Impact analysis of the first White House cryptocurrency summit: More than a month later, what changes have taken place in the market?

1. Introduction: The convening and aftermath of the first White House Crypto Summit

On March 7, 2025, the White House held the first "Cryptocurrency Summit" in history. Before the summit, the market generally expected that the Trump administration would release major positive signals, such as announcing additional purchases of Bitcoin, incorporating more mainstream currencies into the "National Crypto Reserve", or issuing clearer regulatory policies to continue to push up market enthusiasm and further boost the market.

Influenced by this expectation, a few days before the summit, Bitcoin soared from US$80,000 to nearly US$95,000, and other mainstream currencies (including ETH, XRP , SOL , and ADA) also generally rose by 5% to 25%.

However, after the summit was officially held, no large-scale coin purchase plan or substantive new policy was announced, and only the existing position of "supporting the industry and moderate regulation" was reiterated. As market expectations were dashed, there was a significant correction after the summit. Bitcoin fell by about 3% to 5% the day after the summit, and other mainstream currencies also generally fell by 5% to 10%.

Nevertheless, compared with the comprehensive suppression of the previous government, the current policy and regulatory environment has been significantly relaxed, which still makes the market relatively optimistic about the clarification of medium- and long-term regulations and innovation space. Some investors still remain cautiously optimistic about the future policy evolution of the United States in the field of encryption.

To deeply understand this summit and its subsequent market fluctuations, we also need to review the regulatory path and policy evolution of the US government in the crypto field in recent years. This article will conduct a comprehensive analysis of the market trends before and after this summit, outline key policy signals, and look forward to the far-reaching impact of this summit on the future from an industry perspective.

2. Historical Background: The U.S. Government’s Changing Attitude towards Cryptocurrency

1. Early stage: a cautious attitude mainly focusing on supervision and risk prevention

• After the ICO bubble in 2017, US regulators (such as the SEC, CFTC, etc.) focused on combating fraud, money laundering, and preventing illegal capital flows. They strengthened relevant law enforcement efforts and required cryptocurrency exchanges to comply with "Anti-Money Laundering/Customer Identity Verification" (AML/KYC) regulations.
• At the time, the U.S. government relied primarily on existing legal frameworks (such as securities laws) to regulate cryptocurrencies, and did not introduce dedicated federal legislation or regulatory sandboxes.

2. Trump's first term and Biden's era: wavering attitudes and increasingly strict law enforcement

• Trump's first term (2017–2020): Overall skeptical of cryptocurrencies. In 2019, Trump publicly stated on social media that he "does not like" crypto assets such as Bitcoin, believing that they would weaken the status of the US dollar. During this period, the US government strengthened law enforcement against ICO fraud cases and proposed strengthening supervision of self-hosted wallets at the end of 2020.
• Biden Administration (2021–2024): Although the Biden Administration issued an executive order on digital assets in 2022, requiring federal agencies to coordinate research on issues related to cryptocurrencies, subsequent law enforcement efforts have intensified. The SEC has sued several large crypto companies including Ripple and Coinbase, and the market's concerns about legal risks have intensified, which has to some extent inhibited the entry of institutional investors.

3. Post-Election 2024: Trump Returns and a Dramatic Shift to Crypto-Friendly Policies

• In January 2025, Trump took office again and quickly signed Executive Order 14178, announcing that the United States would become the "global cryptocurrency capital." He revoked many of the Biden-era regulatory policies, stopped some lawsuits against cryptocurrency exchanges, and appointed David Sacks, former PayPal COO and investor, as "Head of Artificial Intelligence and Cryptocurrency Affairs."
• In late February 2025, Trump also signed an executive order to establish a "strategic Bitcoin reserve", but this move was limited to retaining about 200,000 Bitcoins that the government had previously confiscated, and there was no plan to purchase additional Bitcoins. Although this move sent a strong signal to the market that "the US government holds Bitcoin", it also made the previous market expectation that "the United States will purchase a large number of BTC, ETH and other cryptocurrencies" fall through.

3. Market expectations and enthusiasm before the summit

Before the summit was officially held (March 7), the Trump administration hinted through social media at the end of February that it might include BTC, ETH , XRP , SOL, ADA and other cryptocurrencies into the "new U.S. cryptocurrency strategic reserve."

As a result, the market's expectation that "the Trump administration may announce major benefits" has rapidly increased . Bitcoin rose from $84,000 to nearly $95,000, and several currencies mentioned by Trump (BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL, ADA) also saw significant increases from the end of February to the beginning of March. The following table shows the price trends of these mainstream crypto assets from February 28 to before the summit (March 3):

Judging from the data, the market originally expected the US government to announce more favorable policies at the summit, such as using the federal budget to officially purchase Bitcoin or other mainstream currencies, thereby further pushing up market prices in the short term.

Driven by this expectation, market liquidity has increased significantly, and trading volume and the number of open interests (OI) of derivatives (such as futures and options) have also grown rapidly during the same period. The overall market sentiment has become optimistic, and investors' imagination of "government endorsement" has been rapidly magnified.

However, the actual content of the executive order did not include any new purchase plans, but only stated that "the Bitcoin assets currently held by the federal government will not be sold for the time being." This means that there is limited room for new buying in the short term, which ultimately became one of the key reasons for the market correction after the summit.

