Trump Vows to Keep the U.S. No. 1 in Crypto as China Ramps Up Its Push
For months, President Donald Trump has positioned digital assets as a pillar of American economic strategy. That theme sharpened again in early November, when he declared that the United States “must stay number one” in crypto as China steps up its involvement. Framed as a competition for technological leadership, the message is clear: blockchain and digital finance are now part of a broader race for economic influence and standards-setting power.
The administration’s stance blends rhetorical urgency with concrete moves. In January, a sweeping order directed agencies to promote responsible growth of digital assets, protect self-custody, encourage lawful access to banking, and coordinate clearer, technology-neutral rules. Crucially, it barred a retail central bank digital currency, arguing that the dollar’s global role is better advanced through private-sector innovation—especially stablecoins—than through a government-issued token for the public.
In March, the White House moved to treat certain cryptocurrencies as strategic resources. A new Strategic Bitcoin Reserve formalized the handling of digital assets primarily sourced from law-enforcement seizures, with mandates for interagency coordination, transparency, and risk controls. The move mirrors older policy tools—think gold reserves or the Strategic Petroleum Reserve—updated for an era when cryptographic assets can be mobilized across markets at digital speed.
Summer brought a landmark statute for payment stablecoins. The law establishes licensing pathways, reserves and disclosure standards, and consumer protections for issuers of dollar-backed tokens. For industry, the appeal is practical: clarity reduces the patchwork of state rules, lowers legal risk, and opens doors for banks and regulated fintechs to integrate tokenized dollars into everyday payments and settlement. For policymakers, the bet is that well-supervised stablecoins can extend dollar reach globally without sacrificing safeguards.
Why the renewed urgency? In parallel with advances in artificial intelligence, the administration sees crypto infrastructure—public blockchains, stablecoins, tokenization rails—as foundational to the next wave of financial plumbing. If China scales mining, settlement, and cross-border usage on networks outside U.S. influence, Washington fears ceding leverage over standards that will govern value transfer for decades. The response is to make America the most attractive jurisdiction for building, listing, and using compliant digital-asset services.
For businesses, three practical implications stand out. First, payments: dollar-backed stablecoins are likely to see wider adoption for treasury, merchant settlement, and B2B transfers, especially if banks and payment companies can issue or custody under uniform rules. Second, capital markets: tokenization of funds, treasuries, and deposits should move from pilots to production as agencies pilot tailored exemptions, sandboxes, and disclosure templates suited to on-chain assets. Third, infrastructure: miners and validators may benefit from clearer energy, tax, and banking guidance, provided they meet transparency and compliance obligations.
None of this eliminates risk. Policymakers still need to harmonize securities-and-commodities oversight, tighten anti-money-laundering controls in line with global standards, and coordinate with allies on cross-border enforcement. Market structure remains complex, and consumer protections must keep pace with innovation. Yet the direction of travel is unmistakable: the United States is staking a claim to leadership in digital assets, and the President has tied that goal to national competitiveness.
If Washington can combine statutory clarity with pragmatic rulemaking—and continue to attract developers, capital, and institutions—the country is positioned to maintain its edge even as rivals scale their own crypto ambitions. The competition is intensifying, but so is the U.S. effort to remain number one.
