FRANCE – 2025/01/20: In this photo illustration, Trump Meme , Trump the Crypto president, is seen displayed on a smartphone screen. (Photo Illustration by Romain Doucelin/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Romain Doucelin | Getty Images
Cryptocurrency firm bosses are optimistic about the changes of comprehensive federal rules for the industry passing this year now that Donald Trump, who is a backer of bitcoin, returned to the White House.
The CEOs of Coinbase, Binance and Circle told CNBC they now see a clearer path toward securing some concrete rules on digital assets — unlike the previous U.S. administration, which took aggressive enforcement action against several major crypto companies.
Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong said that he sees crypto entering the “dawn of a new day” with a Trump-led U.S. administration.
“You have to remember: the last four years, we really felt like we were being attacked by this administration,” Armstrong told CNBC in a TV interview at the World Economic Forum’s annual event in Davos, Switzerland.
“They tried to weaponize the lack of clarity in the rules to really push back, even on the good actors,” Armstrong added. “There were some bad actors too, to be fair — but they even really tried to go after the good actors, I think, like us.”
Coinbase is the biggest crypto trading platform in the U.S. The firm often touts itself as a regulated alternative to offshore exchanges, like Binance.
Regulatory clarity to boost sector
On Tuesday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced the launch of a “crypto task force” aimed at “developing a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for crypto assets.”
The SEC panel will be tasked with developing a clear set of rules for the crypto sector, while also addressing issues regarding registration of coins, according to a statement from the agency.
Coinbase’s Armstrong said the current main priority for crypto as an industry is working to get legislation passed in the U.S. to offer clarity.
“The industry is just ready for this new change,” he told CNBC. “They’re ready for clear rules. And that’s our big push.”
Richard Teng, CEO of Binance, highlighted token issuance, trading and asset management as some of the key things he’s expecting to see progress on in terms of crypto-specific legislation in the U.S.
Teng said he sees “much clearer regulation” happening in the U.S. this year — and that this would be supportive for bitcoin and other digital assets.
“If you look at past cycles, this year will be a year that we see a new all-time high for the crypto industry,” Teng said in a CNBC-hosted fireside discussion in Davos, Switzerland.
Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, passed the $100,000 price milestone for the first time last year, as traders grew optimistic about the crypto industry’s prospects under a Trump administration.
As of Wednesday, the token was trading at a price of about $104,000, according to CoinGecko data.
U.S. strategic bitcoin reserve
Binance’s Teng is also expecting the U.S. to establish a strategic bitcoin reserve — something Trump suggested he’d do during his campaign.
Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Circle, said he believes “it would be prudent for central banks to hold some reserves in something like bitcoin,” adding this could cause a return to commodity-backed money.
“If we look back when we decoupled from non-sovereign commodity money, we really saw around the world incredible abuses through fiat and that goes on,” Allaire said. “The vast majority of governments in the world are significantly in debt.”
“It’s taken kind of open heart surgery, shock therapy, in a place like Argentina to get out of this vicious cycle. And I respect that this is a important topic for the U.S. government now,” he added.
Trump has previously suggested that a U.S. national bitcoin reserve could be underpinned by crypto assets seized from criminal operations, such as hackers and fraud rings.
Stablecoin laws expected
Along with a pro-crypto president, the U.S. now also has senators and representatives who are supportive of the technology and want to put regulation in place — something that’s “absolutely appropriate,” Allaire stressed.
Allaire noted there are already “American champions” in the crypto space such as Circle, Coinbase and blockchain platform Solana. “I think under this new administration, we’ll see very likely rapid progress in rule making and policy making to advance this industry,” he said.
Circle’s CEO sees the U.S. advancing legislation particularly around so-called stablecoins — digital tokens designed to be pegged to real-world assets like the dollar — given that there’s already bipartisan support in Congress for such tokens. Circle is behind USDC, which is one of the largest stablecoins.
The Clarity for Payment Stablecoins Act, a bill that seeks to establish a regulatory regime to license issuers of stablecoins, was working its way through Congress before last year’s election. It has yet to pass a House vote.
Larry Fink at the 2016 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
David A. Grogan | CNBC
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said President Donald Trump’s efforts to unleash capital in the private sector could have unintended consequences that would hurt the stock market.
“I’m cautiously optimistic. That being said, I have scenarios where it could be pretty bad,” Fink said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “I believe if it’ll unlock all this private capital, we’re going to have enormous growth. At the same time, some of this is going to create new inflationary pressures. I do believe that’s probably the risk that is not factored into the markets. I think the bond market is going to tell us where we’re going.”
