New crypto regulations likely to be big favor to the Trump family, industry insiders say
On Tuesday, major US financial regulators published rules for the cryptocurrency industry that may reduce regulatory requirements and that insiders believe will benefit the Trump family’s ventures.The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued new guidelines for the cryptocurrency industry to answer the longstanding question of what does or does not qualify as a security, a classification that entails strict oversight.SEC chair, Paul Atkins, has dubbed the framework a “token taxonomy” for the sector.Published jointly with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the guidelines classify most of crypto-based assets as commodities, collectibles, payment tokens or “digital tools”, exempting them from the SEC’s more stringent oversight and disclosure requirements.Only blockchain-based representations of existing securities, such as stocks and bonds, remain classified as securities under this new framework.
Interviews with legal experts, lobbyists and crypto entrepreneurs suggest that these new rules may meaningfully lessen much of the crypto sector’s existing regulatory and disclosure requirements, and may spur additional institutional financial interest in crypto-based activities – market shifts that may be a boon to the Trump family’s various crypto projects.“This latest interpretation is in line with other actions taken by the Trump administration to facilitate the continued expansion of profit-making but socially valueless crypto issuance and trading activity free from most federal regulation,” said Todd Baker, a senior fellow at Columbia business school and Columbia law school.During Donald Trump’s second administration, the SEC has retreated from its prior approach under Joe Biden’s administration, as well as the first Trump administration, which entailed regulating the sector through frequent enforcement actions and approaching a wide slate of crypto-assets as securities.Atkins said Tuesday that the regulator was “not the ‘securities and everything commission’ any more” during his address announcing the guidelines, which took place at the Blockchain Summit, a Washington DC-based conference hosted by The Digital Chamber, a crypto-focused lobbying group.His remarks drew applause from the assembled crowd and the industry at large.
Cody Carbone, CEO of The Digital Chamber, said the SEC and CFTC’s announcements are “indicators that the agencies have a strong understanding of digital asset technology and the goal of balancing innovation with consumer protection”, and are a step toward solidifying “the US[’s] role as the crypto capital of the world”.In his official statement, Atkins said the guidelines were designed as a “bridge” while Congress works on more comprehensive legislation.That legislation, the Clarity act, faces an uncertain future as it moves slowly through Congress, partially delayed by debates between crypto companies and banks over the provision of interest for holders of stable coins.Summer Mersinger, the CEO of the Blockchain Association, a prominent crypto-lobbying group, said agency coordination “can help in the near term”, while legislation would “provide lasting certainty”.The Trump family’s crypto initiatives span several categories that, under Atkins’s “token taxonomy”, would be exempt from SEC oversight – namely, projects involving “meme coins”: a kind of cryptocurrency billed as purely speculative in nature.
Prior to his second inauguration in January 2025, Trump launched his own meme coin, called $Trump,In May 2025, the president hosted the 220 largest buyers of $Trump and held a private “reception” for the largest 25 buyers, who spent around $148m on $Trump tokens,First lady Melania Trump also released a meme coin, called $Melania,Narrowed securities classifications could increase institutional investors’ interest in cryptocurrencies like meme coins, according to Gracy Chen, the CEO of Bitget, a prominent crypto exchange,Meme coins and other tokens were “previously viewed as high risk due to enforcement uncertainty”, she said.
According to Baker, the senior fellow, guidelines reaffirm that other Trump-affiliated crypto tokens will not be considered a security.That includes the USD1 stable coin – a crypto token whose value is pegged to the US dollar – as well as $WLFI, a “governance token” that gives holders the ability to vote on the development of a crypto project.Both are issued by World Liberty Financial, the crypto company co-founded by members of the Trump family in 2024.Reporting by the Wall Street Journal suggests the Trump family has gained $5bn in net worth after the launch of its $WLFI token in September 2025; additional reporting by the outlet unveiled that associates of an Abu Dhabi royal secretly bought a secret 49% stake in World Liberty Financial as part of a financial deal valued at $500m, raising questions of a pay-to-play corruption scheme.American Bitcoin Corp, which was co-founded by Trump’s sons, may see less change.
“Compliance has always been the top priority for World Liberty Financial and, like every leading company in the industry, we will continue to follow the rules set forth by regulators and lawmakers,” reads a statement from World Liberty Financial,The company added that it did not correspond with the SEC and CFTC on these new rules prior to their announcement,According to Stephen Aschettino, a partner at the law firm Fox Rothschild who focuses on crypto and financial technology, the new guidelines would classify meme coins as “digital collectibles”, which neither fall under the SEC’s purview nor the CFTC’s,“That means there’s no mandatory disclosure, [and] no anti-fraud protections under securities laws,” Aschettino said,“That gap deserves serious public attention.
”Though called a bridge by Atkins, these rules may outlast Trump.Aschettino said while regulatory guidelines could be theoretically overturned by future administrations, it was harder to undo the ways crypto’s expansion could change financial markets.
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