RECAP: White House Crypto Meeting — August 19, 2026
President Trump hosted top figures from crypto and finance at the White House, setting the stage for the first CFTC Innovation Advisory Committee session—a milestone for U.S. leadership in digital assets.
Key moments:
• Trump declared, “We ended the war on crypto once and for all,” crediting his administration’s rollback of Biden-era regulations for reigniting innovation.
• He reaffirmed his executive ban on a U.S. central bank digital currency (CBDC), maintaining a hands-off stance on state-backed digital money.
• The U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve is now a “permanent asset” under the Treasury, expanded into a broader Digital Asset Stockpile including select cryptocurrencies.
• The GENIUS Act marked its first anniversary, praised for fast-tracking dollar-pegged stablecoin adoption across financial systems.
• Trump claimed the U.S. is “way ahead” of China in AI and blockchain, confirming President Xi Jinping’s visit on September 24—with AI cooperation on the table.
• SEC Chair Paul Atkins and CFTC Chair Michael Selig earned praise for regulatory clarity, alongside Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in advancing innovation-driven policies.
• Executives from Coinbase, Ripple, Robinhood, Gemini, and Nasdaq attended, ahead of Thursday’s inaugural meeting.
Agenda: crypto regulation, AI, and prediction markets in economic forecasting.
Ethio Crypto Market Hub
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