United States President-elect Donald Trump is considering creating a new White House post dedicated entirely to cryptocurrency policy, Bloomberg reported on Nov. 20.
Trump’s team is talking to industry executives to decide whether the role is needed, Bloomberg said. It is also reportedly vetting potential candidates, including at Trump’s residence in Mar-a-Lago.
The role would be the first-ever crypto-specific White House post. It highlights the crypto industry’s prominent role in the Trump administration.
Trump won over crypto voters by promising to make America the “world’s crypto capital” and to halt regulatory crackdowns on the industry.
Source: The Bitcoin Historian
Bloomberg said it’s unclear if the role will be a White House staff position or a “crypto czar” to coordinate policy among federal agencies, but crypto industry advocates are pushing for the role to report directly to Trump.
Related: Trump mulls tapping crypto-friendly CFTC chair: Report
The person is reportedly expected to direct a small staff and mediate between Trump, Congress and various federal agencies, including the US Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Executives including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and former Coinbase executive Brian Brooks met with Trump on Nov. 19, Bloomberg said.
Trump’s transition team is considering current and former CFTC officials to chair the financial regulatory agency.
Summer Mersinger, a Republican CFTC commissioner who has urged the regulator to take a more accommodating stance on crypto, is among those under consideration to chair the agency, Reuters reported.
Mersinger has objected to the CFTC’s handling of enforcement actions against crypto firms, criticizing the agency for what Mersinger described as “regulation through enforcement.”
On Nov. 19, Trump chose Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick to be his secretary of commerce. Lutnick has a long record as a cryptocurrency proponent.
Shares of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase surged past $300 in November for the first time since 2021 after Trump won the US presidential election on Nov. 5.
“We see Coinbase as a beneficiary of the election results as the firm has been struggling with regulatory pressure from the SEC, with the firm actively fighting the agency in court,” Michale Miller, an equities researcher at Morningstar, said in a Nov. 7 research note.
“With the incoming Donald Trump administration expected to be more favorable to the cryptocurrency industry, the firm’s staking business will face less regulatory pressure,” Miller said.
Magazine: Terrorism and Israel-Gaza war weaponized to destroy crypto