President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday detailed how the U.S. plans to assert its leadership in the crypto space during a first-ever White House crypto summit.
During a televised portion of the highly-anticipated event, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent spoke about the creation of a strategic Bitcoin reserve and digital asset stockpile, “the regulatory weaponization against digital assets,” and a federal framework for stablecoins.
Policies under former President Joe Biden posed undue harm to innovators in the digital assets space, Bessent said. He added that the Treasury will work closely with the Internal Revenue Service and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to “rescind and amend” once-hurtful guidance impacting digital asset firms’ ability to do business in the U.S.
Trump’s establishment of a strategic Bitcoin reserve and digital asset stockpile will meanwhile “position the United States as a leader among nations,” Bessent said.
The strategic Bitcoin reserve and digital asset stockpile will contain seized funds, while allowing Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to come up with budget-neutral strategies for acquiring Bitcoin, according to a White House fact sheet published on Thursday.
“President Trump is creating assets for the American people while most past presidents have created debt,” Bessent said, referring to Trump’s newly authorized reserve and stockpile.
On Friday, Bessent referenced stablecoin legislation. As lawmakers in both chambers of Congress weigh a pathway to legality for stablecoin issuers like Tether and Circle, Bessent said that clear rules would help preserve the U.S. dollar’s role as a global reserve currency.
“We are going to keep the U.S. [dollar as] the dominant reserve currency in the world, and we are going to use stablecoins to do that,” Bessent said.
Trump himself said during the televised portion of the White House crypto summit that he expects the House of Representatives and Senate to pass stablecoin legislation before “August recess,” providing him with an opportunity to sign the measure into law. Previously, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) called for it within Trump’s first 100 days.
Two-dozen industry leaders attended the crypto summit on Friday, including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Strategy co-founder and Executive Chairman Michael Saylor.
“They’re very much working with you, and you know a lot of them,” Trump said in their direction. “I just want to congratulate you for being at the White House today.”
Edited by Andrew Hayward
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