Trump Bitcoin Report Card - Day 1
A report card after only one day in office? Yes. Trump made "day 1" promises so a day 1 report card is in order. That said, the term "day 1" might actually be debatable. Since being sworn in, I've wondered myself and have seen many people on social media interpret "day 1" differently.
"Day 1" can be viewed in a few ways:
- Day 1 is simply January 20th, the first day Trump was back in office. Simple.
- Day 1 starts on January 20 at noon when Trump was sworn in, yet since a day has 24 hours, "day 1" extends until noon on January 21. 24 hours in a day.
- Day 1 might leniently be considered "the first full day" in office, which is a commonly used phrase and would be January 21 and ending at midnight.
- If someone wanted to be exceptionally liberal about the term "day 1," he or she might interpret it figuratively as "the beginning days of the presidency," rather than literally one single day.
Either way, I considered "day 1" to mean January 20. In the least, I would consider it to be either option 2 or, in the very least, option 3. Option 4, to me, would be called "within the first 100 days" or "early" in the administration, but not "day 1." So, a "day 1" report card comes out today.
At the time this is being written, the "free Ross" pardon has come down. EST 07:05:20, bitcoin block 880272
- GitHub: https://github.com/crrdlx/trump-bitcoin-report-card
- First post: #757211
- Progress Report 1: #774165
| Pledge | Prior Grade | Current Grade | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fire SEC Chair Gary Gensler on day 1 | B- | A | |
| 2 | Commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht on day 1 | NG | A | |
| 3 | Remove capital gains taxes on bitcoin transactions | F | F | |
| 4 | Create and hodl a strategic bitcoin stockpile | C | D | |
| 5 | Prevent a CBDC during his presidency | C+ | B+ | |
| 6 | Create a "bitcoin and crypto" advisory council | D- | C- | |
| 7 | Support the right to self-custody | D | D+ | |
| 8 | End the "war on crypto" | D+ | B | |
| 9 | Mine all remaining bitcoin in the USA | D- | C- | |
| 10 | Make the US the "crypto capital of the planet" | C- | C- |
Comments
Pledge 1 - SEC chair - Gensler is out. This happened after the election and Trump took office. With the writing on the wall, Gensler announced he would resign, Trump picked a new SEC head in Paul Atkins, and Gensler left office just before Trump was sworn in. The only reason an A+ was not awarded was that Trump wasn't given the chance to actually fire Gensler, because he quit. No doubt, though, his quitting was due to Trump and the threat of being sacked.
Day 1 Grade: A
Pledge 2 - free Ross - Ross Ulbricht's sentence was just commuted. Going will "option 3" above, the pledge was kept. An A+ would have been a commutation yesterday or by noon today, but, let's not split hairs. It's done.
Day 1 Grade: A
Pledge 3 - capital gains - This requires either executive action and/or legislation. There was no action. Executive action can be done with the stroke of a pen, but it was not. Legislation is tricky and time-consuming, however, there wasn't even mention of this matter. This seems to be on the back burner since statements such as this report in November. See Progress Report 1: #774165 for more context.
To be fair, this is the "day 1" progress report. This one likely requires a bit more time to play out. The grade could be adjusted upward.
Day 1 Grade: F
Pledge 4 - bitcoin reserve - The prior grade was a C and it was dropped to a D. The drop was due to (a) no mention of a bitcoin reserve and (b) a flurry of altcoin action by Trump, rather than bitcoin activity or statements. Instead of a bitcoin statement, he announced the $TRUMP and $MELANIA meme tokens. Worse, the memecoins are not no-premine, Proof-of-Work coins, like the godfather of memecoins, Dogecoin. Instead, the TRUMP and MELANIA coins for purchase and have very questionable tokenomics with the vast majority of the supply pegged for the founders. Additionally, the Trump family's World Liberty Financial bought about $112 million worth of various altcoins. Notably, World Liberty bought wrapped BTC, not actual BTC. To a cryptocoiner's ear, this seems great. To the bitcoiner's ear, this grates.
