Crypto comes to Washington: Takeaways from the DC Blockchain Summit
It’s a busy week as DC prepares for confirmations and policies that may have major impacts on crypto
US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand | Ron Adar/Shutterstock and Adobe modified by Blockworks
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Hello from Washington! I’m not here to see the cherry blossoms, although they’re providing a nice backdrop for the DC Blockchain Summit.
It’s a busy week in the District. And I’m not just talking about the drama surrounding crypto’s favorite messaging app.
Tomorrow, more Trump Cabinet hopefuls head to the Senate for nomination hearings. Paul Atkins (up to be the next chair of the SEC), will join Jonathan Gould (for Comptroller of the Currency), Luke Pettit (for Assistant Secretary of the Treasury) and Marcus Molinaro (for Federal Transit Administrator). We imagine Atkins and Gould will take center stage.
In the House, Reps. Bryan Steil and French Hill are ready to formally introduce the STABLE Act. The legislation is “80% similar” to the Senate’s stab at a stablecoin bill (the GENIUS Act), Steil said Wednesday at the DC Blockchain Summit.
The DC Blockchain Summit, the Digital Chamber’s annual policy event, drew the usual suspects today. Aside from Reps. Steil and Hill, Sens. Tim Scott, Tim Sheehy and Bernie Moreno were also speakers. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand represented the Democrats.
World Liberty Financial’s founding team, including Donald Trump Jr. (appearing via Zoom), spoke as well. They talked a lot about the importance of stablecoins, saying the team hopes to see a digital dollar used for day-to-day payments in the future. They were tight-lipped, however, about their own USD1 token.
Speaking of USD1, we heard Trump has been pushing Congress to pass stablecoin legislation ASAP. Now we have a pretty good guess as to why.
I tried to catch Chase Herro, Zach Witkoff and Zach Folkman on their way out. Let’s just say the team wasn’t itching to talk to the press.
If you know DC, you won’t be surprised to hear that most of my conversations today were off the record, or at the very least on background. Suffice to say there are some things I can’t share, but I’ll list a couple of policy-related things I’m keeping an eye on:
Custody
There’s a lot of talk around the strategic bitcoin reserve, but I think far too few people are talking about how the US government custodies digital assets. Sen. Lummis has been pressuring the US Marshals Service to release more detailed information about its security practices, and I’ll be curious to see if specific guidelines will be included in upcoming legislation around the bitcoin reserve.
Executive Orders
President Trump is not done with crypto-related executive orders, people familiar with the matter told me. Even though the OCC recently took a step in the same direction with its updated guidance on reputational risk, debanking in the crypto industry (so-called Operation Chokepoint 2.0) is still top-of-mind in the White House.
SEC Rulemaking
Though the SEC certainly hasn’t been idle in the weeks since Mark Uyeda became acting chair, commissioners have stopped short of creating new rules. We’ve seen guidance and staff accounting bulletins; we’ve seen motions for dismissal in some of the agency’s most high-profile crypto cases. But we have not seen any new rules.
To be clear, even if Paul Atkins is confirmed and takes over as chair, it’s going to be a while before any new rules — crypto or otherwise — are issued. It’s a long process. But it’s a process that won’t get started until Atkins takes the helm.
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