Bitcoin surged from $65,000 to nearly $70,000 overnight, while Ethereum saw a rally of close to 20%, and HYPE is nearing its all-time high.
Cryptocurrencies enjoyed a spring breeze overnight, blowing in from the United States.
On July 20th, President Trump convened a roundtable discussion and public remarks at the White House in Washington D.C., attended by executives from American finance, cryptocurrency, and tech companies, as well as regulatory agency heads.
The attendees were quite prestigious. They included CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) Chairman Mike Selig, SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) Chairman Paul Atkins, and Patrick Witt, Executive Director of the Presidential Digital Asset Advisory Committee, among regulators. Then came the top figures from the cryptocurrency industry: 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, the Winklevoss twins, and others.
The core purpose of this meeting was for Trump to emphasize that the U.S. is competing with other countries for dominance in financial markets and the AI field, promising to ensure that the future of global fintech is built and perfected within the United States.
However, as can be seen from the list of participants, the cryptocurrency industry was the main focus of this event.
Crypto Legislation
Trump first discussed his achievements in the cryptocurrency industry over the past two years, like Bitcoin reserves, but that's less important. What's important is his content regarding crypto legislation.
- The GENIUS Act: Trump mentioned signing this landmark bill a year ago. The bill comprehensively paves the way for the large-scale adoption of compliant dollar-pegged stablecoins, not only consolidating the dollar's hegemonic position globally but also driving substantial global purchases of U.S. Treasury bonds.
- The Clarity Act: Currently in a critical stage of congressional advancement. This bill aims to legislatively draw a clear line 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 in his remarks that Congress plans to vote on the bill on September 15th. If passed smoothly, it would solidify the regulatory dividends of the past year or so into long-term law.
Introducing Hyperliquid, Proposing New Crypto Fundraising Regulations
Then came statements from the regulatory agencies, equally important as they represent the regulatory layer.
CFTC Chairman Mike Selig and SEC Chairman Paul Atkins detailed the progress of their respective agencies' specific projects in deregulation and embracing innovation.
CFTC aspects:
- First Compliant Bitcoin Perpetual Futures: CFTC Chairman Mike Selig confirmed that the first genuine "Bitcoin Perpetual Futures Contract" in the U.S. was launched in May 2026 on an exchange registered with the CFTC.
- Introducing the Decentralized Protocol Hyperliquid: The CFTC is fully advancing a compliance framework aimed at legally and compliantly introducing the decentralized trading protocol Hyperliquid into the United States.
This is also the core reason for HYPE's overnight surge.
- Protecting "Prediction Markets": Federal regulators are actively intervening to prevent local state officials (like New York Attorney General Letitia James) from overreaching their authority to interfere with compliant prediction markets, avoiding forcing such financial innovations overseas.
SEC aspects:
- Proposed "Crypto Asset Rule": SEC Chairman Paul Atkins announced that the SEC has just proposed a new crypto asset rule, completely resolving the certainty for crypto startups to legally conduct equity and capital fundraising through digital assets in the U.S.
- Capital Market Recovery and the "Trump Account": Thanks to the rationalization of IPO thresholds, 583 companies have gone public (a 75% increase year-on-year) since the new administration took office, raising $28 billion; concurrently, promoting the "Trump Account" to allow a new generation of young investors to better share in capital market gains.
The new crypto asset fundraising rules are also quite significant; legal ICOs are poised to return. For details, see this article: "The Biggest Boon for Crypto: Is Compliant Token Fundraising Coming Back?"
Bitcoin Reserves
During the final Q&A session with reporters, there was an interesting question about whether the U.S. government would further expand its Bitcoin reserves.
Trump stated he is open to the idea and will listen to his regulatory team's advice.
Promises are beneficial.
Another part concerned AI, though not much useful information was provided. Addressing the massive electricity demand of AI, Trump proposed a fast-track approval policy, allowing tech companies to build dedicated power plants independently (with approval within two to three weeks), neither straining the public grid nor feeding surplus power back into the traditional grid.
