Circle CEO sees imminent Trump orders boosting crypto
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire expects a series of executive orders from incoming President Donald Trump could dramatically ease regulatory hurdles and boost cryptocurrency adoption.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Allaire suggested these orders might enable banks to trade crypto, offer it to wealthy clients, and hold digital assets in their portfolios.
As the issuer of USDC, the world’s second-largest stablecoin, Circle stands to benefit from any regulatory clarity that allows financial institutions to integrate digital assets more freely. Pegged to the U.S. dollar, USDC is currently ranked as the eighth-largest cryptocurrency by market value.
Allaire pointed to the repeal of the SEC’s Staff Accounting Bulletin 121, which he described as a major barrier for banks and corporations looking to hold crypto assets. “That’s something I think to watch closely in terms of EOs,” Allaire said, adding that Circle already works with banks as commercial partners.
Congress is also expected to increase its activity on digital asset regulation, Allaire noted, predicting that committee work on the topic would begin in earnest in the coming weeks.
Circle’s shares are being traded in the secondary market on a case-by-case basis, mainly involving early-stage investors and employees seeking to sell their holdings for liquidity. Circle has established a minimum valuation threshold of $5 billion for these transactions.
Circle’s valuation reached $9 billion in 2022 when it attempted to go public via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) deal with Concord Acquisition Corp. However, the proposed merger was mutually terminated in December 2022 due to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) delayed approval and the fallout from the FTX collapse and subsequent crypto winter.
Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad also stated that the new SEC leadership would likely take swift action. Shirzad suggested that such moves could bring banks more deeply into the custodial space to further advance the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
