Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will then speak at the Bitcoin 2024 event held in Nashville, Tennessee on July 27, 2024.Kevin Worm/Reuters
Timing was not on Changpeng Zhao’s side. Zhao, the founder and Canadian of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, faced money laundering charges under the Justice Department during his time in Biden. He traded in prison for four months.
If only the event is dragged a bit.
On January 21st, a day after the inauguration, US President Donald Trump forgives a code criminal who did much worse than Zhao: Ross Ulbricht, who had been sentenced to a divisive life sentence for running the Silk Road Darknet Marketplace. The Silk Road did business with Bitcoin, one of the earliest use cases of cryptocurrency, and Ulbricht became the cause serebre in certain circles.
Ulbricht’s pardon set the tone of the Trump administration’s approach to code. Zhao has also applied for amnesty.
This should be kept in mind as we consider the big weeks Crypto has. US lawmakers are holding hearings on three crypto bills, including the Genius Act, which is expected to boost the industry. Bitcoin, a kind of benchmark in the industry, has reached a new all-time high of over US$120,000.
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These are important developments. It’s complex and technical and worth a lot of money for many people. But beneath it is all humanity and all the strangeness that comes with it.
During his first term, Trump said, “I’m not a fan of Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency. This is based not on money, but on a very volatile and thin air of value.”
Trump then encrypted what he was increasingly embraced by people with political rights. Don’t ask why. It should not be a partisan. But like gas stoves, bike lanes and bad lights, Crypto has become a hot item in the fierce culture wars of our time. Last year, Trump campaigned at the Bitcoin Conference, and the industry gave him a large sum of money.
Under Trump, the Securities and Exchange Commission has concluded civil enforcement against the vinance of both Giants Coinbase, Kraken and of course Zhao. The SEC has moved to resolve a lawsuit against another large code name, Ripple. The Justice Department has shifted its focus from white-collar cryptocurrency violations to cases that include fraud and terrorism.
So the line of people seeking pardon will be long. It’s not just Mr. Chao. Sambankmanfried, a scammer at the heart of the FTX Saga, took part. So is Virgil Griffith, who recently left prison after giving a code lecture in North Korea. Roger Vere is the so-called “Bitcoin yes,” accused of failing to pay a US$50 million capital gains tax, and is lobbying to change the relevant laws.
And here we are on US Crypto Bills. The most notable of them, the genius act, provides a regulatory framework for stablecoins. These are cryptocurrencies whose value is fixed in the underlying assets and are considered the backbone of the ecosystem. The bill gives legitimacy to the sector and paves the way for it to be further integrated into mainstream finance.
Crypto companies have a long history of avoiding the United States due to strict enforcement. The time is now set to end. “If Crypto is trying to define the future, I want it to be mined, built and made in America,” Trump said last year when he campaigned at the Bitcoin Conference.
The market certainly likes it. This week’s Bitcoin rise of over USD 120,000 this week is even more surprising given that historically this is the time of the lifecycle where we should be entering the bear market.
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This makes Canada a stark contrast. It was Ethereum’s home and was undoubtedly the largest post-Bitcoin crypto. It was the home of the world’s first Bitcoin automated banking machine. Of course, this was also the home of Mr. Zhao of Binans.
Today, Canada has also been overtaken by several branch plants of international crypto companies, despite having several grumpy startups. Some of these branches have abandoned us because of what critics called troubling regulations.
“2024 was an inactive year for Canadian cryptography,” wrote an attorney for McCarthy Te Troll, who wrote that Canadian regulators “imposed additional product restrictions, raised barriers to entry, and did not approve new crypto products.” The crypto industry here is boring and muted compared to the US industry, and if you judge how the year is going, you can do so.
This may remind us of our banking system. Large Canadian banks need to maintain higher banks compared to American banks, and there is a major barrier to entry here. Less innovation, less competition, and higher fees. However, from 2001 to 2025, there were only a handful of bank failures in the US compared to the 570. Regulators are more stable than growth.
Whether that’s a good thing depends on who you ask. But history shows you can only choose one. Do you want to be a roaring, back wild boom town? Or do you want to be a peaceful land with quiet people?
The US has that choice, and Canada has also.
