Two Days into His Presidency, Donald Trump Still Hasn't Issued Any Crypto-Specific Executive Orders, but hey, Even Jesus Waited Three Days Before His Big Reveal

BTC reserve delay starts to grate• Brian Armstrong's D.C. crypto wish list• Bank of America pumped for stablecoin payments• Coinbase shivs Tether• Trump memecoin controversy not going away• Democrats could stall digital asset legislation• SEC launches' crypto task force'• Binance's Tigran Gambaryan plots his comeback

Two days into his presidency, Donald Trump still hasn’t issued any crypto-specific executive orders, but hey, even Jesus waited three days before his big reveal.

• BTC reserve delay starts to grate

• Brian Armstrong’s D.C. crypto wish list

• Bank of America pumped for stablecoin payments

• Coinbase shivs Tether

• Trump memecoin controversy not going away

• Democrats could stall digital asset legislation

• SEC launches’ crypto task force’

• Binance’s Tigran Gambaryan plots his comeback

Where’s the reserve, Donald?

Day One of Trump’s second stint as U.S. President may not have ticked any of the boxes on the crypto community’s wish list of pro-crypto executive orders, but crypto CEOs are keeping the faith (in public, at least). Trump is scheduled to address this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) gathering by video on Thursday (January 23), but many crypto execs are already in Davos cashing in on his (alleged) crypto devotion.

On January 21, the WEF hosted a crypto-focused panel that discussed Trump’s campaign pledge to establish a ‘strategic [BTC] stockpile,’ or, as the crypto kids call it, a ‘strategic reserve.’ The said stockpile/reserve would include all the BTC seized by American law enforcement as the proceeds of crime, plus—as crypto bros so desperately hope—all the BTC the U.S. government can afford to buy, thereby pumping the bags of existing HODLers.

Among the most enthusiastic proponents of this reserve is Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) CEO Brian Armstrong, a first-time WEF attendee. Calling BTC “digital gold” that “will equal or even surpass gold,” Armstrong claimed BTC’s notorious fiat price volatility was becoming a thing of the past. And, in case anyone missed his main point, Armstrong claimed that a U.S. reserve “could be a huge driver of [BTC] price appreciation.”

Denelle Dixon, CEO of the Stellar Development Foundation (XLM payment network), claimed crypto is “misunderstood” because “there’s not a lot of focus on the actual utility.” (Possibly because the panelist sitting next to her keeps calling it ‘digital gold,’ but whatever.)

A dissenting voice came from Lesetja Kganyago, governor of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), who appeared to understand all too well why the crypto casino operators want central bankers like himself to throw their country’s cash on the table and let ‘er ride.

Kganyago said he’d have “a significant problem with a lobby that says governments should hold this asset or hold that asset. There is a history to gold. There was once a gold standard … If we now say okay, [BTC]. What about platinum? What about coal? Why don’t we hold strategic beef reserves, or mutton reserves, or apple reserves? Why [BTC]?”

Kganyago took issue with the crypto sector’s nine-figure campaign contributions during the recent U.S. election and the sector’s pledge to keep the cash flowing to favored candidates in the дерал 2026 mid-terms. This was the definition of “regulatory capture,” and “if regulation is going to be established through the power of money, then we have a problem.”

Kganyago warned that if any industry is allowed to buy regulations that essentially let that industry run wild, “then we seem to have forgotten how far we got with the great financial crisis” of 2008 that is credited with spurring the launch of Bitcoin the following year.

Taking up this point was Jennifer Johnson, president/CEO of asset managers Franklin Templeton, who reminded the panel that “much of the [financial] regulation we have today was created after the Great Depression, with the goal of protecting consumers.” Johnson said regulations need updating as technology progresses but cautioned that “we need to remember what the rules were created for.”

Kganyago also warned that if money could buy favorable crypto regulations, it could also buy regulations that ban it. “It will happen that another group that wants to end cryptocurrencies will do the same. And I don’t think that’s how regulations should evolve.”

Kganyago acknowledged that regulators are often slow to react to new technologies and that nobody benefits from unclear regulations. He suggested the U.S. join with the rest of the world in establishing mutually acceptable crypto rules, but noted that “it has already happened many times that the US has chosen not to participate in what is said at a global level.”

Armstrong’s D.C. crypto wish list

Speaking to CNBC at Davos, Armstrong dismissed concerns over Trump failing to immediately issue a stockpile/reserve order, saying “it’s been one day. I’m not too worried.” After all, Trump waited until Day Two to honor his campaign pledge to free Ross Ulbricht, founder of the defunct Silk