Bitcoin surged from $65,000 to $70,000 overnight, while Ethereum saw a nearly 20% increase, approaching an all-time high. The hype is real.
The cryptocurrency market was booming overnight, possibly influenced by developments in the United States.
On July 20, President Trump convened a roundtable discussion and delivered a public speech at the White House in Washington, D.C., with top executives from American finance, cryptocurrency, and technology companies, as well as regulatory agency officials.
The attendees included prominent figures such as CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) Chairman Mike Selig, SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) Chairman Paul Atkins, President's Digital Asset Advisor Council Executive Director Patrick Witt, and top leaders from the cryptocurrency industry such as Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE/New York Stock Exchange) CEO Jeff Sprecher, Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, Kraken CEO Arjun Sethi, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, Chainlink Co-founder Sergey Nazarov, Winklevoss brothers, among others.
The key focus of this meeting was President Trump emphasizing that the U.S. is competing with other countries globally for dominance in the financial markets and AI field, and he pledged to ensure that the future of global financial technology is established and perfected within the United States.
However, from the list of attendees, it was evident that the cryptocurrency industry played a significant role in this event.
Crypto Legislation
President Trump first highlighted his accomplishments in the cryptocurrency industry over the past two years, focusing on Bitcoin reserves and other less critical topics. The crucial aspect was his discussion of crypto legislation.
- The Genius Act: Trump mentioned that he signed this landmark bill a year ago. The act significantly paved the way for the widespread adoption of compliance-oriented stablecoins pegged to the U.S. dollar, reinforcing the dollar's global dominance and driving substantial global investment in U.S. Treasury bonds.
- The Clarity Act: Currently in a critical stage of Congressional progress, this act aims to legislatively clarify the distinction between "crypto securities" and "crypto commodities."
Trump urged Congress to expedite the passage of The Clarity Act to establish a clear legal framework for digital assets. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong revealed during his speech that Congress is planning to vote on the bill on September 15. If successfully passed, it will solidify the regulatory gains of the past year in a long-lasting legal form.
Introduction of Hyperliquid and Proposal of New Cryptocurrency Financing Regulations
Next is the statement from regulatory agencies, which is equally important after all, as they are the regulatory bodies.
CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) Chairman Mike Selig and SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) Chairman Paul Atkins provided detailed updates on their respective agencies' specific projects regarding deregulation and embracing innovation.
Regarding the CFTC:
- First Compliant Bitcoin Perpetual Futures: CFTC Chairman Mike Selig confirmed that the United States' first true "Bitcoin perpetual futures contract" was launched by an exchange registered with the CFTC in May 2026.
- Introduction of the decentralized protocol Hyperliquid: The CFTC is actively advancing a compliance framework aimed at introducing the decentralized trading protocol Hyperliquid into the U.S. in a fully legal and compliant manner.
This is also a core reason for HYPE's overnight surge.
- Safeguarding Prediction Markets: Federal regulators are actively intervening to prevent local state officials (such as New York Attorney General Letitia James) from improperly interfering in compliant prediction markets, to avoid such financial innovations from being forced overseas.
Regarding the SEC:
- Proposal of "Crypto Asset Rule": SEC Chairman Paul Atkins announced that the SEC has just proposed a brand-new crypto asset rule to definitively address the issue of crypto startups legally conducting equity and capital financing in the U.S. through digital assets.
- Capital Market Recovery and "Trump Accounts": Benefiting from the rationalization of IPO thresholds, there have been 583 companies listed since the new administration took office (a 75% increase year-on-year), raising $28 billion; while promoting "Trump Accounts" to allow the younger generation of investors to better participate in the capital market boom.
The new regulations for cryptocurrency asset financing are also quite significant. Legal ICOs are making a comeback. For more details, you can read this article 《The Biggest Bull Run in the Crypto Circle, Is Compliant Token Financing Coming Back?》
Bitcoin Reserve
During the final Q&A session, there was an interesting question about whether the US government would further expand its Bitcoin reserve.
Trump expressed openness and stated that he would listen to the regulatory team's advice.
Empty promises are seen as positive news.
Another part of the discussion was about AI; however, not much useful information was provided. In response to the significant power consumption of AI, Trump proposed a fast-track approval policy that would allow tech companies to build their own dedicated power plants (approved within two to three weeks). This approach aims to not strain the public grid while enabling the excess power to be fed back into the traditional grid.