Here’s what you’ll find in today’s edition:

• Trump’s crypto feats in his first 100 days. And what’s left to do.  

• Earnings season continues. This time we’re talking about cars.

• Trump’s tax and spending bill isn’t popular with all Republicans.

Crypto’s first 100 days under Trump

FDR had an eventful first 100 days after promising various reforms to combat effects of the Great Depression. 

We’re in no way comparing Franklin to Donald, but we’ll keep the political watchdog tradition of recapping a president’s initial actions within such a timeframe. (And we’ll focus on crypto).

Clearly the president’s rhetoric and tariff policies have spurred market shocks that have impacted crypto prices. 

But the actions and appointments that have had/are set to have a longer-term impact on the asset class? And what’s left on the agenda? Here goes.

First came the controversial Trump memecoin. Then, it took just three days after Inauguration Day for Trump to introduce his crypto-focused executive order.

“The organization of an interagency Working Group and a clear imperative from the White House to prioritize stablecoin legislation suggests the legislative endgame is near,” said Troutman Pepper Locke partner Alexandra Steinberg Barrage. (More on legislation later).

As we moved into March, we got an executive order for a strategic bitcoin reserve and a digital asset stockpile. The industry reaction was mixed. 

Looking ahead, another executive order to watch for might be one addressing Federal Reserve master account access for crypto players, Steinberg Barrage noted. 

A few days after the reserve/stockpile order came the White House crypto summit — marking a milestone for the industry, but lacking substance. 

Trump’s first crypto bill landmark came when he signed H.J. Res. 25 into law last month — nixing an IRS rule that opponents argued burdened DeFi players with unrealistic reporting requirements. 

Let’s move on to note what Trump has appeared to facilitate more indirectly. After all, as Foley & Lardner partner Patrick Daugherty told me, “Personnel is policy.”

Thus, he argued, Trump’s picks to lead the SEC and CFTC — Paul Atkins and Brian Quintenz, respectively — have been his two most impactful crypto decisions so far. 

“[The SEC] favors rulemaking and interpretation, rather than enforcement, as [its] primary regulatory tools,” explained Daugherty, who is also an adjunct digital assets law professor at Cornell and Northwestern.

Most of the SEC’s actions (rescinding SAB121, ending lawsuits) are covered here. Remember the agency’s roundtable on tailoring regulation for crypto trading? And there was a custody-focused one last week.

Looking ahead, the SEC is likely to address the uncertain application of the Howey and Reves cases to digital assets, the need for more crypto custodians and revise what Daugherty called “rearguard disclosure mandates” that hinder registration.    

“‘Come in and register’ must become a realistic opportunity rather than a false promise,” the law firm partner said.

As for the CFTC, it must gear up for the bigger role it will have in overseeing the industry, Daugherty noted. Quintenz, who has been working as a16z crypto’s policy head, “will assure alignment between the two agencies,” he added.

Seeing what Trump’s administration has done already in its first three-plus months, industry players continue to ask for more. 

As the last line of a Monday DeFi Education Fund letter to crypto czar David Sacks notes: “The job's not finished, and the stakes could not be higher.”

That letter was about what it called “unlawful DOJ overreach” in the prosecution against Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm. 

“No one writing code in good faith should have to fear prosecution for the actions of strangers,” they wrote.

Daugherty said he expects Sacks — tasked with leading crypto and AI efforts — to “promote these two high-tech industries as vehicles for economic growth in America, which is the foremost objective of the president’s economic program.”

The bigger elephants in the room? That would be the timeline around the market structure and stablecoin bills, which when finalized, will delegate detailed rulemaking to regulatory agencies.

“The main role for the White House is to assure coordination among the agencies and to prod reluctant senators and representatives to agree upon bills that the president can sign,” Daugherty said.

There’ll be plenty more to monitor in the next 100 days and beyond.

— Ben Strack

The Next Cycle Won’t Be Traded Into Existence.

