Crypto

Bitcoin enthusiasm rides high as Trump prepares to take presidential office

Published

1 year ago

January 18, 2025

Bitcoin enthusiasm rides high as Trump prepares to take presidential office

Bitcoin adjacent stocks got a substantial lift after the cryptocurrency’s price jumped over $104,000 on Friday.

Bitcoin mining behemoth, Mara Holdings (NASDAQ: MARA) was the biggest and most vocal, climbing by 13 per cent. It was followed closely by Riot Platforms (NASDAQ: RIOT), MicroStrategy Inc (NASDAQ: MSTR) at 7 per cent and Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ: COIN) at 5 per cent.

The original cryptocurrency’s good fortunes have been at the behest of Donald Trump’s election victory, based on the optimistic take that the incoming administration will take a more favourable approach to crypto, and Bitcoin in particular.

In December, Trump appointed Paul Atkins to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission. Atkins, who previously served as an SEC commissioner under President George W. Bush, has recently focused on digital assets. He is set to replace Gary Gensler, widely regarded as a crypto critic. Trump will also likely replace several SEC commissioners whose terms are set to expire during his administration.

Furthermore, crypto advocates and holders will soon shape U.S. policy on the emerging technology, following a series of nominations and advisory appointments by President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on Monday.

The crypto industry, after years of battling lawsuits and enforcement actions by the U.S. government, hopes the Trump administration will signal a policy shift. Officials will vet political appointees for potential conflicts, and some appointees have pledged to sell their interests.

The industry will host a sold-out black-tie ball in Washington on Friday, with ticket prices ranging from USD$2,500 to USD$10,000. David Sacks, serving as Trump’s artificial intelligence and crypto czar, plans to attend.

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Trump’s tenure will be cryptocurrency friendly

The reasons for the optimism surrounding the cryptocurrency’s future don’t necessarily begin and end with Trump either.

The president-elect has filled his inner-circle with a number of different cryptocurrency friendly personalities, most of whom are well-known and well-respected in the space.

Scott Bessent, a billionare hedge fund manager, is Trump’s pick for Treasury Secretary. He has expressed favourable views on cryptocurrency. According to a financial disclosure filed last month, Bessent holds shares in a BlackRock bitcoin exchange-traded fund valued between $250,001 and $500,000.

“Crypto is about freedom and the crypto economy is here to stay,” he said in July. “I think everything is on the table with bitcoin.” ‘

In a letter to the U.S. Treasury last week, Bessent stated he would divest his interests in the fund and other investments within 90 days of his confirmation.

Further, Trump selected Tesla’s chief and the world’s richest man to lead a government cost-cutting initiative called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Elon Musk, a longtime advocate for cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and dogecoin, has significantly influenced their prices through his public comments and the actions of his companies. The acronym for Musk’s cost-cutting agency, DOGE, references dogecoin, now the seventh-largest cryptocurrency with a circulation value of $4.5 billion, according to CoinGecko.

In 2021, Tesla purchased $1.5 billion in bitcoin, making it one of the largest companies to invest in cryptocurrency before selling most of its holdings. By September 2024, Tesla reported holding $184 million in unspecified digital assets, according to a financial statement. Musk did not respond to a request for comment via Tesla regarding his personal cryptocurrency holdings.

Read more: Tether Limited sets up first brick and mortar office in El Salvador

Read more: Cryptocurrency fugitive Do Kwon extradited to US

Trump to encourage leadership in crypto

Vice President-elect J.D. Vance held between USD$250,001 and USD$500,000 in bitcoin as of August 2024, according to a financial disclosure.

Vance co-founded the venture capital firm Narya, which has invested in Strive, Ramaswamy’s asset management company, and the video platform Rumble, as indicated on its website. In November, Rumble announced plans to allocate its excess cash reserves to bitcoin. The company also received a USD$775 million investment from stablecoin firm Tether last year.

When asked for comment on the crypto stances of Vance and Trump’s sons, Trump-Vance transition spokesperson Brian Hughes stated—without providing evidence—that bureaucrats in Washington had attempted to stifle innovation with increased regulation and higher taxes.

“President Trump will deliver on his promise to encourage American leadership in crypto and other emerging technologies,” he said in a statement.

