Crypto is booming again. Trump's return explains both the rise and the risk
The jump in Bitcoin prices is part of a broader upward trend. Since Trump's re-election in November, Bitcoin has continued to climb steadily, its market capitalisation now surpassing even that of Google. It is not just Bitcoin. Total crypto market capitalisation has grown from under $2.5 trillion in June 2024 to $3.7 trillion now.
These developments follow a significant shift in US crypto policy. Trump reversed his earlier anti-crypto stance and appointed several pro-crypto figures in key regulatory roles: David Sacks as the White House crypto czar, Paul Atkins to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and Brian Quintenz to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
The SEC has dropped multiple enforcement actions and narrowed its interpretation of securities laws. The Justice Department shut its crypto enforcement unit on 4 April.
There were other policy signals, including an executive order prohibiting any US central bank digital currency and the creation of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve using government-seized assets. Trump has also announced plans for a broader 'Crypto Strategic Reserve" to include assets like Ethereum, Solana, and XRP.
Together, these actions signalled regulatory clarity and long-term policy alignment with the crypto sector, leading to higher investor confidence.
Capital moves
The regulatory clarity has boosted institutional interest in crypto. In the first quarter of 2025, venture capital investment in crypto startups reached $6 billion, according to PitchBook, compared with about $10 billion each in 2024 and 2023, when regulatory uncertainty and enforcement actions deterred large investors.
Asset managers have upped their exposure. Spot Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have seen strong adoption, with cumulative net inflows surpassing $50 billion by mid-2025. Total ETF assets stood near $140 billion, making them among the fastest-growing financial products this year.
The SEC's rollback of SAB 121, an accounting rule, has removed key custodial barriers for banks. The US Department of Labor has also eased restrictions on crypto allocations in retirement accounts. These moves have helped integrate crypto into mainstream financial products, bringing back banks, pension funds, and institutional allocators.
Token stability
Another area that has seen action under Trump is stablecoins—digital tokens pegged to fiat currencies like the US dollar. According to Forbes, the total market capitalisation of the world's top five stablecoins is $230 billion. Business-to-business stablecoin payments increased from under $100 million to over $3 billion per month over the past year.
This expansion, again, was driven by regulatory action. In June, the US Senate passed the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act. It provided a clear legal framework, mandated strict customer protection standards, and imposed know-your-customer and anti-money laundering compliance.
Adoption has grown across financial services, as companies use stablecoins for payroll, treasury management, and cross-border payments. PayPal and Visa are integrating stablecoins for payments. Stripe launched stablecoin financial accounts in 101 countries. BNY Mellon, a major custody bank, has moved to hold reserves for Ripple's stablecoin, a sign of stablecoins' integration into mainstream financial infrastructure. Ripple, which issues the XRP cryptocurrency, launched the RLUSD stablecoin in July.
Risk layer
Recent developments related to cryptocurrencies, however, have renewed concerns over volatility, regulatory gaps, and illicit activity. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies remain sensitive to political signals. The GENIUS Act has raised questions about unintended consequences, including financial instability and consumer harm. Market participants cite 'random policy shocks" and 'instant dumps" linked to presidential remarks.
Illicit use remains significant. In 2024, hacks caused $2.2 billion in losses, with stablecoins accounting for 63% of illicit crypto transaction volume. Ransomware payments reached $75 million. In the first half of 2025, crypto phishing attacks in the Web3 ecosystem led to $39.7 million in losses across 43,000 addresses, using tactics such as wallet-level bulk approvals, impersonation via social media, deepfake-led social engineering, and malicious browser tools.
Additional concerns relate to conflicts of interest. Trump has launched the $TRUMP meme coin, followed by a separate digital token from US First Lady Melania Trump. The family also holds stakes in World Liberty Financial, issuer of the USD1 stablecoin and WLFI token. While regulatory clarity has boosted adoption, the close alignment between policy and personal financial interest has raised questions about transparency and governance.
www.howindialives.com is a database and search engine for public data.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
26 minutes ago
- Time of India
Gold climbs over 1% on safe-haven bids as Trump imposes fresh tariffs
Gold prices rose more than 1 per cent on Friday as investors sought safe-haven assets following U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of new tariffs, while silver reached its highest level in over 13 years. Spot gold gained 1 per cent to USD 3,356.93 per ounce by 2:43 p.m. EDT (1843 GMT), after touching its highest level since June 24 earlier in the session. U.S. gold futures closed up 1.4 per cent at USD 3,371.20. Global stocks fell after Trump ramped up his tariff assault on Canada, saying the U.S. would impose a 35 per cent tariff on imports next month and planned to impose blanket tariffs of 15 per cent or 20 per cent on most other trading partners. Trump this week also announced a 50 per cent tariff on U.S. copper imports and the same levy on goods from Brazil. "We are in an environment where the uncertainty premium is back in the market and gold is getting a safe-haven bid," said Aakash Doshi, global head of gold strategy at State Street Global Advisors. "I think the range in the third quarter is most likely between USD 3,100 and USD 3,500. It's been a very strong first half of the year, and I believe we're now in a bit more of a consolidation phase." Non-yielding gold tends to perform well during economic uncertainty and in a low interest rate environment. Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller on Thursday reaffirmed the possibility of a rate cut this month, with investors pricing in 50 basis points of cuts by year-end. Elsewhere, spot silver rose 3.9 per cent to USD 38.46 per ounce, its highest level since September 2011. The premium of the U.S. futures for silver, platinum and palladium against the London benchmarks rose after Trump's copper tariff announcement this week, leading to a spike in lease rates. "Traders unwound open positions on NYMEX/COMEX and had to borrow on the other side," said a precious metals trader, adding that this activity in the so-called white metals did not affect gold. Platinum gained 2.8 per cent to USD 1,399.13 and palladium climbed 6.5 per cent to USD 1,216.12. The rally in palladium is likely driven by speculation that Trump's upcoming " major" statement on Russia, expected on Monday, could involve sanctions that impact the metal, said Tai Wong, an independent metals trader. "Fundamentally palladium isn't great but if Russian supplies are interrupted this could run for a bit."
