White Collar & Government Investigations Blog

Olshan white collar litigation partner Robert Appleton published an article in Law360 (subscription required) entitled “Reviewing Trump Admin's Rapid Pro-Crypto Regulatory Pivot.” In the article, Bob writes about the dramatic shift in the U.S. government’s stance on digital assets and cryptocurrency under the second Trump administration. President Donald Trump has reversed many of the Biden-era efforts by the SEC, IRS and FDIC to limit the technology via informal pressure on banks. Rather, the Trump Administration has publicly stated that it wishes to make “the United States the crypto capital of the world.” “Proponents of digital assets occupy every major position and appointment that affects the industry,” Bob explains. “The effects of these appointments and the regulatory approach has already been profound and resulted in a complete shift and a full reversal of the policies and approaches of the prior administration.” The industry is currently pressing for a regulatory framework as several bills are being considered in Congress, all of which are supportive of the industry. However the landscape is not all favorable. Without vigorous law enforcement in the space, victims are increasingly relying on civil litigation and federal and state law to recover losses, but limitations in the U.S. legal framework are hindering these efforts. Firms such as Olshan are being asked to fill the gap. “The U.S. still has a lot of further work to do to provide the necessary guardrails for this nascent industry,” Bob writes. “Once that happens and institutional investors become truly comfortable with entrusting assets and adoption of this industry truly takes hold, there is no ceiling for this ecosystem and how high prices could rise.”