White House Crypto Summit

The White House held its first-ever “crypto summit” on Friday, gathering top executives from digital asset firms to discuss how the Trump administration plans to unwind the Biden administration’s regulatory crackdowns on cryptocurrency.

However, attendees reportedly left feeling deflated. Here’s how cryptocurrency prices stood over the past 24 hours:

The summit took place three days after Trump’s first address to Congress since returning to office, where he made several statements about the economy that do not align with the facts.

Here are the facts

Gross Domestic Product: Under Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, real GDP growth averaged around 3.4% over the first three years, including 2.5% growth in 2023. By comparison, during Trump’s first term, excluding the pandemic year of 2020, average annual real GDP growth was about 2.5%. By 2020, the pandemic led to a significant contraction, resulting in an overall average annual growth rate of about 1.6% for Trump’s term.

Inflation: Trump claimed the U.S. faces “the worst inflation we’ve ever had,” which is inaccurate. Inflation last exceeded 9% in 1981 and has been higher at various historical points. Prices surged significantly during the initial two years of Biden’s presidency, peaking at 9.1% in June 2022, before decreasing to 2.9% by December 2024.

S&P 500 Performance: Since Biden’s inauguration on January 20, 2021, the S&P 500 has increased by roughly 50%, despite a 19% decline in 2022 due to the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes aimed at controlling inflation.

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) Milestones: The DJIA reached numerous significant milestones during Biden’s term:
– Crossed 30,000 points on November 24, 2020 — about 20 days after Biden was elected.
– Reached 35,000 points on July 23, 2021.
– Surpassed 40,000 points on May 17, 2024.

Currently, under Trump, consumer confidence is declining; stocks recently experienced their worst week in six months; and inflation is worsening.

Regarding cryptocurrency, it remains uncertain how Trump plans to finance the accumulating digital asset stockpile. Will he raise taxes? Officials assert that there will be “no incremental costs on American taxpayers.”

Both Republicans and Democrats express concern, as those hoping to legitimize crypto through regulatory changes in Congress are struggling to interpret Trump’s proposal to create a U.S. “strategic reserve” of digital assets. Private sector advocates are also raising alarms.

Interestingly, the crypto summit on March 7 occurred less than two months after Trump and some family members introduced their own memecoins.

Big players in the crypto world, such as Michael Saylor, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, and Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, attended the summit, representing a notable change in attitude compared to the Biden administration, where the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) crackdowns under Gary Gensler faced backlash.

It’s essential to note that not everyone in the cryptocurrency industry was a scammer, even though 2024 saw numerous rug pulls. Today, these influential figures must navigate a federal government, led by Trump, that has reportedly become “the primary driver of the chaos,” according to Axios’ Felix Salmon and Zachary Basu. What could go wrong?

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