New Trump Administration Will Be Crypto Friendly, Former CFTC Head Says
‘I think a Trump administration is going to… embrace this innovation,’ former department head predicts
MILWAUKEE, July 16, 2024 – A financial regulator in the first Trump administration said a second Trump administration would likely take a friendly stance on cryptocurrency to spur economic innovation.
Sarah Oh Lam
“I think a Trump administration is going to … embrace this innovation. I think it will be very positive to have government support rather than government resistance,” said Christopher Giancarlo, the former Republican chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Giancarlo’s comments came at a blockchain presentation here Tuesday at the Republican National Convention. The event was hosted by Mission Comms, a public relations group based in Milwaukee.
Giancarlo, founder of the Digital Dollar Project, a blockchain advocacy group, cited the Republican Party’s recent 2024 platform as evidence of an increased commitment to support the technology.
The platform stated the GOPs intention to end the Democratic Party's alleged "unlawful and unAmerican" crackdown on cryptocurrency.
Giancarlo praised the party platform for committing to ensure transactions remain free of government surveillance or control and give owners self custody. The platform also committed to preventing the creation of a central bank, which Giancarlo endorsed.
One day after former President Donald Trump made his running mate pick, Giancarlo said Sen. JD Vance, Ohio Republican, was also good news for the world of crypto.
“Vance has been notably positive on crypto, some of his online lectures show a real familiarity and a real appreciation,” Giancarlo said.
Alternatively, Giancarlo said that the Biden administration has shown “abject regulatory hostility” toward the industry and has chased innovators overseas.
Giancarlo, who was CFTC chairman from August 2017 to July 2019, said he believed a second Trump administration’s commitments could be more than just empty campaign promises because of Trump's emphasis on U.S.-based innovation.
“If Trump has been consistent on one thing from the beginning, it’s been the need for economic growth in the United States,” Giancarlo said.
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Giancarlo argued that Trump’s drive toward economic growth will push his administration to take advantage of the maturing technology’s potential. Giancarlo also said Trump and Vance have demonstrated an affinity toward individual financial sovereignty, a principle central to crypto.
Giancarlo said that regardless of the election outcome, the next administration must establish regulatory frameworks that will give the U.S. competitive advantage over adversaries.
“Whoever the next president is, the U.S. must lead in building domestic legal frameworks and then set gold standards [for crypto technology],” Giancarlo said.