4. Summit Live: Policy Direction Clear, but Lack of Details

On March 7, the White House officially held the first "Cryptocurrency Summit", which attracted more than 20 important figures in the US crypto industry. Although the meeting was promoted in advance as "setting the tone for US crypto regulatory policy in the next four years", in the end, no clear new policies or large-scale coin purchase plans were announced:

1. Trump was only in attendance briefly:

• Trump himself only attended the opening of the summit for about 30 minutes, and told the participating crypto entrepreneurs in the live broadcast that "the previous administration's war on cryptocurrencies is over," and emphasized that the government will provide regulatory certainty for the crypto market at the legislative level.
• The closed-door discussion was hosted by David Sacks, director of encryption and artificial intelligence affairs at the White House, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Several participants (such as former CFTC Chairman Chris Giancarlo, MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor, Paradigm partner Matt Huang, and Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev) put forward some suggestions, including allowing the government to purchase large amounts of Bitcoin, tokenizing traditional securities assets, and re-examining criminal charges against Tornado Cash developers, but these suggestions did not immediately receive any commitment or guarantee.

2. “Friendly but light touch” regulatory tone:

• Trump reiterated at the meeting that he would promote the development of the encryption industry through "friendly legislation and light-touch regulation."
• While Treasury and SEC representatives did not explicitly commit to dropping more cases, they said they would prioritize the industry’s needs in the future.
• No new executive orders or immediate bills were issued at the summit, indicating that the government is still in the stage of "collecting industry opinions and discussing regulatory details."

3. Mainstream media interpretation:

• Mainstream financial media (such as CNBC, Bloomberg, etc.) are more focused on Trump's willingness to pass congressional legislation to "provide regulatory certainty for the crypto market," believing that this is a significant improvement compared to the previous situation that was full of gray areas and intensive litigation.

Overall, this summit "set the general direction but lacked specific details," and its short-term impact on the market is more about the disappointment caused by "falsified expectations" rather than disruptive benefits.

5. Market trends and technical analysis after the summit

After the summit, the prices of Bitcoin and most mainstream currencies experienced a correction. The main reason was that the market quickly digested the "gap between expectations and reality", resulting in short-term selling pressure , and many investors chose to sell or wait and see.

The following table shows the price trends of several major cryptocurrencies from the end of the summit (March 7) to late March (March 24):

Overall, the market atmosphere has returned to rationality from the optimistic expectations of "good policies" and has begun to correct the "overly high expectations".

After losing the expectation of "additional government purchases", the price of Bitcoin has adjusted in the short term, but has not yet broken down; Ethereum and XRP have also followed the overall market trend downward, and most other mainstream currencies are in a state of "ending short-term gains and entering shocks or corrections." In the derivatives market, funding rates have turned neutral or slightly negative, and the volume of open contracts has also declined, reflecting the current market's declining willingness to leverage long positions and weakening short-term speculation. Solana, due to the listing of CME futures and ETFs in mid-March, has shown a slight rise against the trend and has developed a certain independent market trend .

Although the overall market has fallen back in the short term, many institutions and long-term investors are still optimistic that the United States may introduce more specific legislation or guidelines in the future, as medium- and long-term regulatory risks have been greatly alleviated. Therefore, after a period of cooling off, the overall market may still have a chance to gather buying momentum again if the government announces specific favorable policies in the future.

Conclusion: Cryptocurrency market fluctuates in the short term, but still optimistic about long-term potential

Regulatory and legislative trends

Although the first White House Cryptocurrency Summit did not introduce major new policies or bring about immediate legislative action, the US government has made it clear that it will support the direction of "light-touch regulation to encourage industry development". From a policy perspective, the United States may be more proactive in formulating bills or regulatory mechanisms in the future so that the market is no longer in the previous "ambiguous or uncertain" state. If the bill can be successfully implemented in the future, it will encourage large financial institutions or technology companies to invest.

Market Sentiment and Institutional Participation

Compared with the strong suppression of the previous government, the regulatory risks are relatively lower now. Many institutional investors (including investment banks, asset management companies, sovereign funds, etc.) have become more tolerant of crypto assets and may expand their digital asset business.

In the long run, "national reserves" and "government openness" are often important driving forces for bull market cycles. Even if there is no large-scale cash purchase of coins this time, the market still expects more government cooperation projects or infrastructure investment in the future.

Long-term outlook

In the short term, there is a gap between market expectations and actual results, causing prices to fall from high levels. Technical and derivative data show that trading sentiment has entered a wait-and-see period, with investors waiting for clearer policy details or a turnaround in the macroeconomic environment.

In the medium and long term, as long as the direction of "the US government recognizes the legal status of crypto assets and is willing to formulate clear regulatory rules" remains unchanged, institutional funds and developer ecosystems are expected to continue to flow in. When macroeconomic and regulatory variables gradually become clear, the market may usher in a new wave of growth momentum. The current volatility is more of a digestion of "excessive expectations in the early stage" rather than a reversal of the trend. All parties are paying attention to whether the White House can formalize the opinions of this summit and implement them into the new regulatory system, which will become one of the key driving forces for the subsequent market development.