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

• How Trump’s executive order differs from Biden-era policy. 

• Why the end of SAB 121 is a big deal.

• It was a slow week for economic data but a big week for policy. Here’s what happened.

Executive order deja-vu 

President Trump yesterday issued his first crypto executive order. 

The news and ensuing chaos on Crypto Twitter reminded me of Biden’s crypto executive order, published in March 2022. 

Let’s take a trip down memory lane. Here’s what Trump’s report says, and how it differs from Biden’s plans: 

On CBDCs

Trump’s order prohibits federal agencies from establishing, issuing or promoting central bank digital currencies. It calls for any ongoing projects creating a CBDC to be “immediately terminated.” 

CBDCs “threaten the stability of the financial system, individual privacy and the sovereignty of the United States,” Trump’s order reads. 

Biden was less resolute on the topic. His administration struck a bit of a middle ground, saying they saw “merit” to a US CBDC but also acknowledged “potential risks and downsides to consider.” In the end, Biden directed agencies to create a report on the future of money and payment systems. 

We eventually got this report, which, like Biden’s executive order, said little definitively. The Treasury recommended “advancing” work on a CBDC and “prioritizing” improvements to cross-border payments. Spoiler alert, a CBDC was never developed. 

On “protection”

When it comes to security, Biden and Trump hold very different views on how to approach digital assets. 

Biden’s order focused on protecting consumers from the risks associated with investing and engaging with crypto. He also highlighted national security concerns, calling digital assets a threat to financial stability and a tool ripe for abuse from illicit actors. 

Trump’s EO also includes the term “protection,” but his administration is concerned with maintaining US dollar dominance and shielding citizens from the dangers of CBDCs. 

The Working Group

Trump’s order established a Working Group on Digital Asset Markets, to be led by “crypto czar” David Sacks. 

Included in this group are the chairs of the CFTC and SEC, attorney general and secretaries of the Treasury and Homeland Security, among other cabinet members. 

Trump’s Working Group “shall evaluate the potential creation and maintenance of a national digital asset stockpile and propose criteria for establishing such a stockpile, potentially derived from cryptocurrencies lawfully seized by the federal government through its law enforcement efforts.” 

As one source on the Hill told me last night, this is a long way of saying the “strategic bitcoin reserve is going to live in bureaucratic purgatory for a long time, maybe forever.” 

Biden did not create any such working group, or any crypto-specific advisory council. But he did task the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets to create a report outlining the various risks of digital assets. 

This report noted that crypto can pose a threat to financial stability, and it recommended Congress pass legislation designating rulemaking authority to appropriate agencies (something like a market structure bill, for example.)

Spoiler: This, too, has lived in political limbo for years. 

Only time will tell if this latest crypto executive order inspires more progress than Biden’s. 

But it’s worth noting that the industry excitement around Trump’s EO bodes well. Never underestimate what some well-funded lobbyists can get done on Capitol Hill.

— Casey Wagner

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The net inflows so far tallied by US ether ETFs exactly six months after the launches.

These products have welcomed $130 million of new capital in the three trading days since President Donald Trump was sworn in. Spot BTC funds have notched more than $1.2 billion of net inflows over that span.

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce — two days after being named leader of a new crypto task force — revealed SAB 121 would be no more.

Some context: A Staff Accounting Bulletin, or SAB, represents interpretations and policies followed by SEC divisions in administering federal securities laws-related disclosure requirements.

The SEC published SAB 121 in March 2022. It notably said that an entity “should present a liability on its balance sheet to reflect its obligation to safeguard the crypto-assets held for its platform users.”

Why does the crypto industry care so much about the agency rescinding this? 

Cantor Fitzgerald Howard Lutnick explained the issue pretty well in a video he posted to X in September — a couple months before Trump nominated him to lead the Commerce department.

There’s a misunderstanding that TradFi players don’t want to transact in bitcoin, Lutnick claimed. He added that for banks to custody a client’s bitcoin, “they would have to set aside their own money equal to that amount in sort of like a jail.”

Indeed, financial organizations told SEC Chair Gary Gensler that the bulletin “has curbed the ability of the associations’ members to develop and bring to market at scale certain digital asset products and services.”

The upshot? As VanEck research execs wrote in a December post detailing 2025 crypto predictions, this repeal “will pave the way for banks and brokers to custody spot crypto, further integrating digital assets into traditional financial infrastructure.”

Benchmark analyst Mark Palmer argued in a Friday note that this SAB 121 rescission “represents an even more meaningful game-changer for bitcoin and the broader crypto ecosystem” than a potential strategic bitcoin reserve does.

While SAB 121 was published in 2022, it wasn’t until last year that Congress sent a bill overturning the guidance to Joe Biden’s desk. He vetoed it.

Ava Labs deputy general counsel Wee Ming Choon told me last month that rescinding SAB 121 would be an act of “good will” that a new agency administration could take quickly. It seems that take was correct. 

Rest up this weekend, as another wave of developments is sure to come.

— Ben Strack

Happy Friday! We’ve made it to the end of Trump’s first week as the 47th president. Where we lacked in economic data this week Trump made up for in presidential actions. 

Here’s a recap: 

• Trump issued 46 actions after his inauguration on Monday. Of the most notable were actions declaring a national energy emergency, designating the southern border situation as an “invasion” and suspending the refugee admission program, effective Jan. 27. 

• It was a slow week for data, but one report we did get was US leading economic indicators, which showed a 0.1% decrease in December after a 0.3% rally in November. The end-of-year slowdown was expected. Analysts attribute the drop to decreased labor demands and a decline in manufacturing and building permits. 

• Initial jobless claims for the week ended Jan. 18 came in a bit above expectations at 223,000 vs. the forecasted 221,000. Unemployment for the week ended Jan. 11 was unchanged at 1.2%. The situation only solidified expectations that the Fed will opt to hold interest rates at their next meeting on Wednesday.

— Casey Wagner

• The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said it’s investigating “improper debanking of individuals and entities based on political viewpoints or involvement in certain industries such as cryptocurrency and blockchain.”

• Bitcoin’s price rose to ~$107,000 by 1:30 pm ET — up 3% from 24 hours ago. Ether had climbed nearly 2% to about $3,400 at that time.

• A16z crypto chief operating officer Anthony Albanese said the company will close its office in the UK “to focus on the US given the new administration’s strong policy momentum.”