At the first cryptocurrency summit at the White House on March 7, President Donald Trump announced his intention to change the federal government's approach to regulating the crypto industry. He expressed hope that the stablecoin bill would be on his desk by August.
"I hope lawmakers send this legislation to my desk before the August recess if they can," Trump said, emphasizing his desire to maintain the dominant role of the US dollar "in the long run."
High-ranking officials attended the event, including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, and Acting Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Caroline Pham.
The crypto industry was represented by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Kraken co-founder Arjun Sethi, and other industry leaders. Among the legislators was Republican Majority Leader Tom Emmer. The summit was organized by White House advisor on AI and cryptocurrencies David Sacks and Trump's digital assets task force director Bo Hines.
The event received criticism from some commentators because the original list of confirmed participants included only men. However, women were present at the summit, including SEC Commissioner Peirce and former Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler. According to reports, Trump's social network, Truth Social, is in "advanced talks" to acquire the crypto platform Bakkt, formerly led by Loeffler.
Trump also addressed the issue of "debanking"—banks refusing to serve crypto companies. He called for an end to "Operation Choke Point 2.0," which has become a relevant topic among lawmakers and digital asset industry representatives. Crypto companies complain about difficulties in opening and maintaining bank accounts in the US.
"They [the Biden administration] put pressure on banks to close accounts of crypto businesses and entrepreneurs, effectively blocking some money transfers to and from exchanges, and used the government as a weapon against the entire industry," Trump said. "But I know this feeling, perhaps even better than you," he added.
Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of Chainlink, who attended the summit, said various topics were discussed, including the US approach to Bitcoin mining, federal cryptocurrency reserves, and "how a new financial system built on tangible and digital assets should be centered in the US."
"The President spoke both publicly and privately about his interest in the industry and made it clear that assaults on cryptocurrencies by past administrations are over," Nazarov said. "He also spoke of repealing laws and directives that hindered the industry's progress and outlined his goal of making the US a world leader in this area."
Ahead of the summit, Trump signed an order to create a US strategic Bitcoin reserve and digital asset vault. Although the terms "reserve" and "vault" are used interchangeably, sources note key differences concerning whether the US government will actively acquire cryptocurrencies.
According to the order, the reserve will consist of bitcoins in the Treasury's possession that were seized in criminal or civil cases.
The order also establishes a US digital asset vault comprising digital assets other than Bitcoin seized in court cases. The document stipulates that the government will not purchase additional assets for the vault and may convert altcoins into long-term Bitcoin investments.
About a week before signing the order, Trump announced on social media that the strategic reserve could include ADA, XRP, and SOL, which drew criticism from many in the crypto industry. Several leading figures, including the founders of crypto exchanges Gemini and Coinbase, stated they would prefer no reserve at all to a reserve containing less decentralized and less used tokens like ADA and XRP.
Trump's crypto summit marks a significant shift from the Biden administration's approach.
Jennifer Schulp, director of financial regulation studies at the Cato Institute, noted the active engagement developing under the Trump administration but emphasized that much work remains to be done.
"There is much work to be done to ensure US competitiveness in the emerging digital asset landscape," Schulp said. "This work has started well, but it will take time and sustained efforts to create a regulatory environment that allows the crypto industry to compete on fair terms."
In the new Congress, which started working this year, lawmakers focused on drafting legislation to regulate stablecoins. In recent weeks, both Republicans and Democrats have introduced legislative proposals.