- The first ever crypto summit was anti-climactic.
- Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies fail to shake off market swoon.
- Stablecoins are on the move with new EU approvals.
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So the White House held a crypto summit and the market shrugged.
Worse, actually. Investors sold on the news.
What gives? Isn’t this a dream scenario for crypto investors?
The Trump administration not only ended the regulatory crackdown on the industry — the president himself directed the formation of a strategic reserve composed of more than 198,000 Bitcoin held by the government largely through criminal seizures.
What more do crypto supporters want?
Tariff storm
To be sure, the crypto market has been swept up in a broad selloff as investors seek shelter from the effects of Donald Trump’s on-again-off-again tariff policy. The S&P 500 Index has lost all its gains since Trump’s election victory on November 5, and is heading for a six-month low.
“It feels like the market has decided that the flip-flopping is more part of the problem than the cure,” Noelle Acheson, a crypto analyst, posted on X last week.
Moreover, Trump trampled on the HODL message long preached by Bitcoin maxis such as Michael Saylor.
“Never sell your Bitcoin, that’s a phrase they say,” Trump said. “I don’t know if they are right or not, who the hell knows.” Saylor at one stage appeared to hold his face in his hands.
The fact is, many crypto investors want the government to buy Bitcoin instead of simply rebranding coins it already owns — a move that could increase Bitcoin’s price to as high as $200,000.
Stablecoin narrative
And some do suggest that even without the buying, the reserve is a bullish signal and other governments should follow Trump’s lead.
“Nation states are not going to pile into the market desperate to buy,” Richard Byworth, the managing partner at Szy Capital in Switzerland, said in a post on X. “They are going to be strategic.”
Meanwhile, the stablecoin narrative is humming along. Last week, the European Union approved 10 stablecoin issuers under MiCA, the new crypto regulatory regime in the 27-nation bloc.
The group includes industry stalwarts such as Circle and Crypto.com as well as Société Générale, the French bank.
Back on Capitol Hill, lawmakers are crafting two stablecoin bills even as major lenders eye their own offerings.
Last month, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said it “was pretty clear” the lender would develop its own stablecoin should the bill become law.
Fintechs are also moving at speed.
In February, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, the CEO of Klarna and a longtime sceptic, said the Swedish financial services firm will embrace blockchain-based assets.
Edward Robinson is the story editor for DL News. Contact the author at ed@dlnews.com.