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▲ Donald Trump, XRP/AI Generated Image
U.S. President Donald Trump has suddenly issued an executive order on virtual assets. This measure is breaking down the barriers of traditional finance and shaking up the virtual asset market.
The cryptocurrency podcast The Paul Barron Podcast reported in an episode on May 21 (local time) that "the executive order was announced at a time when Senator Elizabeth Warren was mobilizing the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to exert comprehensive pressure on Ripple, the developer of XRP." The order primarily aims to incorporate digital asset technology into the institutional framework. The dominant analysis in the virtual asset industry is that this will completely nullify the limited account processing that the U.S. Federal Reserve has pursued, and grant crypto-specialized banks full master accounts equivalent to those of commercial banks. This marks a direct blow to the defensive barriers that traditional financial institutions have built up.
The ambitious U.S. cryptocurrency market structure bill, which was being pushed in Congress, hit an abrupt roadblock due to covert obstruction by large banks. Senator Cynthia Lummis shared a roadmap to merge the bill passed by the Senate Banking Committee with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's regulations from the Agriculture Committee, and add the GENIUS amendment for stablecoin regulation, to bring it to a plenary session. However, when Senator Lummis expressed caution, stating that it was difficult to be optimistic about its passage in the June plenary session, citing strong resistance from large bank lobbying groups, the predicted probability of the bill being finalized by the end of 2026 on Polymarket plummeted from 70% to 56%.
Behind this legislative delay is the shock of the primary election defeat of Representative Thomas Massie, a key figure in the pro-crypto camp. Massie, who stated he had seven months left in his term, delivered an accusatory speech, directly targeting the forces behind the breakdown of the front lines in Congress. It was revealed that behind Ed Gallrein, the candidate who ousted Massie, lurked a massive funding source and lobbying coalition of large financial institutions, including JP Morgan and the American Bankers Association, desperately trying to block virtual asset legislation. This marks the full-scale counterattack by traditional finance, aiming to shake the virtual asset system to its roots.
Meanwhile, since the beginning of President Trump's term, the returns of virtual assets and traditional safe-haven assets have shown a strange contrast, amplifying market skepticism. When President Trump took office in January 2025, the international gold price, which was around $2,600 per ounce, surged vertically to $4,500, showing a record increase of 68%. In contrast, Bitcoin (BTC), the leading virtual asset, failed to prove its status as a safe-haven asset during the Middle East risk phase and instead synchronized with risky assets, suffering a humiliating 24% decline. Consequently, the market suggests that President Trump, while outwardly supporting digital assets, is in fact acting as a staunch gold advocate.
Nevertheless, the long-term leadership of digital financial infrastructure is rapidly shifting towards the Ethereum (ETH)-based real-world asset tokenization market. David Tait, CEO of the World Gold Council, maintained his previous harsh criticism that Bitcoin's value would plummet to zero at a virtual asset conference, yet announced plans to build its own standardized platform within the year to replace the failed gold tokens from Tether and JP Morgan, which lacked interoperability. As Ethereum currently completely dominates competing chains in the tokenized commodity market, unlike Strategy's Bitcoin accumulation strategy, the core bridge for next-generation finance facing the Trump administration will inevitably be Ethereum.
*Disclaimer: This article is for investment reference only and we are not responsible for any investment losses based on it. The content should be interpreted for informational purposes only.*
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