Author: Veronica Irwin; Translator: TechFlow
On March 7, the first White House Crypto Summit was held in Washington. Before the official live broadcast began, participants had a rare opportunity to directly make specific policy recommendations to the White House crypto team and top regulators.
Although President Trump himself did not participate in the closed-door meeting, the meeting lineup was still strong, including "Crypto Tsar" David Sacks, Bo Hines, Executive Director of the Presidential Digital Asset Advisory Committee, Scott Bessent, Secretary of the Treasury, Hester Peirce, Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Caroline Pham, Acting Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Kelly Loeffler, Director of the Small Business Administration (SBA), and Tom Emmer, the House Majority Whip, and other heavyweights.
In the closed-door meeting, David Sacks invited participants to propose policy directions that the White House should prioritize in the future. Although the content of the meeting was strictly confidential, according to Unchained, five proposals were submitted for official consideration.
Chris Giancarlo, former chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC): Authorize "white hat hackers" to protect national interests
Chris Giancarlo, former chairman of the CFTC, was the only representative to attend the summit during Trump's first term. He proposed that the U.S. government should re-activate a policy tool that has been around for more than 200 years, the Letters of Marque and Reprisal. This tool authorizes private companies to act on behalf of the government to attack the websites of foreign adversaries and confiscate their assets. Giancarlo suggested that a modernized Letter of Marque could allow the U.S. government to hire private companies (i.e., "white hat hackers") to combat foreign cyber threats, such as the North Korean-funded hacker group Lazarus, which is said to have stolen more than $6 billion.
Historically, Letters of Marque were used to authorize private ships to attack enemy fleets and surrender seized property. However, this policy has also caused piracy problems. Giancarlo's proposal aims to re-use this tool in a modernized way to protect the security of U.S. digital assets.
It is reported that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent showed great interest in the proposal and asked for relevant commentary articles written by Giancarlo and CoinFund Managing Partner and President Chris Perkins in Cointelegraph for further study.
MicroStrategy co-founder Michael Saylor: The United States should buy Bitcoin on a large scale
MicroStrategy co-founder Michael Saylor proposed at the meeting that the US government should buy a large amount of Bitcoin. According to CoinDesk, Saylor said that he hopes the US government will hold 5% to 25% of the global Bitcoin supply in the next 20 years, that is, about 1,050,000 to 5,250,000 Bitcoins, which are currently worth between $83 billion and $417 billion.
Saylor's proposal is more radical than the Bitcoin Act proposed by Senator Lummis. The latter proposed that the United States purchase 1 million Bitcoins, accounting for 5% of the total supply, in the same period. However, the bill had previously failed to pass due to political divisions within Congress and insufficient Republican support. In addition, critics point out that the government's holding of such a large amount of Bitcoin may violate the core concept of Bitcoin's decentralization and may lead to the centralization of the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Legal experts said that unlike the budget neutrality strategy promised by the president through executive orders, the federal government may need congressional approval to purchase Bitcoin directly. Under the Constitution, fiscal spending power lies in the hands of Congress. However, some Bitcoin advocacy organizations have drafted potential executive orders to try to bypass congressional restrictions.
In addition, according to CoinDesk's report and photos of Saylor's notes circulating on social media, he also proposed a new classification method for crypto assets to help resolve the uncertainty in the current regulation of digital assets. He divides crypto assets into four categories: security tokens for capital creation; asset tokens backed by securities or commodities; digital currencies; and storage tokens for capital preservation.
Paradigm co-founder and managing partner Matt Huang: Calls for justice for Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm
Paradigm co-founder and managing partner Matt Huang did not make new policy recommendations at the summit, but instead hoped that the government would revisit a neglected case: the Justice Department's charges against Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm. Huang called on the Justice Department to reconsider Storm's charges of money laundering, unregistered fund transfers, and sanctions violations.
Tornado Cash is a decentralized cryptocurrency mixer based on the Ethereum blockchain, whose main function is to provide privacy protection for users by obfuscating transaction paths. In the six months before being sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Tornado Cash processed more than $2.8 billion in transactions. However, in August 2022, OFAC imposed sanctions on Tornado Cash on the grounds that it failed to prevent sanctioned entities (such as the North Korean hacker group Lazarus) from using the tool for illegal activities. A year later, Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm was indicted.
Advocates in the DeFi industry believe that this case could have far-reaching implications for the entire decentralized finance (DeFi) sector. If Tornado Cash developers are held accountable for the misconduct of third parties, this could hinder the development of privacy protection tools and have a chilling effect on DeFi projects. The SEC has withdrawn multiple civil lawsuits against crypto companies, but the U.S. Department of Justice has not yet taken further action on this criminal case. Paradigm has donated $1.25 million to Storm's legal defense to support its trial in April. Huang once said on the social media platform X: "This case attempts to hold software developers criminally responsible for the bad behavior of third parties, which may have serious implications for the crypto industry and even the broader technology field."
BTC Inc and Bitcoin Magazine CEO David Bailey: Pushing the United States to urgently build up Bitcoin reserves
BTC Inc and Bitcoin Magazine CEO David Bailey called on the White House to take urgent action to purchase Bitcoin on a large scale at the summit. He proposed to promote the passage of Senator Lummis's Bitcoin Act, which plans to allow the US government to hold 1 million bitcoins over the next 20 years. Bailey stressed that it is crucial to include the strategic Bitcoin reserve in the federal legal framework to avoid the government overturning the plan due to policy changes in the future.
Bailey also pointed out that the United States needs to act quickly to compete with other countries. For example, El Salvador and Bhutan have begun to accumulate Bitcoin, and countries such as Germany, Brazil and Poland are also considering establishing Bitcoin reserves. He even suggested that the United States could work with Bitcoin miners to provide resources such as hydroelectric power in exchange for miners contributing computing power to the strategic Bitcoin reserve.
In addition, Bailey proposed using the strategic Bitcoin reserve to issue Bitcoin-backed Treasury bonds. He explained that debt backed by appreciating assets such as Bitcoin could reduce the US government's interest expenses while enhancing the attractiveness of Treasury bonds.
Robinhood Markets CEO Vlad Tenev: Promote asset tokenization and reshape the investment landscape
Vlad Tenev, CEO of Robinhood Markets, raised an important topic at the summit: using blockchain technology to tokenize traditional financial instruments (such as equity in private companies).
Tenev believes that asset tokenization will bring global competitive advantages to American companies. He explained: "This is good for companies because it attracts more potential shareholders; it is good for global investors because they can more easily access high-quality companies; it is good for entrepreneurs because they can raise funds more easily."
In addition, Tenev also advocates relaxing the current wealth threshold for qualified investors so that ordinary people can also purchase tokenized equity and invest in companies that have not yet gone public. Currently, the qualified investor standard in the United States requires a personal net worth of more than $1 million or an annual income of $200,000 (a couple or partner's joint income must reach $300,000). This threshold prevents many ordinary investors from participating in early investment opportunities in high-growth companies.
Tenev criticized this wealth threshold in a previous column, arguing that it unfairly limits the investment potential of ordinary people. He suggested that the SEC should allow investors to self-certify by demonstrating a deep understanding of investment risks, rather than relying solely on wealth standards. This change will give more ordinary people the opportunity to participate in private market investment and completely change the investment ecology in the United States.
It is worth mentioning that Robinhood's investment platform is based on the core concept of lowering investment thresholds and mainly serves low-income and middle-income groups. If the scope of tokenized assets is expanded, this platform and its user base will directly benefit.
Future Outlook
Although government representatives at the summit did not commit to adopt any specific proposals, a White House source said that the main purpose of the summit was to listen to opinions and feedback from the crypto industry. He revealed: "The summit was very successful and was highly recognized by government and industry leaders."