Crypto crowd ready for blue skies under Trump administration: Four-year harassment is over

After years of regulatory “harassment” under the Biden administration — as one notable investor described it to NYNext — the cryptocurrency community is celebrating Donald Trump’s inauguration as the end to a four-year “terror,” and heralding significant policy reversal aimed at legitimizing the industry. This shift is marked by the appointment of crypto-friendly officials like David Sacks as AI and crypto czar and the nomination of Paul Atkins for SEC Chair, plus the promise of day-one executive orders that will create a Bitcoin reserve and end debanking.“The entire market is relieved … we have a seismic shift in the approach and tone of the government and regulatory agencies,” Frank Chaparro, an early Bitcoin investor and director of special projects at crypto news site The Block, said.“What this means practically is, banks will be able to touch crypto — for the last four years they’ve been told they can’t.”Simply ending debanking — or refusing to work with clients because of their crypto connection — could be enough to help the industry flourish, sources say.“All those banks who worked with cryptocurrencies faced regulatory harassment,” Nic Carter, a crypto investor at Castle Island Ventures who raised alarm bells about Biden’s debanking efforts told NYNext.

Carter has labeled Biden’s so-called debanking efforts “Operation Chokepoint 2.0” — a reference to the Obama Administration’s Operation Chokepoint, which aimed to crack down on illicit activity, like drug sales, but ended up going after legal businesses like firearms dealers. Under the Biden administration, banks were told by regulators at the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) not to work with cryptocurrency companies, which handicapped the industry.Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen described the administration’s action as “terrorizing” startups — and said in an interview with Joe Rogan last month that banks were pushed to debank 30 sta...