This maybe didn't need to be a day 1 thing, but it could have been mentioned and the altcoin and memecoin action is not reassuring.
Day 1 Grade: D
Pledge 5 - no CBDC - Trump's Secretary of Treasury pick made statements that there was "no reason" for such thing. So, a solid B+ is awarded currently. To get to an A, there should be something official stated both as president and Secretary of Treasury if and when Bessent is approved. That said, a CBDC seems to be dead-the-water with the Trump administration.
Day 1 Grade: B+
Pledge 6 - advisory council - Trump seems to have been assembling a council between election and inauguration. That's good in that it's keeping with the pledge. However, the advisory council is a bit concerning as it appears to be heavy on the "crypto" and less on the "bitcoin" advisory side of things. At the top, David Sacks was named "crypto czar" and Bo Hines as executive director of a "Crypto Council."
The grade went up because a council of advisors is indeed being formed as pledged. But, emphasis seems to be on "crypto" and "bitcoin" is just lumped in. To get a higher grade, we need to hear talk and see action that distinguishes bitcoin as being not the same.
Day 1 Grade: C-
Pledge 7 - self-custody - Nothing new has been said on this. But, combined with pledge 8 about ending the "war on crypto," it stands to figure that the right to self-custody one's coins is implicit. The grade gets a slight boost, but we need to see more and more specifics to get out of the D's.
Day 1 Grade: D+
Pledge 8 - end war on crypto - Two things seem at play here. First, Gensler is out and the SEC is being reshaped. Hopefully, the roles of the CFTC and IRS can be ironed out and clarified, maybe with the crypto advisors' help. Secondly, Trump has fully degen'd into "crypto." The things he's done with his own tokens are pretty much exactly what the Gary Gensler's of the world have been crying over. On the positive side, Trump is effectively announcing in his actions that the war is over. So, it stands to figure that it's a free-for-all as far as what's okay in the crypto world (at least it is for Trump). The Wild West seems back.
The grade jumps to a B, but only a B. We need more time to see how this plays out.
Day 1 Grade: B
Pledge 9 - USA mining - Aside from being an impossible pledge (see Progress Report 1: #774165), a slight boost in grade is given here. A Jan. 4 report stated that the USA controls 40% of the bitcoin hashrate, the most in the world. AI searches today suggest the USA has 37-40% of the hashrate, followed by China and Russia (15-21% and 12% respectively). 37-40% is quite a lot for one country. It may be too much for one country as it leads to more centralization. Still, that's a lot. The USA won't mine all of the remaining BTC, but it should mine around 37% at this rate. If the USA becomes even more bitcoin (and, ahem, crypto) friendly, this hashrate may go even higher.
Day 1 Grade: C-
Pledge 10 - USA crypto capital - This pledge closely aligned with pledges 8 and 9. If the war on crypto ends, the USA becomes more crypto and bitcoin friendly. And, if the hashrate stays high and even increases, that puts the USA at the center of it all. What's more, I've recently heard less and less, actually none, of developers and businesses leaving the USA for other nations. The increased grades of pledges 8 and 9 help here.
However, there was a report on Jan. 17 that Trump would make "crypto a national priority." Three things: (1) here we see the "crypto" vs. "bitcoin" issue, (2) words and reports mean little, actions matter, and (3) this was literally the day before the $TRUMP coin dropped. So, in a way, Trump did make "crypto" a priority. But, it wasn't bitcoin.
Pledges 8 and 9 give a bump up to this grade, the recent altcoin and crypto actions by Trump drop the grade down. Net grade change: none.
