Once dismissed as the Wild West of finance, cryptocurrency is no longer getting the cold shoulder from the U.S. government, with a flurry of directives being given that are aimed at developing policies in regard to digital currency. A bicameral working group has been formed to focus on digital assets and building consensus around a regulatory framework for the industry.
“I love the concept that we see today – synergy with the administration, the House and the Senate – focusing not on ourselves, but focusing on working class Americans who desperately need to reduce their prices and increase their access [to financial services],” said Sen. Tim Scott, the Senate Banking Committee Chairman, during a press conference on February 4, 2025. He was flanked by other members of the working group, including President Donald J. Trump’s White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman, House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill, and House Agriculture Committee G.T. Thompson.
“That’s what the bicameral working group will help tackle. I have a preexisting working friendship with G.T. and French and John, and the good news is we come together already having proven the ability to work together to get things done for the American people,” Sen. Scott said. “The golden age has begun, and the good news is, it’s going to get better,” he added.
Sen. Scott also introduced legislation to establish a “clear regulatory framework for payment stablecoins,” which is cryptocurrency that would be pegged to the U.S. dollar. The legislation is called the GENIUS Act (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins).
“Stablecoins enable faster, cheaper and competitive transactions in our digital world and facilitate seamless cross-border payments,” Sen. Scott said. “This legislation will expand financial inclusion and provide much-needed clarity to ensure the industry can innovate and grow here in the United States, while protecting consumers and promoting the U.S. dollar’s global position. I look forward to working with our colleagues – including House Financial Services Chairman French Hill – to advance this legislation to President Trump’s desk.”
Even before President Trump returned to the White House last month, his predecessor had made moves to take a closer look at cryptocurrency through the lens of possibly integrating it into mainstream financial transactions. Through an executive order in March, 2022, he called on the government to examine the risks and benefits of cryptocurrencies.
But President Trump’s pace has been fast. Given that he touted the benefits of cryptocurrency during his campaign, and launched his own crypto coin on January 17, such a pace comes as no surprise.
“I’m laying out my plan to insure that the United States will be the crypto capital of the planet and the Bitcoin superpower of the world, we will get it done,” he said on July 27, 2024, during the Bitcoin2024 Conference in Nashville.
On January 21, 2025, the Acting Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mark T. Uyeda, launched a crypto task force dedicated to developing a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for crypto assets. In a press release, the SEC made clear what the objective is of the task force.
“Drawing from talented staff across the agency, the Task Force will collaborate with Commission staff and the public to set the SEC on a sensible regulatory path that respects the bounds of the law. To date, the SEC has relied primarily on enforcement actions to regulate crypto retroactively and reactively, often adopting novel and untested legal interpretations along the way. Clarity regarding who must register, and practical solutions for those seeking to register, have been elusive. The result has been confusion about what is legal, which creates an environment hostile to innovation and conducive to fraud. The SEC can do better. The Task Force’s focus will be to help the Commission draw clear regulatory lines, provide realistic paths to registration, craft sensible disclosure frameworks, and deploy enforcement resources judiciously.”
SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce will be the chairman for the task force. “This undertaking will take time, patience and much hard work. It will succeed only if the Task Force has input from a wide range of investors, industry participants, academics and other interested parties,” he said. “We look forward to working hand-in-hand with the public to foster a regulatory environment that protects investors, facilitates capital formation, fosters market integrity, and supports innovation.”
On February 3, 2025, President Trump announced that he had directed the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Commerce to work closely with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and the assistant to the President for Economic Policy, to deliver a plan within 90 days to create a sovereign wealth fund. Countries like Norway, and Saudi Arabia, have sovereign wealth funds. Those countries used their strong commodities export industries, primarily oil, to set up their funds. Norway’s fund is the largest in the world, a trove valued at more than $1.7 trillion in assets. It is not clear how a U.S. fund would be financed, but President Trump has mentioned that revenue earned from tariffs, could be one source, and there has been speculation on whether Bitcoin might figure into the fund.
