US President Donald Trump used part of his speech to the crowd at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Wednesday to discuss the motivations behind his crypto policy, saying China’s regulatory landscape was a factor.
In a speech Wednesday at the WEF annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Trump said he supported signing legislation focused on stable payments, the GENIUS Act, in July because it was “politically good” and “China wanted this market too.”
“[I]It’s politically popular,” Trump said of crypto. “But much more importantly, we have to make sure China doesn’t take it over. And once they have that hold, we can’t get it back.
Trump’s Davos speech marked the second time the US president has addressed the WEF since taking office in January 2025. Speaking virtually from Washington, D.C. at the 2025 WEF meeting, Trump committed to ensuring that the United States the “world capital of artificial intelligence and cryptography”.
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Trump’s Davos speech started with speculation that he could sign “very soon” a bill on the structure of the digital assets market currently being examined in the Senate. The legislation, called the CLARITY Act, was delayed for a markup earlier this month after Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. said he couldn’t support the bill “as written”.
Armstrong and other crypto industry leaders will participate in events in Davos this week as part of the WEF.
Will China’s digital yuan pose a challenge to US dollar-pegged stablecoins?
Although Trump signed the GENIUS Act in July, the text of the bill requires it to be implemented 120 days after U.S. agencies approve the regulations or 18 months after it is signed into law. Some experts said the CLARITY Act could also put stablecoins pegged to the US dollar disadvantaged against the Chinese digital yuan without clarification on rewards.
The People’s Bank of China began to authorize commercial banks in the country to pay interest on digital yuan deposits in January. On the other hand, many American banking groups continue to fight for the CLARITY Act to prohibit third-party platforms and issuers from paying stable returns.
As of Wednesday, the U.S. Senate Banking Committee had not anticipated another increase in the CLARITY Act, and some lawmakers and industry executives signaled it could be weeks before the bill comes back.
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