The Trump administration, launched in January 2025, has reached its first year in office. The past year was a period when a regulation-only stance toward the crypto industry rapidly shifted to ‘nurturing a national strategic industry.’ Here are the main policy achievements and the outlook ahead.
1. Main policy achievements of the past year
From right after taking office, the Trump administration focused on removing the structural obstacles that had held back the crypto market.
- Overhaul of regulators' leadership: It replaced the heads of major regulators, including the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), with pro-crypto figures. Moving away from the past approach of ‘regulation by enforcement,’ it began securing market autonomy through clear guidelines.
- Removing barriers to entry for financial institutions: It repealed the accounting guidance (SAB 121) that had restricted banks from holding crypto in custody. As a result, large banks began offering custody services and launching related financial products in earnest, widening the channel for institutional money.
- Stablecoin legislation: A stablecoin bill aimed at preserving dollar dominance was passed. It became the moment privately issued digital dollars were formally recognized as a means of payment within the regulated system.
2. Shifts in stance by key agency
| Agency | Main changes | Notes |
| SEC | Reviewing approval of altcoin ETFs beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum | Deregulation and market expansion |
| CFTC | Stronger oversight of crypto spot markets | Establishing commodity status |
| OCC | Allowing commercial banks to offer crypto services | Promoting integration with traditional finance |
| The Fed | Researching stablecoin-based payment systems | Supporting a private-sector-led ecosystem |
3. Policy outlook and key tasks ahead
From its second year in office, the administration is expected to go beyond simple deregulation and enter a stage of embedding crypto as core national infrastructure.
- Making Bitcoin a strategic reserve asset: Legislation to formally designate Bitcoin as a national reserve asset looks set to be pursued. This would be a symbolic step putting Bitcoin into the national asset portfolio as ‘digital gold.’
- Mining as a national strategy: It will likely try to protect the US mining industry and tie it to energy policy to secure leadership in mining. This fits the administration's economic stance of reviving the energy industry and creating jobs.
- Spread of regulated DeFi (decentralized finance): ‘Compliance DeFi’ that follows know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money-laundering (AML) rules will become mainstream and begin replacing parts of the existing financial system.
4. BITPRESS Insight: from volatility to institutional footing
The key point of the Trump administration's first year is that crypto is no longer ‘alternative finance’ but has been fully absorbed into a **‘US-centered mainstream financial system’**.
Investors and industry insiders should now focus less on simple price volatility and more on how US policy redefines the global standard for crypto. As US-centered crypto hegemony strengthens, Korea's regulatory environment also needs to change quickly so it doesn't fall behind the global trend.
