WASHINGTON, DC — President Donald Trump assures the crypto sector that it will be at a new peak at the White House’s first summit on Friday, showing the industry doubt. It shows you have friends at all levels in Washington.
“I know that a lot of you have fought for this for years, and it’s an honor to be with you in the White House,” Trump said as the White House meeting began.
In his brief statement, Trump said he would end his predecessor’s “crypto war,” praised lawmakers’ legislative efforts and discussed his new Bitcoin reserve.
“Regulators are strong armed banks, which means they really did. They shut down strong armed banks to shut down crypto businesses and entrepreneur accounts, cut off some kind of remittance with the exchange, and they armed the government against the entire industry,” Trump said. “But I know that it might feel better than you. All of that is over soon and we’re finished with Operation Chalk Point 2.0.”
Trump said he wanted to sign the stubcoin law before Congress breaks for the August break.
“I also want to express my strong support for the efforts of lawmakers in Congress. They are working on the bill to provide certainty for dollar-backed stubcoins and digital asset market regulation,” he said. “They are working very hard on that. This is a great opportunity for economic growth and innovation in our financial sector and will come a really long way.”
Referring to Thursday’s executive order creating a Bitcoin Reserve, Trump said it was “silly” that the federal government sold many of the already seized Bitcoin
“As you know, the federal government is already one of the biggest owners of Bitcoin, and in fact one of the largest holders in the world, with as many as 200,000 Bitcoin acquired through various other forms of law, including civil law and enforcement measures,” he said. “These existing holdings form the basis for new reserves.”
“From this day on, America will never sell Bitcoin, following the rules that all Bitcoiners know very well,” he said.
The broader swath of the industry is represented by a guest list that includes top executives such as Coinbase, Ripple, Kraken, Gemini, Chainlink and Robin Hood, and represents the most formal-looking crypto groups since Black Tie Ball, celebrating Trump’s election victory. Gemini’s Tyler and Cameron Winkelboss, and Chainlink’s Sergei Nazarov, were among those who spoke during the live streaming portion of the summit.
Earlier on Friday, senior White House officials further clarified the administration’s position on Bitcoin Reserve and secondary crypto stockpile intended to establish the orders for Trump. Officials said the US government has an estimated 200,000 bitcoins to start a reserve, and will conduct an audit to grasp certain holdings, with other stockpiles still maintaining non-Bitcoin attacks. No new money will be put into non-Bitcoin assets, and active future investments in Bitcoin should be resolved in a tax-free manner, officials said.
The afternoon summit was primarily intended to set a tone from the administration. This has been trying to quickly place digital assets on a more friendly footing than the industry experienced during former President Joe Biden’s management.
