The UK could follow the “dangers” of Donald Trump’s potentially light-touch cryptocurrency regulation, experts have told The i Paper, with the incoming US president expected to sign executive orders later on Monday in a bid to boost the digital assets.

The president-elect was briefly reported as the world’s 25th richest person this weekend as he launched a new cryptocurrency “meme coin” called “Fight Fight Fight”.

The cryptocurrency venture boosted his net worth to more than $56bn before Melania Trump came out with her own cryptocurrency token two days later, sending the value of her husband’s coin plummeting.

My NEW Official Trump Meme is HERE! It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING! Join my very special Trump Community. GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW. Go to https://t.co/GX3ZxT5xyq — Have Fun! pic.twitter.com/flIKYyfBrC

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2025

Companies linked to Trump own 80 per cent of his coin – which have no transactional value – and mirror Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency based on a meme of a dog, launched by Trump ally Elon Musk in 2013.

For crypto insiders like Marco Di Maggio, professor of finance at Imperial College and author of Blockchain, Crypto, DEFI, Trump’s digital currency was the “cherry on top”.

“It shows they [the Trumps] are invested in the space, adding an extra layer of security to the industry,” Professor Di Maggio told The i Paper.

Trump, a self-described “crypto president”, promised on Sunday he would sign close to 100 executive orders upon returning to the White House and is believed to be readying an order to create a crypto advisory council, according to Reuters.

Professor Di Maggio described the council, an idea floated by the soon-to-be president back in July, as an “industry think-tank” where industry insiders could have direct access to policymakers, helping them draw up crypto-friendly regulation.

Another action Professor Di Maggio believed Trump could take immediately is signing an order preventing the government from earning money by selling billions of dollars worth of seized bitcoin. It would come as American authorities were given the green-light to seize $6.5bn (£5.33bn) worth of bitcoin from the dark web marketplace Silk Road.

A key driver behind crypto enthusiasts’ “bullish” stance on Trump, though, is the potential for him to reduce regulation.

With the UK having often followed the US when it comes to financial systems, Professor Di Maggio said Britain could mirror Trump on crypto regulation. “If it [the US] is going to attract capital, talent and jobs then, if UK policymakers are not short-sighted, they could easily see the right thing to do is become similarly attractive.”

The British Treasury is already said to be working on legislation around stablecoins – a cryptocurrency linked to specific assets which are designed to maintain a steady value – that excludes them from existing financial regulation.

The UK government is yet to have issued crypto-specific regulation and is due to finalise its regulatory framework by early 2025, according to former Treasury economic secretary Tulip Siddiq.

The former governor of the Bank of England, Sir Jon Cunliffe, said crypto trading was “too dangerous” and could pose a “systemic problem” without tailored regulation.

The Treasury has been contacted for comment.

“Whatever the stance, a president who is actually willing to take a clear stand [on regulation] is a good thing, whatever the stand is,” Professor Di Maggio argued. He believes crypto markets crave “clarity” most when it comes to regulation, so they can plan for the future.

Associate professor of finance at the University of Southampton, Larisa Yarovaya, told The i Paper that she agreed the UK may be pushed to cut red tape around crypto, as it “must stay competitive in attracting businesses and talent in innovative sectors”.

However, she said there were significant “dangers of a potential light-touch approach”, believing the UK “should chart its own course in crypto regulation”.

Yarovaya warned how Trump’s public support for cryptocurrency “could inflate a bubble, similar to the dotcom bubble” in the 90s, under Bill Clinton.

She also criticised meme coins, such as the ones launched by the Trumps. Writing in The Guardian Yarovaya previously cautioned that the “superficial association” made between public figures and cryptocurrencies could leave amateur investors vulnerable and spark negative market “contagion”.

“If investors did not investigate whether these companies genuinely adopted blockchain technology [the digital infrastructure underlying cryptocurrency], they are likely to sell these stocks swiftly at the first sign of negative news or a crisis in the crypto market” Yarovaya said.

Even Professor Di Maggio admits the Fight Fight Fight coin had “no economic basis”, explaining how it was inherently susceptible to extreme price volatility: “People who had invested in Donald Trump’s coins then sold up to ride the boom of Melania’s coin, reducing the price of Donald Trump’s meme coin.”