WASHINGTON, DC – Donald Trump was elected president again a year ago this week, although some of the crypto industry lobbyists say quietly that they feel like they have aged many years in these tumultuous 12 months, which saw a series of ups, downs and deep frustrations in the youth sector’s pursuit of American policies.
President Trump returned to the White House with broad support from crypto voters and optimism from many of the industry’s most prominent American leaders that he would secure his place in the American financial system. In many ways, that faith in the politician has paid off.
He quickly issued executive orders demanding advancements in crypto-friendly policies and the establishment of a bitcoin. reserve to hide government holdings as a long-term investment.
“From day one, he issued executive orders and asked agencies to pay attention to digital assets and how blockchain can increase transparency across government,” Cody Carbone, executive director of the Digital Chamber, said in a statement to CoinDesk.
In Congress, the industry went from being a pariah in 2022 (during its struggles with bankrupt companies and fraud prosecutions) to a top priority in 2025, with significant support from a president who made continued demands of allied lawmakers. In a striking example of rapid, bipartisan legislation, the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act was signed into law, the first major US crypto policy effort to do so.
The Trump administration’s Treasury Department and banking agencies have already begun trying to sort out its implementation, a lengthy process that moves through public comment periods and, eventually, through multiple rule proposals.
The GENIUS Act was intended as a companion to move forward alongside larger legislation that would establish ground rules for US crypto markets beyond stablecoin issuers. While that effort again passed the House this year, the Senate has yet to act.
As he continues to goad Congress, Trump has made some important appointments to lead US financial regulators. At the top of that list of cryptocurrency advocates is Paul Atkins, who was confirmed to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission. Atkins is a supporter of cryptocurrencies and made friendly new policies his top priority at the agency. Lately he has promised concrete rule proposals in the coming months.
Trump also installed Jonathan Gould, a former crypto lawyer, atop the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
“Last year saw what many thought impossible: a complete reversal of federal cryptocurrency policy, transforming the United States from a jurisdiction defined by regulation through enforcement to one that is vying to lead the global digital economy,” said Kristin Smith, president of the Solana Policy Institute.
On the flip side of his administration’s crypto progress, Trump’s volatile leadership has potentially threatened other parts of the agenda. The current prolonged federal government shutdown – the longest in history, surpassing the record set during Trump’s first term – has helped derail the Senate’s legislative work, including the most important US policy goal for cryptocurrencies: the market structure bill.
Polls have consistently shown that voters blame Trump and Republican lawmakers more for the shutdown than Democrats. The budget impasse not only redirects lawmakers’ energies toward resolving that dispute, but it has also furloughed federal workers who should focus on helping draft the legislation.
Even without shutting down government operations, legislative negotiations were at a precarious point, with some Republicans balking at the idea that the Senate version of the House Digital Asset Market Clarity Act was ready to move forward. Some crypto lobbyists have privately shifted their expectations to 2027 before Congress finishes that work, because next year’s midterm elections are expected to turn Capitol Hill into a political battleground where bipartisan action could become difficult.
The government’s closed doors have also paralyzed the industry’s search for product approvals and public offerings that need SEC approval.
And despite Trump’s orders to establish cryptocurrency reserves at the federal level, that project has not moved beyond the planning stage. Those working on it have suggested that congressional action may be necessary to clear the final hurdle to establishing the funds. Like other legislative efforts beyond the market structure boost, such as revising the tax code for crypto activity, this one could be waiting for a while.
Meanwhile, while the cryptocurrency industry has gained a long list of allies among Democratic lawmakers, Trump has drawn harsh criticism from members of the opposition party for his personal involvement in digital asset businesses. There are few corners of the sector that his interests and those of his family do not touch, and potential conflicts of interest for the president came to a head when the largest holders of his memecoin were invited to a private event with him.
Many of the top investors in Trump’s currency were foreign nationals, and the administration declined to identify those who attended the dinner and rubbed shoulders with the president.
Additionally, Trump’s successes in appointing regulators, such as at the SEC, the OCC, and in the slow restructuring of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, have been offset to some extent by challenges, such as having to withdraw his first choice as chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Most prominent industry leaders have warmed to Trump, and White House crypto events have seen CEOs and founders, such as the heads of Coinbase, Ripple, Tether, and Gemini, enthusiastically participate in the president’s celebrations. But while that relationship has strengthened, the president’s public popularity has fallen. In this first year of his second administration, Trump’s approval ratings have rapidly declined to levels not reached by other recent presidents, with 58% disapproving of the job he is doing, especially younger voters who had been relatively enthusiastic about his return to the White House.
With a series of state-level elections this week seen as potential bellwethers for congressional midterm elections a year from now, the voting public’s feelings about Trump’s presidency were potentially on display. A year after re-electing Trump, they dramatically rebounded to support Democratic candidates. If that holds for the 2026 midterm elections, Democrats could make gains in Congress and possibly regain the majority in the House, ending Republicans’ blockade of the executive and legislative branches of government.
If that happens under Trump, his crypto agenda may have to adapt to more overtly bipartisan cooperation during his final two years in office. But Trump’s first year has already delivered more policy gains than the industry had made before, and advocates say it is having significant results for American businesses.
“We have seen digital asset companies relocate their operations, expand their presence and increase their workforce as a result of President Trump and a pro-crypto Congress,” said Summer Mersinger, CEO of the Blockchain Association, who was most recently a US commodities regulator in this administration.
