Circle CEO predicts executive order on digital assets under Trump

Jeremy Allaire, the CEO of Circle, is hopeful that US President Donald Trump will soon make an executive order to make it easier for banks to engage in digital asset custody. In an interview at the Reuters Global Markets Forum at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Allaire said that such orders could be issued “soon”, but he did not give an exact time frame.

Concerns over SAB 121

A key issue raised is the Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) 121 of the Securities and Exchange Commission. This framework essentially bars financial institutions from having crypto assets on their books has been a cause of concern among crypto leaders. 

Allaire added that though the Congress had once voted to repeal SAB 121, President Joe Biden vetoed the same. Biden had said that his administration would not support policies that would hurt consumers and investors.

Crypto executives, including Allaire, noted that the purpose of SAB 121 is not to protect investors but to slow down the growth of new technologies. Allaire noted that the rule has made it even more challenging for banks and other financial companies to add cryptocurrencies into their existing portfolios as described by Allaire as “punitive”.

Apart from public statements, Allaire’s company, Circle, has also contributed financially to Trump’s administration. On January 9th, it was disclosed that the company donated USD 1 million to Trump’s inauguration with donations made in USDC stablecoin. 

Trump’s inauguration and crypto market impact

While many people expected Trump to take a positive view on cryptocurrencies, the new president remained silent about digital assets during his inauguration on January 20th. This left the individuals who expected the alleged pro-crypto president to discuss token regulation and make cryptocurrency a national concern unhappy.

In his 40-minute speech, Trump discussed immigration, declaring a national emergency at the southern border, and mentioned the current hostage situation in Israel and Hamas. He also outlined his plan for what he called the “External Revenue Service,” a plan for the collection of tariffs and duties from foreign sources. 

However, the crypto market was rather unpredictable on the day of the inauguration. For instance, Bitcoin reached an all-time high above $109,000 before pulling back to $103,528 at the time of this writing.

Despite the price increase, the sentiment among Bitcoin whales and market makers did not change significantly. The derivatives market was not very optimistic about further increases above $110,000 in the near future.

On Jan 20, the Bitcoin futures premium to spot markets increased to 14% from 12% on Jan 17. Despite this figure going over the 10% neutral mark, it suggests a relatively low level of scepticism among professional traders. In the past, bullish rallies have taken the BTC futures premium above 30%.

The inflows into crypto ETPs were also significant prior to Trump’s inauguration, with $2.2 billion cumulative, of which about $1.9 billion went into Bitcoin ETPs. According to CoinShares, this has helped to push the total net inflows to Bitcoin funds in 2025 to $2.7 billion.

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