Day 1 Grade: C-
Sources
- Initial Progress Report - Nashville speech - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiEIfBatnH8
- CryptoPotato "top 8 promises" - https://x.com/Crypto_Potato/status/1854105511349584226
- CNBC - https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/06/trump-claims-presidential-win-here-is-what-he-promised-the-crypto-industry-ahead-of-the-election.html
- BLOCKHEAD - https://www.blockhead.co/2024/11/07/heres-everything-trump-promised-to-the-crypto-industry/
- CoinTelegraph - https://cointelegraph.com/news/trump-promises-crypto-election-usa
- China vid - Bitcoin ATH and US Strategic Bitcoin Stockpile - https://njump.me/nevent1qqsgmmuqumhfktugtnx9kcsh3ap6v7ca4z8rgx79palz2qk0wzz5cksppemhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mp0qgszwaxc8j8e0zw9sdq59y43rykyx3wm0lcd2502xth699v0gxf0degrqsqqqqqpglusv6
- Capitals gains tax - https://bravenewcoin.com/insights/trump-proposes-crypto-tax-cuts-targets-u-s-made-tokens-for-tax-exemption
- Progress report 1 - Meeting with Brian Armstrong - https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/stock-market-today-dow-sp500-nasdaq-live-11-18-2024/card/exclusive-trump-to-meet-privately-with-coinbase-ceo-brian-armstrong-DDkgF0xW1BW242rVeuqx
- Michael Saylor podcast - https://fountain.fm/episode/DHEzGE0f99QQqyM36nVr
- Gensler resigns - https://coinpedia.org/news/big-breaking-sec-chair-gary-gensler-officially-resigns/
- Report Card Day 1 SEC chair - https://www.cnbc.com/2024/12/04/trump-plans-to-nominate-paul-atkins-as-sec-chair.html
- Crypto czar - https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/trump-names-david-sacks-white-house-ai-crypto-czar
- Investigate CP2 - https://www.cryptopolitan.com/crypto-czar-investigate-choke-point/
- Meeting with Brian Armstrong - https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/stock-market-today-dow-sp500-nasdaq-live-11-18-2024/card/exclusive-trump-to-meet-privately-with-coinbase-ceo-brian-armstrong-DDkgF0xW1BW242rVeuqx
- Michael Saylor podcast - https://fountain.fm/episode/DHEzGE0f99QQqyM36nVr Gensler resigns - https://coinpedia.org/news/big-breaking-sec-chair-gary-gensler-officially-resigns/
- SEC chair - https://www.cnbc.com/2024/12/04/trump-plans-to-nominate-paul-atkins-as-sec-chair.html
- Crypto czar - https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/trump-names-david-sacks-white-house-ai-crypto-czar
- Investigate Choke Point 2.0 - https://www.cryptopolitan.com/crypto-czar-investigate-choke-point/
- Crypto council head Bo Hines - https://cointelegraph.com/news/trump-appoints-bo-hines-head-crypto-council
- National hash rate: https://www.cryptopolitan.com/the-us-controls-40-of-bitcoins-hashrate/ Senate committee https://coinjournal.net/news/rep-senator-cynthia-lummis-selected-to-chair-crypto-subcommittee/
- Treasury Sec. CBDC: https://decrypt.co/301444/trumps-treasury-pick-scott-bessant-pours-cold-water-on-us-digital-dollar-initiative
- National priority: https://cointelegraph.com/news/trump-executive-order-crypto-national-priority-bloomberg?utm_source=rss_feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound
- $TRUMP https://njump.me/nevent1qqsffe0d7mgtu5jhasy4hmkcdy7wfrlcqwc4vf676hulvdn8uaqa3acpzamhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuurjd9kkzmpwdejhgtczyztpa8q038vw5xluyhnydj5u39d7cpssvuswjhhjqj8q42jh4ul3wqcyqqqqqqgmha026
- World Liberty buys alts: https://www.theblock.co/post/335779/trumps-world-liberty-buys-25-million-of-tokens-including-link-tron-aave-and-ethena?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss
- CFTC chair: https://cryptoslate.com/trump-appoints-crypto-advocate-caroline-pham-as-cftc-acting-chair/
- WLF buys wrapped BTC https://www.cryptopolitan.com/trump-buys-47-million-in-bitcoin/
- SEC turnover https://www.theblock.co/post/335944/trump-names-sec-commissioner-mark-uyeda-as-acting-chair-amid-a-crypto-regulatory-shift?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss