U.S. President Donald Trump held a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House with leaders from the cryptocurrency industry, traditional finance, and regulators. The meeting was officially presented as the launch of the CFTC’s Innovation Advisory Committee (which held its first meeting the following day, August 20).
Full attendance:
• From administration and regulation: Paul Atkins (SEC), Michael Selig (CFTC), Patrick Witt (White House crypto adviser), Scott Bessent (Treasury Secretary), Howard Lutnick (Secretary of Commerce).
• From crypto: Brian Armstrong (Coinbase), Brad Garlinghouse (Ripple), Arjun Sethi (Kraken), Vlad Tenev (Robinhood), Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss (Gemini), Sergey Nazarov (Chainlink), Chris Dixon (a16z), Peter Smith (Blockchain.com).
• From traditional finance: Adam Friedman (Nasdaq), Jeffrey Sprecher (Intercontinental Exchange).
Highlights of what Trump said, briefly:
Congress called for passage of a “fair version” of the Clarity Act to keep America ahead of China. It also confirmed that the CFTC is working to bring Hyperliquid to the U.S. market in a legal manner, which drove the HYPE token up 15–19%. It praised the achievements of his administration, such as the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and the GENIUS Act for stablecoins.
The meeting boosted regulatory optimism and contributed to the strong uptrend the market saw, despite controversy over potential conflicts of interest due to some attendees’ ties to projects linked to the Trump family, and the law remaining stuck in the Senate over ethics-related provisions.
