Something is already moving in favor of the world of cryptocurrencies and digital assets, as Trump had announced in his election campaign. The SEC has moved a first step to ease the rules and on the market it is the euphoria has returned so much so that experts see bitcoin reaching levels of 130.000, 150.000 up to 170.000 within the year and even beyond.
Already yesterday the President of the United States, who in recent days has even launched together with his wife Melania two memecoins, in his video link to the World Economic Forum in Davos confirmed his intentions: “We will make the United States the capital of artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies“, he said. Then in the night he arrived a first step of the Sec in favor of Bitcoin. The Trump's conversion in the world of Bitcoin and crypto, who had previously called bitcoin a “fraud against the dollar,” gained traction during the 2024 election campaign, when the Republican spoke at the Bitcoin Conference. In December, Trump chose wealthy businessman Donald Trump as his advisor on artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies David Sacks, close to multi-billionaire Elon Musk.
SEC cancels Sab 121 and establishes Sab 122. Here's what it means
La Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), below the new guide chosen by President Donald Trump, Paul Atkins, a cryptocurrency fan, announced his retirement yesterday of a controversial picture that outlined strict requirements of information for financial companies holding cryptocurrencies.
The SEC has issued the so-called Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) 122, that cancel SAB 121 and allows financial institutions that hold cryptocurrencies on behalf of their customers to determine whether to declare the digital activities detained as liabilities. The SAT 121 required cryptocurrency custody providers and exchanges to treat customer holdings as both assets and liabilities, with the latter based on thehigh risk associated with cryptocurrency holdings. This has been a major point of friction for cryptocurrency firms, who had opposed the bulletin because of its alleged complication of accounting practices, but which also served to limit companies from holding cryptocurrencies. SAB 121, which was implemented in 2022, had actually been overturned by Congress, but was kept in place by a veto by former President Joe Biden. “Goodbye, goodbye SAB 121! That was no fun,” commented the SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce in a social media post.
Bitcoin seen picking up steam
A very profitable week is about to end for Bitcoin, with a provisional balance around +10%. To find better, you have to go back two months. “The recent reconquest of the 50-day moving average ($98.484) has mended the bearish tear from late December, projecting Bitcoin towards new highs,” say Websim analysts. Bitcoin rose from around $70 before the presidential elections in November to an all-time high of over $100.
Recently the BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has gone from crypto skeptic to crypto advocate. In 2018, Fink said the asset manager's clients were not interested in cryptocurrencies, but just this week he said bitcoin could go up to 700 thousand dollars, with institutional investors continuing to flock to instruments such as BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF.
A report from Chainalysis says that United States ed Europe are the two key regions driving growth, with institutional-sized transfers and increased on-chain activity. In particular, Europe is emerging as the second largest cryptocurrency economy globally, accounting for 21,7% of total transaction volume. The UK is in first place in terms of value of cryptocurrencies received, followed by Germany. Italy ranks sixth, with over $50 billion in cryptocurrency received on-chain.
“Bitcoin should remain the dominant cryptocurrency, with potential price targets reaching the 130.000 or 150.000 dollars by the end of 2025″ he says Gracy Chen, cryptocurrency expert and CEO of Bitget, a Web3 company among the most important cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, with 45 million registered users and 200 countries involved. “The broader cryptocurrency market, including altcoins, is expected to grow during specific cycles. Ethereum is expected to reach between $6.000 and $7.000, driven by its role in DeFi, smart contracts, and the growing value of Ethereum-based tokens and applications. Solana (SOL) is expected to be a major player with a forecast between $500 and $750, attributed to its strong performance and growing ecosystem, especially in the DeFi and NFT spaces”.
The establishment of the US cryptocurrency task force
The Chairman of the SEC, Gary Gensler, who had taken a hardline stance on cryptocurrency enforcement, resigned from the SEC earlier this week, and the U.S. Commission also announced this week that it would formation of a task force aimed at helping inform cryptocurrency regulation. “The working group,” reads the document signed by Trump, “will be charged with developing a Federal regulatory framework that regulates digital assets, including stablecoins, and to consider the creation of a strategic national stock of digital assets”.
Trump also signed a executive order which asks to further investigate the hypothesis of forming a national reserve of digital resources, although he did not explicitly mention Bitcoin. “President Trump will help make the United States the center of digital financial technology innovation by ending the aggressive enforcement actions and overregulation that have stifled crypto innovation under previous administrations,” the executive order reads.
