Author: Weilin, PANews
As expected, the first White House digital asset summit turned out to be a performance show between President Trump and supporters of the crypto industry, without any unexpected surprises.
At 4:40 am Beijing time on March 8, US President Trump delivered a brief speech at the first White House digital asset summit. He stated that last year, I promised to make America the global Bit capital and the world's crypto capital. We are taking historic actions to fulfill this promise, and suggested: "From today on, America will follow the rule that every Bit holder knows - never sell your Bit."
Trump mentioned that on the eve of this summit, he signed an executive order to establish a Bit strategic reserve and a digital asset reserve, and said he would terminate the "Operation Choke Point 2.0" targeting the crypto industry under the Biden administration.
Trump: "Never sell your Bit", establish a Bit strategic reserve, and terminate "Operation Choke Point 2.0"
Trump said at the opening that he welcomed everyone to the first White House digital asset summit. I know many of you have been fighting for this for years, and I am honored to gather with you at the White House. Last year, I promised to make America the global Bit capital and the world's crypto capital. We are taking historic actions to fulfill this promise, as you all know.
There were many crypto policy officials and corporate executives present, and the meeting participants sitting next to Trump included: White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, CFTC Acting Chairman Caroline Pham, House Digital Asset Subcommittee Chairman Bryan Steil, and White House Digital Asset Policy Advisor Bo Hines.
It is reported that this is the first White House digital asset summit in the US, and in his speech at this historic event, Trump said: "Yesterday, I signed an executive order to formally create our strategic Bit reserve, which will become a digital 'Fort Knox' to store digital gold, and it will be owned by the US Treasury." He emphasized that the federal government already holds a large amount of Bit, about 200,000 Bits, which were obtained through various law enforcement actions.
Trump strongly criticized past federal policies, especially the policies during the Biden administration, pointing out that the government "foolishly sold tens of thousands of Bits, if they hadn't sold, those Bits would be worth billions of dollars." He proposed a new guiding principle for the new administration and suggested: "From today on, America will follow the rule that every Bit holder knows - never sell your Bit."
Trump also instructed the Treasury and Commerce Departments to find cost-free ways to increase Bit holdings. Trump assured the attendees: "The Treasury and Commerce Departments will also explore new ways to accumulate more Bits for the reserve, as long as it doesn't cost taxpayers anything."
On regulatory issues, Trump emphasized the plan to terminate "Operation Choke Point 2.0", and criticized the Biden administration for pressuring banks to close accounts related to crypto businesses. Trump said: "Regulatory agencies have forced banks to close the accounts of crypto companies and entrepreneurs." He promised that this practice will be terminated under his leadership.
Finally, Trump expressed his support for Congress's work on stablecoin and digital asset legislation, and urged them to pass the relevant regulatory laws as soon as possible before the August recess to provide clear guidance. According to previous plans, the initial goal was to submit legislation within the first 100 days of his term, but the current timeline has been extended by 4 months.
The lack of new policies was lower than expected, causing a brief market decline, and the guests collectively gave flattering speeches
After Trump's speech, White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler, and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer all mentioned some crypto policies, but did not disclose the latest progress, and they expressed their gratitude to Trump.
Among them, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, "In this executive order, the Treasury Department's important responsibilities include tax policy and risk weighting assessment, and in this regard, I can assure you that we will work closely with the OCC and the IRS to revoke and revise all inappropriate existing guidelines. In addition, we will carefully and prudently develop a stablecoin regulatory framework. As President Trump has instructed, we will ensure that the US dollar continues to be the dominant global reserve currency, and use stablecoins to strengthen this position."
Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss and Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov, as guests present, also expressed their gratitude for the crypto policy shift under the Trump administration.
However, due to the lack of substantial progress on crypto policies announced by Trump, the Bit price continued to decline after the White House digital asset summit, falling below the $86,000 range after the live broadcast ended.
In addition to the attendees mentioned above, according to the previous list, the participants in this summit also included Strategy founder Michael Saylor, Coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong, a16z partner Chris Dixon, Mara CEO Fred Thiel, BitGo CEO Mike Belshe, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, Gemini co-founders Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss, Robinhood co-founder and CEO Vlad Tenev, and Kraken CEO Arjun Sethi, among many other crypto industry leaders.
Prior to the meeting, there were market rumors that Trump would announce that the sale of cryptocurrencies would be exempt from capital gains tax, but White House senior officials later confirmed that the digital asset summit hosted by Trump would not involve tax issues, but would focus on revoking the restrictive policies of the previous Biden administration and seeking industry feedback on regulation.
Before the White House crypto summit began, White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks said in an interview that Bit is of strategic importance to the US due to its scarcity and long-term reserve value. In discussing the strategic Bit reserve and digital asset reserve, he said that ADA, SOL and XRP were mentioned because they are among the top five in market capitalization, and it does not represent the government's special preference or policy inclination towards these assets.
According to a report by Fox reporter Eleanor Terrett, the founder of Strategy submitted a document on digital assets to the President's working group and the SEC's special crypto working group. This document became one of the discussion topics at the White House crypto summit, with the cover mainly focusing on digital asset terminology, policy vision and goals. The core goals include:
- "Establish a sound framework to drive the crypto renaissance."
- "Unleash the potential of the crypto industry and promote global economic growth."
- "Become the world's banker by revitalizing capitalism and property rights."
In general, although no major policy breakthroughs were announced after the White House digital asset summit, the market still has high expectations for Trump's future crypto policies. After this historic summit, whether the Trump administration's crypto policies can truly drive industry transformation will remain a focus of attention in the crypto market.
