Trump’s Crypto Summit Heavy on Victory Laps, Light on Regulation

On Friday (March 7), the crypto industry came to Washington D.C. Specifically, they came to the White House’s State Dining Room, where the nation’s first ever “Crypto Summit” was held.

President Donald Trump, flanked by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and U.S. “AI and Crypto Czar” David Sacks, addressed the more than two dozen crypto executives and federal agency representatives gathered to provide feedback on how the U.S. can become a leader in the digital asset space.

“Unfortunately, in recent years the U.S. Government sold tens of thousands of additional bitcoin that would have been worth billions of dollars … Never sell your bitcoin. That’s a phrase they have, I don’t know whether it’s wrong or right, who the h— knows” Trump said during his opening remarks.

Regarding potential national crypto regulation, he said: “I hope lawmakers will send regulation to my desk before the August recess.”

For their part, the industry stakeholders, ranging from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, Chainlink’s Sergey Nazarov, Strategy Chairman Michael Saylor, bitcoin mining company Mara’s CEO Fred Thiel, Ripple Founder Brad Garlinghouse, Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek, and dozens of others, all just seemed happy to be in the White House and addressing the president.

“No one in this room could have imagined this two years ago. It is amazing how far we’ve come” — that was the theme of the opening remarks by many in the industry, including the Gemini-associated Winklevoss twins, who were first to respond to Trump.

“The U.S. won the internet, and the U.S. should win crypto as well,” Tyler Winklevoss said.

Read more: Can Senate’s GENIUS Stablecoin Bill Keep Companies Smart on Crypto?

Trump Goes All in on Crypto as Industry Gives Their Thanks

Outside of government chiefs, there were no representatives from the traditional financial sector in attendance.

Unconfirmed but speculated attendees for Friday’s summit included ethereum Co-founder Vitalik Buterin, Circle Co-founder Jeremy Allaire, Cardano Founder Charles Hoskinson and Solana Founder Anatoly Yakovenko. Paolo Ardoino, CEO of stablecoin issuer Tether, was at the White House as recently as Thursday (March 6), per his X account, but it is unclear whether he participated in the Crypto Summit on Friday.

For crypto VIPs not invited to the White House, a larger, invite-only reception is reportedly being planned across the street.

“Being in the White House is a big deal for you guys,” Trump said to the assembled crypto execs on Friday.

And the industry does have much to celebrate. An executive order signed by Trump on Jan. 23 established a Presidential Working Group on Digital Asset Markets that will work to develop a federal regulatory framework governing digital assets; and on Thursday Trump signed an executive order to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR) and a U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile.

The reserve will be funded exclusively through bitcoin seized in criminal and civil forfeiture cases, and the order marked the U.S. government’s first formal recognition of bitcoin as a strategic asset. Non-bitcoin assets will be placed in a separate Digital Asset Stockpile managed by the Treasury Department.

See also: Regulations Become Crucial as Stablecoins Push Payments Frontier

The US Wants to ‘Win’ With Crypto

None of the bitcoin being put in the SBR, with the government’s holdings estimated at 200,000 bitcoins, will be sold off; while assets in Digital Asset Stockpile can be sold by the Treasury, per Trump’s remarks at Friday’s summit.

“The Treasury and Commerce Departments will also explore new pathways to accumulate additional bitcoin holdings for the reserve,” the president added.

PYMNTS covered earlier Friday the news that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he is a “big proponent of the U.S. taking the worldwide lead in crypto,” and that was the overall theme of Friday’s summit. Popular rumors around topics such as the U.S. removing capital gains taxes on crypto were not addressed Friday.

While the U.S. looks to “win” with crypto, at least one Trump-affiliated company already is. The entities that created the $TRUMP meme coin have reportedly made at least $350 million in the three weeks after its launch, PYMNTS covered Friday. In addition to earning $314 million from token sales and $36 million from fees directly on the Solana blockchain, the entities likely made more money from tokens offered on cryptocurrency exchanges.