The 72-year-old chief of the world’s largest asset manager said much will depend on how quickly the private sector can put capital to work. Trump has already touted massive private-sector promises to spend in the U.S., the latest example being the Stargate joint venture, where SoftBank, OpenAI and Oracle would invest $100 billion immediately for artificial intelligence infrastructure in the country. Plans call for the project to eventually invest a total of $500 billion.
“There are some very large inflationary pressures that we all have to be aware of,” Fink said. “And depending on how this plays out, there is a scenario where we’re going to have much more elevated interest rates because of inflation. And that’s going to have a very negative impact on the equity market.”
Fink said there is a possibility that the 10-year Treasury yield could retest the 5% level and even reach 5.5% if inflation re-accelerates in a meaningful way. If that happens, Fink said it would “shock” the equity market.
The benchmark 10-year note yield last traded at 4.62%.
Check out the companies making headlines in premarket trading. American Airlines — Shares sank 8% after the airline forecast an adjusted loss of 20 cents to 40 cents per share for the first quarter. That’s wider than the 2 cent loss expected by analysts LSEG polled. However, American reported an earnings and revenue beat for the fourth quarter. GE Aerospace — Shares gained more than 9% after fourth-quarter results surpassed analyst estimates on the top and bottom line. GE Aerospace reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.32 on revenue of $9.88 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG forecast earnings of $1.04 per share and $9.51 billion in revenue. Alaska Air Group — The airline stock advanced about 2% on the heels of better-than-expected quarterly results. Alaska Air also expects a smaller-than-expected loss per share of 70 cents to 50 cents in the current quarter, while analysts polled by FactSet were expecting a loss of 75 cents. Electronic Arts — Stock in the video game publisher pulled back 17% after the firm trimmed its third-quarter and full-year guidance for net bookings, citing a slowdown in its football gaming franchise as a key catalyst. AST SpaceMobile — Shares declined 17% after the satellite company announced a $400 million convertible note offering . Guidewire Software — The software stock traded rose nearly 5% before the opening bell after Goldman Sachs initiated coverage with a buy rating. Analyst Adam Hotchkiss labeled the company a leader in the cloud modernization for the property and causality insurance sector. Plexus — The aftermarket electronics product stock fell 9% after issuing a disappointing revenue outlook for the second quarter. Plexus expects revenue in the range of $960 million to $1 billion, while analysts polled by FactSet were looking for $1.60 billion. — CNBC’s Michelle Fox contributed reporting.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets China’s President Xi Jinping at the start of their bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, on June 29, 2019.
Kevin Lemarque | Reuters
BEIJING — China is emphasizing its willingness to negotiate as increased tariffs on exports to the United States may soon become a reality.
China’s Ministry of Commerce has always maintained communication with “relevant” U.S. authorities on economy and trade, ministry spokesperson He Yadong said in response on Thursday.
“The Chinese side hopes that under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, both sides will … strengthen dialogue and communication, properly manage differences, expand mutually beneficial cooperation and promote the stable and healthy development of China-U.S. economic and trade relations,” He added during a weekly press conference. That’s according to a CNBC translation of his Mandarin-language remarks.
Trump said last week that he spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping over the phone about TikTok and trade. The Chinese side’s readout did not mention the social media app, but said Xi called for cooperation and cast the two countries’ economic ties as mutually beneficial.
“Tariffs are not conducive to China or the U.S., or the entire world,” commerce spokesperson He said.
“China is willing to work with the U.S. to push bilateral economic and trade relations in a stable, healthy and sustainable direction,” He said, noting that was on the basis of “mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation.”
The comments echoed those of China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning on Tuesday.
“We stand ready to maintain communication with the U.S., properly handle differences, expand mutually beneficial cooperation and pursue a steady, sound and sustainable development of China-U.S. relationship,” Mao said when asked about negotiations over tariffs.
“China will also firmly defend its own interests,” she said. That’s according to an official English-language transcript.
Even if 10% tariffs are imposed on China, that’s far lower than the original 60% that Trump had floated during his campaign.
Hours after his inauguration on Monday, Trump reiterated plans for 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada, without specifying a figure for China. He said only that increased duties might be used to force Beijing-based ByteDance to sell social media app TikTok, whose future availability in the U.S. is now in question.
When asked about TikTok on Thursday, Chinese commerce spokesperson He said China “hopes the U.S. side will listen more to the voices of businesses and the public,” and “do more things that are conducive to economic and trade cooperation between China and the United States and the well-being of the people.”