Finally, set to collaborate with Musk at DOGE, former presidential candidate and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is the founder of Strive Asset Management.

Strive reported managing over USD$1 billion in assets as of September, and filed last month to launch an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that invests in corporate bonds for bitcoin investments.

In November, the company launched a wealth management arm aimed at integrating bitcoin into Americans’ investment portfolios, according to a press release from Ramaswamy.

In June 2023, Ramaswamy disclosed holding between $100,001 and $250,000 in bitcoin and between $15,001 and $50,000 in ether, a smaller cryptocurrency.

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Crypto

XRP Positions as Institutional Rail While RLUSD Enters Real-World Finance

Published

9 hours ago

January 28, 2026

Press Room

XRP Positions as Institutional Rail While RLUSD Enters Real-World Finance

XRP is cementing its role in live institutional payment infrastructure as Ripple’s RLUSD anchors regulated stablecoin settlement, signaling blockchain rails are now trusted, production-grade systems for global liquidity, cross-border payments, and high-value financial flows.

Crypto

Crypto Crime Wave Fueled by Chinese-Language Money Laundering | PYMNTS.com

Published

22 hours ago

January 27, 2026

Press Room

Crypto Crime Wave Fueled by Chinese-Language Money Laundering | PYMNTS.com

Cryptocurrency laundering was an $82 billion problem last year, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday (Jan. 27), citing data from blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis.

Chinese-language money laundering networks made up $16.1 billion of that total as they play an increasing role in crypto crime, the report said.

“These are groups that are growing exponentially,” Andrew Fierman, head of national security intelligence at Chainalysis, told Bloomberg, per the report. “We’re talking about growth of over 7,300 times faster than other illicit flows.”

Although China has outlawed crypto transactions, illegal activity continues as the government chiefly focuses on behavior that threatens capital controls or financial stability, according to the report.

The networks “have really embraced cryptocurrencies,” said Kathryn Westmore, a senior associate fellow at the Centre for Finance and Security at RUSI, per the report, adding that crypto provides “a way to launder the proceeds of cash-generating criminal activities, like drugs or fraud.”

The news followed a warning from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) in August, which said Chinese money laundering networks are now among the most significant threats to the American financial system, helping fuel the operations of Mexico’s most powerful drug cartels.

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“The networks have become effective partners because they can move cash quickly, absorb losses and leverage demand from Chinese nationals seeking to bypass Beijing’s strict currency controls,” PYMNTS reported Aug. 29. “By pairing cartel dollars with Chinese demand for U.S. currency, these networks have created what FinCEN called a ‘mutualistic relationship’ that strengthens both sides.”

Meanwhile, Eric Jardine, head of research at Chainalysis, discussed last year’s record-setting levels of crypto crime with PYMNTS in an interview published Monday (Jan. 26). Around $154 billion flowed to illicit addresses, the most ever recorded, and there was a 160% increase in illicit volumes.

“But treating that number as evidence of runaway criminal adoption may miss the more consequential story,” PYMNTS wrote. “What changed in 2025 was not merely volume, but the identity of the actors, the scale at which they operated, and the implications this has for banks, regulators, and the future architecture of financial blockchain compliance.”

The true inflection came from “a shift in who’s doing what,” Jardine said, adding that in 2025, nation states, most notably Russia, began taking part “in earnest in the crypto ecosystem,” chiefly through sanctions evasion.

Unlike earlier state-linked activity, like North Korea’s hacking campaigns, this was not marginal behavior at the edges of the system, but “industrial-scale financial activity conducted in plain sight,” PYMNTS wrote.

Crypto

Fixing BTC’s Quantum Issue Tops All Bitcoin Development Priorities, Says Willy Woo

Published

1 day ago

January 27, 2026

Press Room

Fixing BTC’s Quantum Issue Tops All Bitcoin Development Priorities, Says Willy Woo

Quantum risk is emerging as a decisive hurdle for bitcoin’s institutional future as sovereign investors weigh long-term resilience, pushing gold and BTC into sharper focus amid debt cycles, macro uncertainty, and geopolitical realignment, according to on-chain analyst Willy Woo.