It will be built by the teams scaling infra, refining UX, and shipping real products to real users. Permissionless IV brings together the people doing just that:

• Ian Barile (PayPal) – building stablecoin infrastructure into one of the world’s largest payments networks

• Michael Rihani (Coinbase) – leading onchain product across payments and emerging markets

• Uma Roy (Succinct) – shipping ZK infra that makes blockchain data faster, lighter, and easier to verify

June 24–26 | Brooklyn, NY | Get Your Tickets

The average cost basis for short-term bitcoin holders (less than six months), according to Compass Point analyst Ed Engel.

This group has recovered to breakeven after holding through a roughly 20% unrealized loss. Engel wrote in a Tuesday note that he expects a portion of them to sell and slow BTC’s rally.

He added: “Once BTC digests short-term holder supply, we think a break above $100,000 could be followed by new all-time highs.”

We wrote yesterday about Big Tech earnings, but we’re also keeping an eye on results in the auto industry. General Motors this morning kicked off earnings season for the so-called Big 3, which also includes Stellantis and Ford. 

In an uncommon move, GM released its Q1 report on Tuesday, but executives delayed its call until Thursday. The headline news from the release was that GM pulled its previous 2025 profit guidance, citing tariff policies. 

GM is also pausing an intended $4 billion share buyback — a plan the board approved in February. The automaker’s net income decreased 6.6% from Q4, but revenue increased 2.3%. 

Shares of GM opened lower on Tuesday (as expected), but gained as much as 2.8% following news that the White House will soften tariffs on the auto industry. The rally was short-lived, though, and GM shares had reversed the gains within the hour. 

The Trump administration said Tuesday that while the current 25% tariff on auto imports will continue, the 25% levy on metals (including steel and aluminum) will not apply. In other words, the two tariffs will not be “stacked.” It’s definitely not bad news, but I understand why it wasn’t enough to boost investor confidence too much. 

Coming up, Stellantis is scheduled to report tomorrow, and Ford’s Q1 call will be next week.

— Casey Wagner

Lawmakers are scrambling to pass President Trump’s “big, beautiful” tax and spending bill by Speaker Mike Johnson’s Memorial Day deadline. Disagreements within the GOP, though, are poised to slow things down. 

There are a few small but mighty groups of Republican lawmakers with some non-negotiables. They have threatened to derail the legislation should things not go their way. Main points of contention include overall spending and proposed clawbacks. 

So-called budget hawks, including Chip Roy (Texas), Andrew Clyde (Georgia) and Lloyd Smucker (Pennsylvania) have indicated that they want bigger budget cuts to compensate for the tax revenue decrease. 

The bill currently calls for a minimum of $1.5 trillion in spending cuts over a decade. Nonpartisan think tanks have estimated that extending Trump’s first-term tax cuts would decrease federal tax revenue by $4.5 trillion over a decade. 

There’s also a coalition of Republicans concerned about plans to clawback funding and limit tax credits associated with Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. Those against the proposal include Sens. Thom Tillis and John Curtis, who co-authored a letter insisting that the tax cuts allow for more investment in manufacturing and lower utility bills for Americans. 

Still, House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith said this weekend that they’re “days, not months” away from finalizing tax plans. In contrast, Republican committee member Darin LaHood said an early June timeline is more likely. 

Either way, this is the priority on Capitol Hill for the foreseeable future. So maybe don’t expect any crypto legislation getting through anytime soon.

— Casey Wagner

• Bitcoin was trading around $95,350 at 2 pm ET Tuesday. ETH’s price was nearly $1,830 at that time. 

• The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) appointed ex-BNY tokenization head Talia Klein to lead its wealth management services. Her digital assets experience “reinforces the firm’s commitment to the space, including its potential application across our clearing and securities services businesses,” DTCC exec Brian Steele said in a statement. 

• US spot bitcoin ETFs saw $591 million of net inflows on Monday, according to Farside Investors data — bringing its inflow total to nearly $3.6 billion over the last seven trading days. Meanwhile, US ether ETFs have brought in roughly $230 million during their three-day inflow streak.

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