U.S. President Donald Trump delivered video remarks to the Digital Asset Summit conference in New York on Thursday. He doubled down on his pro-crypto view and promised to make the United States the “undisputed Bitcoin superpower and crypto capital of the world.” Trump’s 3-minute pre-recorded speech was a historic moment. It marked the first time that a sitting president had spoken at a crypto conference. Making America The Bitcoin Superpower The president revealed that his administration has already halted sales of confiscated Bitcoin and has brought crypto industry leaders and his government’s administrators together. Although Trump didn’t announce any new initiatives, he noted the actions he had made in a move to boost the crypto industry, while lambasting his predecessor Joe Biden. “We’re ending the last administration’s regulatory war on crypto and Bitcoin, and that includes stopping the lawless Operation Choke Point. Operation Choke Point went beyond regulation, and I mean far beyond. Frankly, it was a disgrace,” he quipped. “But as of January 2025, all of that is over.” Since assuming office for his second term on Jan. 20, President Trump has tapped crypto-friendly leaders to lead key agencies. On the regulatory front, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under Trump has repealed its controversial SAB 121 accounting rule, signaling a major shift from the previous enforcement-heavy system. Trump has already signed two executive orders pertaining to crypto assets, including one to create a Presidential working group for digital assets and another one that establishes a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve using previously seized coins. However, investors were initially dissatisfied after Trump stuck to his plan to keep the BTC the government had confiscated in connection to crimes instead of using a portion of the federal budget to acquire BTC. Nevertheless, plans are in the pipeline to see that the US government can make new BTC buys. Pro-crypto Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) reintroduced her BITCOIN Act in the Senate last week. If passed, it would allow the government to acquire up to $80 billion worth of the apex cryptocurrency. On Thursday, Trump also said he has called on Congress to pass “landmark legislation creating simple, common sense rules for stablecoins.” “With the right legal framework, institutions large and small will be liberated to invest, innovate, and take part in one of the most exciting technological revolutions in modern history,” Trump explained, adding that US dollar-backed stablecoins could bolster the US dollar’s hegemony.
