Trump’s crypto summit: Fleeting gains or lasting change?

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The much-hyped Trump crypto summit turned out to be a textbook PR exercise — big on optics, light on substance. While some viewed the event as a watershed moment, the reality is that we’re still very much in wait-and-see mode. Yes, it represents a break from the past administration’s overt hostility to crypto, but we knew that already.

The US government is not buying your bags — nor should it — but it’s also not buying someone else’s bags — maybe a positive outcome? Net net, as Impossible Cloud Network co-founder Kai Warwzinek bluntly put it: “While promising great change for crypto, the US president delivered almost nothing.”

The market got the message, and prices fell sharply in response. Avi Feldman and Jonah Van Bourg from the 1000x podcast were flipping bearish in real time, describing the session as an opportunity for “obsequious fawning” where attendees took turns “kissing the ring” of President Trump.

For those hoping that crypto’s political status in the US has fundamentally changed for the long term, the partisan nature of the embrace should be a red flag. There may be tangible progress stemming from Trump’s rhetorical shift, including an apparent end to Chokepoint 2.0, a friendlier stance toward stablecoins, a vague nod to crypto at the Small Business Administration — this is all welcome. But to the extent the president sees this as an opportunity to make crypto a Republican issue, the relief could be short-lived.

Without real legislative progress in the next two years, most anything can be reversed just as quickly if Democrats retake power. And given the current state of left-leaning discourse on crypto, that’s exactly what would happen.

The left isn’t getting any sense of crypto’s utility or potential for society. It’s getting Rachel Maddow comparing Bitcoin to Beanie Babies. It’s getting Zeke Faux insisting crypto is nothing but an offshore casino.

It’s always been mystifying why the Democratic establishment has bought into the Elizabeth Warren narrative that crypto is more or less solely a tool for criminals and tax cheats. Much of the cypherpunk ethos and expectations that crypto can disintermediate the big banks and Big Tech for the public’s benefit should resonate with progressives. But as long as that framing dominates, whatever promises Trump makes can be undone at the stroke of a pen.

The 119th Congress is on the clock, with probably 18 months to provide lasting legal clarity complementing executive regulatory moves. As an industry, crypto has about the same timespan to demonstrate its unambiguously useful role in the American economy. Without that, crypto will remain politically fragile.

All hat, no cattle — or was it?

Don’t get me wrong; there were bright spots at the summit. The endorsement of stablecoins as a way to promote the US dollar is a pragmatic shift, and there’s general agreement that stablecoins are currently crypto’s best “killer app” calling card.

Revisiting IRS treatment of crypto could prove fruitful — something as simple as a de minimis exemption on crypto transactions that shield small payments from capital gains tax would remove a major friction point.

In parallel, Texas’ passage of Senate Bill 21 last week — allowing the state to establish its own bitcoin reserve — is an example of how states can move forward even if Washington dithers, according to Harrison Seletsky, director of business development at SPACE ID.

“A year ago, none of us could have dreamed of this,” Seletsky told Blockworks, suggesting “Texas’ move could open the floodgates for other states to follow suit.”

But as for the Feds, for all the posturing about never selling the contents of the new bitcoin stockpile, Trump himself clownishly undercut the idea on Friday.

“‘Never sell your Bitcoin’ is a little phrase that they say. I don’t know if they’re right or not — who the hell knows?” Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but well in line with the notion that his support — like much of his chaotic policymaking — is transactional in nature. In this case, responding to the incentives of the US’ broken political campaign finance system.

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