, which had been sluggish prior to Monday, also saw additional boosts from other buyers after Sun's purchase.

World Liberty Financial announced Sun would join it as an adviser a day later.

Another of Trump's companies, Trump Media and Technology Group — Truth Social's parent company — is considering acquiring Bakkt, a crypto trading platform launched by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE, the New York Stock Exchange's parent company), according to The Financial Times. Bakkt's first CEO was Kelly Loeffler, who was later appointed a U.S. Senator and is the wife of ICE CEO Jeffrey Sprecher. Loeffler is also a co-chair of Trump's inaugural committee.

TMTG's interest in Bakkt was reported a day after Truth Social applied for a trademark for "TRUTHFI," which the application said would refer to digital wallet software that includes cryptocurrency payment processing and custody services. The New York Times first reported on the application.

• EU Approves Commissioners, Including Ones Who Will Likely Oversee Crypto Rules: The European Union has confirmed its slate of commissioners to oversee various regulatory priorities, including three individuals who may be responsible for the implementation and further development of rules around crypto.
• Ripple Drops Another $25M Into Crypto PAC to Sway 2026 Congressional Races: Ripple has committed $25 million to the Fairshake crypto super political action committee, bringing its fresh funds to $73 million so far for the 2026 election cycle. Fairshake already has $30 million left over from the 2024 cycle, so the war chest totals $103 million.
• Tornado Cash Sanctions Overturned by U.S. Appeals Court; TORN Soars Over 500%: The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the U.S. Treasury Department exceeded its authority in sanctioning Tornado Cash, saying "immutable smart contracts … are not the 'property' of a foreign national or entity." Coinbase was among the plaintiffs who brought the case.
• Vitalik Buterin Donated $1M in Ether to Coin Center Hours After Tornado Cash Victory: Coin Center, which has its own case over the Tornado Cash sanctions pending before the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, received $1 million from Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin.
• Crypto Gains Let Poor People Buy Houses, U.S. Research Finds, But Risks May Lurk: Crypto owners may have used their gains to buy houses at a greater rate than the broader U.S. population, the Treasury Department's Office of Financial Research said in a new paper. The office only had data through 2021, meaning the market collapse of 2022 did not figure into this week's report.

Wednesday

• The European Parliament confirmed its commissioners for the coming term.

• (404 Media) X, formerly known as Twitter, has objected to The Onion acquiring the X handles used by InfoWars after The Onion won a bankruptcy auction to acquire the assets of the media company founded by conspiracist Alex Jones.
• (The Washington Post) Crypto executives really want the U.S. government to establish a strategic bitcoin reserve.

If you’ve got thoughts or questions on what I should discuss next week or any other feedback you’d like to share, feel free to email me at [email protected] or find me on Bluesky @nikhileshde.bsky.social.

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See ya’ll next week!

Nikhilesh De

Nikhilesh De is CoinDesk's managing editor for global policy and regulation, covering regulators, lawmakers and institutions. When he's not reporting on digital assets and policy, he can be found admiring Amtrak or building LEGO trains. He owns < $50 in BTC and < $20 in ETH. He was named the Association of Cryptocurrency Journalists and Researchers' Journalist of the Year in 2020.