A Bitcoin strategic research announced, regulatory clarity initiated and a supportive federal government on board – so obviously Bitcoin tanked hard for most of the week. Price Source: Brave New Coin Bitcoin Liquid Index.

What have you done for me lately? Certainly this is the mantra of the crypto market, which, despite being on the receiving end of huge gains since President Trump’s election last November – and Trump rapidly delivering on what he said he would do – still never fails to dump if its expectations aren’t met, and preferably exceeded, on a daily basis. And so it is that last Friday’s much anticipated White House Crypto Summit disappointed the market, pushing BTC, and particularly altcoins like XRP (XRP), Solana (SOL), and Cardano (ADA), off a cliff. XRP, SOL, and ADA, the assets that it had seemed would be added to the US government crypto strategic reserve, fell ~27.0%, ~26.1% and ~30.0% respectively in the last 7 days. Thus Bitcoin (BTC) continues its volatile start to 2025. The asset is down ~12.2% in the last 7 days and currently trades around the US$82,500 price level. BTC began the year trading for ~US$93,500, and is down ~11.9% since the start of the year.

White House Crypto Summit – Waiting For A Bigger Bang

Friday’s White House Crypto Summit was not as disruptive or positive as expected. A framework for stablecoin legislation that will be released before August was announced and there were assurances of less aggressive regulatory action. In a statement, President Trump said he would end the previous administration’s “war on crypto”. He said regulators “strong-armed banks into closing the accounts of crypto businesses and entrepreneurs,” he said this blocked transfers to and from exchanges, and that they had weaponized the government against the industry.

“All of that will soon be over and we are ending Operation Chokepoint 2.0,” he continued.  Operation Chokepoint 2.0 is the industry codename for the second-wave campaign by US financial regulators under former SEC Chief Gary Gensler, to restrict the traditional banking sector from servicing digital asset firms in the United States.

Alongside Trump’s statements, the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has also publicly announced that it will ease its stance on how banks can engage with crypto. The OCC in a statement reported that they have published Interpretive Letter 1183 to “confirm that crypto-asset custody, certain stablecoin activities, and participation in independent node verification networks such as distributed ledger are permissible for national banks and savings associations. 

Still, not every one was bummed. Speaking after the Summit, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said his company will hire 1,000 new employees in the United States with a view that the increased crypto regulatory clarity and the strategic Bitcoin reserve will push US economic growth.

While these developments are exciting for crypto companies in the United States, it appears that a more friendly US regulatory environment under Trump has already been priced in and markets expected more out of the White House Crypto Summit. 

Also on March 7th, Donald Trump signed an executive order that outlined a plan to create a Bitcoin reserve using cryptocurrency forfeited in government criminal cases rather than actively acquiring digital assets through market purchases. Digital asset bulls have been hoping that the US government’s digital asset ethos would involve some direct purchasing. Trump did say it was “foolish” that the federal government had already sold so much of the BTC it had seized. He added the US will go by the basic rule of “never sell your bitcoin.”

The summit was highly anticipated following posts by President Trump on Truth Social on March 2nd that suggested a crypto strategic reserve with BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL, and ADA would be created. However, on Friday last week David Sacks, Trump’s AI and Crypto Czar, revealed that Trump’s comments were simply expository and not a firm commitment towards creating a reserve. Sacks’ comment began a rot that accelerated over the weekend following the tepid White House crypto summit.

“A U.S. Crypto Reserve will elevate this critical industry after years of corrupt attacks by the Biden Administration, which is why my Executive Order on Digital Assets directed the Presidential Working Group to move forward on a Crypto Strategic Reserve that includes XRP, SOL, and ADA,” Trump’s post on March 2nd reads. About an hour after the initial post, Trump clarified — “And, obviously, BTC and ETH, as other valuable cryptocurrencies, will be the heart of the Reserve. I also love Bitcoin and Ethereum!”

In a report released last Wednesday, mega financial firm JP Morgan said cryptocurrency markets are likely to remain in a challenged position in the short term because of a lack of positive price drivers and skepticism surrounding whether Congress will approve a U.S. strategic reserve. Executive orders only last until the Executive or Judicial branch overturns them, and this means that even Trump’s strategic crypto reserve with forfeited cryptocurrency could also be blocked.