At crypto summit, Trump vows to sign stablecoin legislation before August and end crypto debanking

President Donald Trump said he hoped to have stablecoin legislation on his desk by August as he forges ahead on making significant changes to how the federal government approaches crypto.

Trump said he supported lawmakers' efforts to pass stablecoin bills and others focused on market structure during a White House inaugural crypto summit on Friday afternoon. Trump said he wanted to keep the U.S. dollar "long into the future."

"I hope lawmakers will send that legislation to my desk before August recess if they can," Trump said.

Crypto executives descended on Washington, D.C., to meet at the summit, which included federal officials, including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Securities and Exchange Commission's Hester Peirce, and Commodity Futures Trading Commission Acting Chair Caroline Pham, among others.

Big crypto industry players were in attendance, including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi and lawmakers such as House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., among others, attended the summit. White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks and Director of Trump's working group on digital assets Bo Hines also helped plan the event.

The event drew some criticism from crypto industry commentators who noted the initial list of confirmed attendees only included men. Czar Sachs, when announcing the summit, noted "prominent founders, CEOs, and investors" had been invited. Some women were spotted at the event on Friday, including SEC Commissioner Peirce and former Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler. Trump's social media company Truth Social is reportedly in “advanced talks” to acquire Bakkt, the crypto platform Loeffler used to lead. Loeffler was reportedly considered to lead the Agriculture Department.

Trump also tackled debanking during the summit and called for an end to "Operation Choke Point 2.0," which has become a hot topic among some lawmakers and the digital asset industry over the past few months amid increased criticism from crypto firms who say they face challenges when looking to establish and maintain bank accounts in the U.S.

"They [Biden administration] strong-armed banks into closing the accounts of crypto businesses and entrepreneurs, effectively blocking some money transfers to and from exchanges, and they weaponized government against the entire industry," Trump said.

"But I know that feeling also, maybe better than you do," Trump added.

What's in the reserve?

Ahead of the summit, Trump signed an executive order to create a strategic bitcoin reserve and digital asset stockpile on Thursday night. The words "reserve" and "stockpile" have been used interchangeably over the past few months, but sources have noted that there are key differences between the two as to whether the U.S. government will proactively acquire cryptocurrencies.

The reserve will be capitalized by bitcoins held by the Department of the Treasury that were forfeited as part of criminal or civil asset seizures, according to the executive order .

That executive order also establishes a U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile, which consists of digital assets other than bitcoin forfeited in criminal or civil proceedings. The order stipulates that the government will not purchase additional assets for the stockpile and may convert stockpile altcoins into long-term bitcoin holdings.

About a week before Trump signed the executive order, he said on social media that the strategic reserve could include ADA, XRP and SOL, drawing criticism from many in the crypto industry. Several leading figures, including the founders of the Gemini and Coinbase crypto exchanges, said they would prefer no reserve at all over a reserve that held less decentralized and less used tokens like ADA and XRP.

Trump first signed an executive order to explore a strategic digital asset reserve in January, in one of his first official acts. That order established a group that would evaluate the "potential creation" of a digital asset stockpile.

Work forges on to regulate crypto

Trump's crypto summit marks a drastic change compared to the Biden administration. 

Cato Institute Director of Financial Regulation Studies Jennifer Schulp pointed to engagement that has flourished under the Trump administration but noted that there was more work to be done.

"There’s a lot of work to be done to ensure that the United States can be competitive in the evolving digital assets landscape," Schulp said in an emailed statement. "That work is off to a good start, but it will take time and sustained effort to create a regulatory environment that allows the crypto industry to compete on fair terms in the marketplace."

In the new Congress that started earlier this year, lawmakers have focused on drafting bills to regulate stablecoins, with both Republicans and Democrats coming out with draft legislation over the past several weeks. Lawmakers are also working to create a regulatory framework for market structure with hopes of getting bills to President Donald Trump for his signature this year, Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., said during a congressional hearing last week.

"Both the White House and the industry must resist the temptation to enshrine any sort of regulatory framework that allows the government to pick winners and losers, which ultimately undermines consumer choice and innovation," Schulp said.