Captain at the Helm: How the Crypto Industry Navigated the First Year of Donald Trump’s Presidency

• During his year in office, Donald Trump has become one of the key figures in the cryptocurrency industry.
• His decisions have affected regulation, the macroeconomic agenda, and the dynamics of digital assets.
• At the same time, the Trump family has built a large presence in the crypto business, intensifying the debate about conflicts of interest.

January 20, 2026, marks one year since Donald Trump took office as US president for the second time. This period has been eventful for the crypto industry, from high-profile memecoin launches and controversial personnel decisions to changes in regulatory practices and market volatility.

Over the past year, the president and his entourage have repeatedly found themselves at the center of events that directly or indirectly impact the digital asset market in the US and beyond. The Incrypted editorial team has compiled the key moments of the past 12 months that the politician has spent in the chair of the United States.

At the state level, Donald Trump quickly outlined his pro-cryptocurrency policy. In the first weeks after his inauguration, he began to form a team focused on revising the previous administration’s approach to digital assets.

Personnel appointments were one of the first signs of a change in the regulatory paradigm.

Howard Luttin, former CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, was appointed Secretary of Commerce; economist Steven Muran joined the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and Scott Bessent headed the Department of the Treasury. The market paid particular attention to the appointment of Paul Atkins as chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a figure who has consistently criticized the practice of “regulation through coercion.”

At the same time, the administration launched institutional mechanisms for developing new policies.

In January 2025, Trump signed an executive order to create a working group on digital financial technologies. Its tasks included analyzing the regulation of cryptocurrencies and assessing the possibility of creating a national reserve of digital assets.

At the same time, in March, the politician ordered the creation of a strategic US Bitcoin reserve based on confiscated assets. As part of this, the fund is to be replenished without the direct use of budget funds.

Last summer, the regulatory course was enshrined in law.

In July 2025, the president signed the GENIUS Act, which established requirements for the security and auditing of dollar stablecoin issuers. In August, another significant step followed — permission to invest funds from 401(k) retirement accounts in crypto assets and other alternative instruments.

At the same time, law enforcement practices changed.

According to media reports, under the Trump administration, the SEC rolled back or suspended about 60% of cases against crypto companies. The market perceived this move as a softening of the regulatory stance, although the regulator emphasized that this was a matter of reviewing priorities, not abandoning oversight.

By the end of the year, the regulatory agenda had become less clear-cut. In January 2026, the Senate Banking Committee postponed consideration of a bill on the structure of the crypto market, and the media reported that the White House might withdraw its support for the CLARITY Act amid disagreements with industry players.

The “Trump factor” often causes a noticeable reaction in Bitcoin. Even before he officially took office as president, the market was growing, and the first cryptocurrency was breaking price record after record. Exactly a year ago, it happened again — Bitcoin set an ATH above $109,000.

However, the situation has changed over the past 12 months.

Donald Trump’s policies influenced the crypto market not only through specific initiatives. In 2025, Bitcoin constantly reacted to the White House’s macroeconomic decisions, primarily trade and tariff policies.

In February, the introduction of import duties against numerous countries caused the asset to fall below $100,000.

In the spring, the market entered a phase of increased volatility. The entry into force of some tariffs led to a price drop below $75,000. Trump’s subsequent statements about a possible postponement and the future course of the Federal Reserve (Fed) contributed to a recovery in prices — first to around $94,000 and then above $100,000.

Twelve months after the second US president took office, Bitcoin is trading at $91,000, according to TradingView. Thus, the “annual” dynamics of the first cryptocurrency turned out to be negative, with a price decline of over 10%.

Bitcoin BTC

Price:

$91,056

-1.84%

24h Volume:

$11.3b

Kупить

As we can see, the crypto market spent 2025 under the banner of the US macroeconomic agenda. Bitcoin began to react to the same factors as traditional markets: trade conflicts, interest rate expectations, and the president’s comments on future monetary policy.

In parallel with the government agenda, the president’s family’s crypto business was actively developing.

Two days before the inauguration, Trump introduced the TRUMP memecoin, and on the day she took office, Melania Trump launched the MELANIA token. Both assets quickly reached a multi-billion dollar capitalization but then lost most of their value, sparking lively debate in the industry.

In April, Trump Media & Technology Group announced the development of Web3 initiatives. This decision included the creation of the fintech brand Truth.Fi and the launch of a mobile game using the TRUMP token.

In addition, the World Liberty Financial project became one of the family’s key assets. In 2025, Trump declared more than $57 million in income from the WLFI token, and his sons acted as public representatives of the company and confirmed plans to tokenize real estate.

The president’s children’s activities deserve special attention. Eric Trump became an advisor to Metaplanet and a top manager at American Bitcoin, a mining company created in partnership with Hut 8. 

Donald Trump Jr., in turn, participated in the crypto market as an investor and consultant. At the same time, both sons of the US president are involved in projects that directly use their father’s image, as well as third-party Web3 companies.

These steps have strengthened the politician’s family’s presence in the infrastructure segment of the crypto market.

Presidential pardons are among the related events of the year. In January 2025, he released Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht from prison, and in March, the co-founders of the BitMEX exchange received pardons.

In addition, Binance ex-CEO Changpeng Zhao achieved a similar decision from Trump in October. The market also perceived such actions by the president as a symbol of the state’s softening policy towards the industry.

At the same time, in January 2026, the president publicly ruled out the possibility of pardoning former FTX head Sam Bankman-Fried. He emphasized that support for cryptocurrencies does not mean interference in criminal cases.

Overall, the past year has shown that Donald Trump’s influence on the crypto industry has been complex. Regulatory initiatives, macroeconomic decisions, and his family’s business activities have formed a contradictory but systematic picture.

And in this canvas, the crypto market turned out to be closely linked to US politics.

Let us recall that in one of our final reports, we analyzed both the Trump family and other industry players who had a significant impact on the industry in 2025: