PwC, a Big Four accounting firm, is ramping up its crypto involvement after years of keeping the sector at arm’s length.
According to the firm’s leaders, this change is being driven by a regulatory climate that has turned more favorable under the Donald Trump administration.
According to the Financial Times, PwC US Senior Partner and CEO Paul Griggs said the firm has been preparing over the past year to handle rising demand in the digital asset space.
“Over the last 10 to 12 months, as we’ve taken on more opportunities in that digital assets arena, we’ve bolstered our resource pool inside and outside,” PwC US Senior Partner and CEO Paul Griggs told the Financial Times.
Crypto’s struggles during the Biden era
PwC and its peers in the “Big Four” have largely maintained a cautious stance, primarily due to the absence of a comprehensive federal regulatory framework under the previous administration led by President Joe Biden.
Throughout this period, the industry faced a rigorous regulation by enforcement approach.
Federal agencies, most notably the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), initiated high-profile legal actions against centralised exchanges, stablecoin issuers, and decentralised finance (DeFi) protocols.
This fragmented oversight created significant compliance debt and jurisdictional ambiguity.
For global professional service firms, this environment made it nearly impossible to conduct standardised risk assessments or implement long-term audit and compliance frameworks that could withstand federal scrutiny.
That, however, began to change after Trump’s reelection, which ushered in a more supportive approach toward digital assets.
For PwC, the regulatory turnaround created a clearer path forward.
“The Genius Act and the regulatory rulemaking around stablecoin I expect will create more conviction around leaning into that product and that asset class,” Griggs was quoted as saying.
A pro-crypto US has sparked demand
The GENIUS Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump in July and set to come into force this year, marked the first time that the United States enacted a federal framework for regulating stablecoins.
It creates a clear licensing path for issuers and gives banks the legal foundation to explore issuing their own tokenized dollar products.
Meanwhile, agencies like the SEC, now under different leadership, have taken a more structured and measured approach to enforcement and have focused on properly defining crypto rules.
This regulatory turnaround, according to Griggs, has finally convinced blue-chip businesses that the environment is suitable for institutional participation.
“We feel a responsibility to be hyper-engaged on both sides of the business. Whether we are doing work in the audit space or doing work in the consulting arena, we do all the above in crypto. We see more and more opportunities coming our way,” Griggs added.
He further noted that PwC has already been advising clients on the potential for using crypto technologies like stablecoins to improve payment systems and operational efficiency.
Meanwhile, PwC has strengthened its internal capabilities by bringing on experienced hires, including Cheryl Lesnik, who rejoined the firm after spending three years working exclusively with crypto clients at a smaller consultancy.
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