Crypto Enters Common Sense Era As US Tech Czar Gets Down To Business #CriptoNews

A South African entrepreneur who spent time at PayPal, is pro-crypto, and just been handed a top tech job by Donald Trump. Before you blurt out your Jeopardy question, here’s a spoiler alert: it’s not Elon Musk. And here’s the real spoiler alert: the question is “Who is David Sacks?”

America’s new AI and crypto czar moves in the same circles as Musk, and the men have much in common. But this isn’t a thought piece on Musk (the internet doesn’t need another one of those) but rather an analysis of Sacks’ next steps now he’s been handed the private keys to America’s crypto kingdom. In the coming months, we’ll get a clear indication of whether the US is serious about making the nation a hub of web3 innovation – or whether its pro-crypto President is merely playing to the crowds.

Unpacking Trump’s Crypto Credentials

Before we delve into known unknowns, like which crypto initiatives the new US administration is serious about supporting, let’s start with the known knowns. Donald Trump wasn’t always a fan of Bitcoin – virtually no world leaders were at first – but he saw the light quicker than most and has been an unashamed supporter ever since.

We also know that he’s got no shame when it comes to making a quick buck from crypto, be it indirectly through investment group World Liberty Financial or through questionable but highly successful memecoins launched in his and his First Lady’s names. But only a cynic would assert that his decision to appoint a Presidential Working Group on Digital Assets, not to mention the SEC’s Crypto Task Force, was an attempt to justify his memecoin degeneracy.

On the subject of known knowns, another thing we know is that in his second and final term in office, Trump has hit the ground running, boasting of getting more work done in the first month than the Biden administration did in four years. While that particular claim may warrant scrutiny by the fact-checkers – who suddenly have a lot of spare time in which to parse such statements, now that the Facebooks and Twitters of the world have dispensed with their services – other Trump achievements are less qualitative.

He fulfilled his campaign promise to release Ross Ulbricht, the founder of darknet marketplace Silk Road, from a life sentence. This may seem a minor achievement, but Ross is worshiped within a certain libertarian corner of the crypto community, and in honoring his pledge to bring him home, Trump’s shown that he can keep his word on the small things. What then, about the big things like returning crypto innovation to the USA, from which the SEC under Gary Gensler, and with the encouragement of the Biden administration, effectively banished it?

Bringing the USD Back Home

The unabashed Americanism – frequently intermingled with protectionism – that’s defined Trump’s first weeks in office has been rampant. Broadly speaking, his administration aims to bring everything that’s great about the USA back to the USA, from oil production to manufacturing. So it’s no coincidence that one of the first tasks for crypto czar David Sacks is to address the matter of stablecoin regulation.

There’s a great irony in the bulk of the world’s stablecoins being denominated in USD and yet originating from overseas, out of necessity because of the previous administration. It must rankle with US officials that other nations are essentially capitalizing on the US dollar’s brand and stability, and yet little of these stablecoin issuances are controlled and governed by US regulators.

Sacks has already confirmed that stablecoin regulation is one of the first tasks he’ll be tackling, with the goal of giving US businesses greater regulatory clarity on the matter. This will allow them to potentially utilize stablecoins for payments and other services without fearing censure. Senator Bill Hagerty is proposing a bill that will provide new guidance on stablecoins and, ever the businessman, Sacks has been swift to point out the potential revenue that US-based stablecoins could generate while also helping to lower interest rates.

A phone call away at the SEC, Sacks will find an agency willing to lead on crypto matters under the leadership of Hester Peirce, whose character couldn’t be more contrasting with that of Gary Gensler. While Peirce broadly views crypto as an opportunity rather than a threat that must be regulated to kingdom come, she’s naturally keen to prove she’s no pushover, which means that protecting investors must still take priority.

Under her stewardship, it appears that the SEC’s definition of investor protection will evolve beyond suing any US-adjacent startup that dares to issue a token or dabble in crypto staking. Rather, the agency will focus on practical steps such as clarifying the rules that constitute a digital asset being a security – sensible stuff that will doubtless keep the SEC’s Crypto Task Force busy for the months ahead.

Despite Trump’s famously autocratic style of leadership, there are signs that when it comes to crypto regulation, dialogue beats diktat. A roundtable of US Senators, as well as crypto figures such as Singularity Finance CEO Cloris Chen, recently met to discuss the treatment of digital assets, with the goal of making the US more crypto-friendly. Tax reform, stablecoins, and tokenized assets were among the topics of conversation, with attendees appearing to be broadly aligned in terms of the outcomes they’re seeking: more innovation, less bureaucracy.

Bitcoin Reserve, A Strategic One

With stablecoin regulation, token classification, and red tape reduction all in hand, and David Sacks promising major news on the crypto front very soonit seems the Trump administration has been adroitly addressing everything on its tech tasklist. During the historic White House Crypto Summit in early March, President Trump pledged to roll back regulations on cryptocurrency and announced plans for a US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR), a major pledge which crypto investors are praying will eventually go through. Expectations need to be tempered, however.

The short answer as to why this hasn’t happened yet is that it’s a simple concept to propose but a much more complex one to implement, requiring specialist boards, expert committees, and all manner of other policymakers to determine everything from digital asset composition to custodial arrangements. While it’s by no means certain that the SBR will soon come to pass, it remains months – at least – away from being implemented.

It’s possible that some of Trump’s bolder crypto pledges, will get kicked into the long grass, destined never to resurface. But even if the headline acts have to be quietly canceled, the appointment of figures like Sacks and Peirce signal that the reactionary era of US crypto policy is over. In its place has come something far less radical. The age of common sense crypto is here.