Specifically, StanChart expects the new administration to follow through on the Trump campaign's proactively positive stance towards digital assets. Furthermore, any changes are likely to come relatively early in the administration to take advantage of Republican control of Congress before the midterm elections in November 2026. We expect the following specific developments:

1. Repeal of SAB 121. SAB 121, an SEC guidance document on digital assets, requires entities that act as custodians for crypto assets to list the assets on their balance sheets and create a corresponding liability of equal value. In effect, this blocks US banks from crypto custody and spot offerings. The removal of SAB 121 is expected to pave the way for further adoption of digital assets by institutional investors.

2. Passage of stablecoin bills. Stablecoins are becoming an important real-world use case for digital assets. Three significant bills aiming to create guardrails for banks to issue stablecoins were brought to the House over the past 12 months, but little progress was made. More progress on this is likely under the Trump administration in early 2025. This should pave the way for the expansion of this use case, further validating the asset class as a whole.

3. Changes at the SEC. The SEC has taken a firm stance against digital assets under current Chairman Gary Gensler. It has brought court cases against Ripple (wherein it suggested that the majority of digital assets are securities) and Grayscale; it was also initially slow to approve spot ETFs. Trump explicitly stated during his campaign that he would replace Gensler.

4. Potential for a Bitcoin reserve fund. Although this is currently a low-probability event, Trump mentioned in July that he would keep any Bitcoin held by the government (210,000 BTCs at the time), so it needs to be kept in mind. Such a move would have a large price-positive impact on such a small asset class.