&w=3840&q=100)
First Post
31 minutes ago
- First Post
US may deport migrants to 'third countries' with just six hours notice under new ICE policy: Report
US immigration authorities can now deport migrants to other countries with as little as six hours' notice, under a new Trump administration policy aimed at speeding up removals. read more US judge rules Trump admin violated court order in deporting migrants to South Sudan. File Image/US Department of Defense via Reuters US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) could deport migrants to countries other than their own with as little as six hours' notice, according to a new memo from a top Trump administration official. Usually, ICE waits at least 24 hours after notifying migrants of their deportation to a 'third country.' But in 'urgent situations,' the agency can now carry out deportations much faster, said the memo dated July 9 from acting ICE director Todd Lyons. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Migrants could be sent to countries that have promised not to persecute or torture them, without needing further legal procedures. The new policy signals the Trump administration's intent to speed up deportations to countries around the world. In June, the US Supreme Court cleared the way for the administration to resume such deportations by lifting a lower court order that had blocked removals without first checking whether migrants feared persecution in the third country. Following that ruling, ICE deported eight migrants from Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, Sudan, and Vietnam to South Sudan. Reports say the administration also recently urged officials in five African nations—Liberia, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, and Gabon—to accept migrants being deported from other places. The Trump administration argues that the policy helps quickly remove people who should not be in the US, especially those with criminal records. However, critics warn that the policy is dangerous and cruel, saying it could send people to countries where they might face violence, lack connections, or not speak the language. Trina Realmuto, a lawyer representing a migrants' group challenging third-country deportations in court, said the new policy 'falls far short of providing the statutory and due process protections that the law requires.'
Mint
44 minutes ago
- Mint
Mint Primer: GPT-5 is coming, but can OpenAI retain its edge?
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has hinted at a GPT-5 launch in the coming months, but a host of legal and corporate issues—not to mention lurking Chinese rivals—could steal its thunder. Whether GPT-5 proves a leap or just an upgrade will decide its place in the AI race. Can GPT-5 be a game-changer? OpenAI's most anticipated model is expected to advance reasoning, memory and adaptability through persistent (human-like long-term) memory, better navigation and more autonomous, agent-like behaviour—steps towards artificial general intelligence (AGI). GPT-5 may also unify reasoning and multimodal functions, handling text, images, audio and possibly video with longer context windows and a mixture-of-experts system (that activates only parts of a model needed for a task) for speedier and more efficient responses. OpenAI also plans to drop suffixes like 'mini" and 'o" in favour of a unified GPT series. Can OpenAI's rivals queer the pitch? The AI race is relentless. If OpenAI launched GPT-4o, o3 and o4-mini, its rivals matched its offerings. Google has Gemini 2.5 Pro and Ultra, Meta has Llama 3, Anthropic has Claude 4, and xAI boasts of Grok-4. Meta and Amazon are also building AGI labs and poaching OpenAI talent. Google hired Varun Mohan, the CEO of AI startup Windsurf, which OpenAI failed to acquire. With AGI ambitions rising across the board, OpenAI faces pressure to reaffirm its lead. A delayed or underwhelming GPT-5 could shift the momentum, especially as enterprise users and developers increasingly seek more capable, reliable models. How are users responding to the development? saw 5.24 billion monthly visits, ranking fifth globally, as per Semrush May figures. Google and YouTube led with over 210 billion combined visits, while Meta's Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp totalled 25 billion. Reddit and X followed with 4.5 billion and 3.9 billion monthly visits, respectively. What else is dogging OpenAI? OpenAI faces lawsuits from The New York Times, India's ANI and authors over training data use, complicating GPT-5 release. Exits of co-founder Ilya Sutskever and researcher Jan Leike signal internal concerns over AGI safety. Meanwhile, faster, cheaper open-weight models like Meta's Llama, Google's Gemma, Mistral's Mixtral and China's DeepSeek offer greater customization. GPT-5 must deliver clear advantages such as autonomy or real-time context to stand out in a market shifting towards open and flexible solutions. How is OpenAI gearing up for the future? Altman says current AI models are already AGI-ready in many ways and generating 'real economic value." To stay ahead, GPT-5 must reduce hallucinations, improve memory and reasoning, and act more autonomously. Meanwhile, OpenAI is developing AI-first hardware and planning a browser to rival Google's Chrome. But concerns over AGI misuse persist. If OpenAI gets the balance right, GPT-5 could mark real AGI progress. Otherwise, it risks becoming just another overhyped release in a changing AI landscape.
