David Yaffe-Bellany

Absolutely, a crypto cabinet, a crypto Congress, and a crypto policy wish list that just seems to get longer and longer day by day as the industry grows more confident about getting what it wants. I think the top of that wish list is that these lawsuits that the SEC has been filing against big crypto companies get dropped.

Absolutely, a crypto cabinet, a crypto Congress, and a crypto policy wish list that just seems to get longer and longer day by day as the industry grows more confident about getting what it wants. I think the top of that wish list is that these lawsuits that the SEC has been filing against big crypto companies get dropped.

And that's something that the industry is hoping happens very early in the new administration.

And that's something that the industry is hoping happens very early in the new administration.

In theory, yes, he's running the agency. The agency is bringing these suits and he could shut them down. It's unlikely to happen immediately, but I think at the very least, we're likely to see way fewer new suits. And I think some of those big cases that Gensler filed could disappear or get settled very quickly. So that's on the kind of the SEC front.

In theory, yes, he's running the agency. The agency is bringing these suits and he could shut them down. It's unlikely to happen immediately, but I think at the very least, we're likely to see way fewer new suits. And I think some of those big cases that Gensler filed could disappear or get settled very quickly. So that's on the kind of the SEC front.

There's also legislation that the crypto industry wants, and that has the potential to really shape the industry for the long term. Because, you know, we could always have a new SEC chair in four years or eight years who adopts the Gensler approach. But legislation could really kind of cement the industry status in Washington. Right.

There's also legislation that the crypto industry wants, and that has the potential to really shape the industry for the long term. Because, you know, we could always have a new SEC chair in four years or eight years who adopts the Gensler approach. But legislation could really kind of cement the industry status in Washington. Right.

And one thing that the crypto world has been pushing for is a bill that would essentially shift...

And one thing that the crypto world has been pushing for is a bill that would essentially shift...

regulatory control of the industry from the SEC, which is this aggressive enforcement agency, to a separate financial regulator called the CFTC for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which is much smaller, much less aggressive, and generally considered by the crypto world to be a kind of better, friendlier regulator.

regulatory control of the industry from the SEC, which is this aggressive enforcement agency, to a separate financial regulator called the CFTC for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which is much smaller, much less aggressive, and generally considered by the crypto world to be a kind of better, friendlier regulator.

Yes, exactly. But the crypto wish list actually goes on even further than that. And it includes things that just a year ago would have sounded like the most ridiculous pipe dream for the industry. So one that's getting a lot of attention is that the crypto world wants the U.S. government to create what they call a Bitcoin strategic reserve.

Yes, exactly. But the crypto wish list actually goes on even further than that. And it includes things that just a year ago would have sounded like the most ridiculous pipe dream for the industry. So one that's getting a lot of attention is that the crypto world wants the U.S. government to create what they call a Bitcoin strategic reserve.

And this is actually something that Trump talked about on the campaign trail and said he would do.

And this is actually something that Trump talked about on the campaign trail and said he would do.

So I'll start with the caveat that nobody's exactly sure what this is. But, you know, from the reporting that I've done and what people have said publicly, it sounds like what the crypto world is talking about is a stockpile of Bitcoin owned by the U.S. government. The same way that the U.S. government has gold sitting in a vault, it would have its own Bitcoin sitting in a digital wallet.

So I'll start with the caveat that nobody's exactly sure what this is. But, you know, from the reporting that I've done and what people have said publicly, it sounds like what the crypto world is talking about is a stockpile of Bitcoin owned by the U.S. government. The same way that the U.S. government has gold sitting in a vault, it would have its own Bitcoin sitting in a digital wallet.

And you can see why this is appealing for people in the crypto industry who are invested in Bitcoin. Because if the U.S. government suddenly starts buying huge amounts of Bitcoin, then the price will go up and those crypto investors will get richer. And the announcement of the creation of the stockpile would send all sorts of positive signals to the market and cause the price to go up further.

And you can see why this is appealing for people in the crypto industry who are invested in Bitcoin. Because if the U.S. government suddenly starts buying huge amounts of Bitcoin, then the price will go up and those crypto investors will get richer. And the announcement of the creation of the stockpile would send all sorts of positive signals to the market and cause the price to go up further.