White House Draws Line Between Bitcoin And Digital Assets At Its First Crypto Summit, In EO

“From this day on, America will follow the rule that everyone in Bitcoin knows very well — never sell your Bitcoin.” -President Donald Trump, 3/7/25 at inaugural White House Crypto Summit

The President of the United States is now reciting popular Bitcoin maxims as they pertain to America’s bitcoin stack.

Wild.

It’s clear that he’s gotten the message that bitcoin is something altogether different than all other digital assets.

He’s proven this not only by what he said at today’s Crypto Summit, but also by signing an executive order (EO) last night that established a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR) independently of a Digital Asset stockpile.

The Strategic Bitcoin Reserve

Regarding the SBR, the President said today that the U.S. plans to hold onto the bitcoin it has in its possession, unlike previous administrations who have sold massive sums of it. 

“Unfortunately, in recent years, the U.S. government has foolishly sold tens of thousands of bitcoin (200,000, by some estimates) that were worth billions and billions of dollars had they not sold them,” said President Trump.

That said, the President also shared that members of his administration will pursue avenues to accumulate bitcoin — at no expense to the American public.

“The Treasury and Commerce departments will explore new pathways to accumulate additional bitcoin holdings for the reserve, provided it’s done at no cost to the taxpayers,” he said.

“We don’t want any cost to the taxpayers,” he reiterated, highlighting the notion that the U.S. government plans to amass bitcoin in a “budget-neutral” (to borrow language from last night’s EO) manner.

Attendees

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick were present at the summit alongside approximately 30 prominent members of the Bitcoin and crypto industry, including Strategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, and BTC Inc. CEO David Bailey.

Other members of the Trump administration, including head of Small Business Administration Kelly Loeffler and White House Crypto Czar David Sacks, were also in attendance.

Both Sacks and Loeffler praised the pace at which Trump is making progress with Bitcoin and crypto executive orders and legislation.

“Your administration is moving at tech [startup] speed,” said Sacks.

“It’s actually faster than any startup that I’ve been part of,” added the venture capitalist, well-known for investing in many tech startups over the course of his career.

Secretary Lutnick vouched for President Trump’s newfound Bitcoin and crypto knowledge, adding that the President has truly come to embrace the technology.

“Blockchain and Bitcoin technology are a key part of [the President’s] thinking,” said Lutnick.

“We’re using blockchain. We’re using Bitcoin. We’re going to use digital assets to [push] forward, and Donald Trump is leading the way,” he added.

Stablecoins As Money, Bitcoin As Store Of Value

Now, before you go and get too excited about Secretary Lutnick talking about “using” bitcoin, please know that with all the bullish bitcoin talk at the event, not a word of bitcoin being used as money was uttered. Instead, it was solely referred to as a savings technology.

As far as digital assets that the administration views as money, stablecoins stand alone.

And Secretary Bessent reinforced this message, most recently pushed at both the first U.S. Press Conference on Digital Assets and the first Subcommittee on Digital Assets hearing, at the summit.

“We are going to put a lot of thought into the stablecoin regime,” said Secretary Bessent. “And as President Trump has directed, we are going to keep the U.S. [dollar] the dominant reserve currency in the world, and we will use stablecoins to do that.”

(And before you go cursing Secretary Bessent under your breath as you read this, please note that he also dropped an absolutely banger of a pro-bitcoin one-liner at the event: “President Trump is creating assets for the American people while most past presidents have created debt.”)

What Wasn’t Discussed

What is more, on a summit preview call with senior White House officials this morning, one of the officials dispelled the rumor that the administration would remove the capital gains tax from crypto sales (which is also applicable when you spend bitcoin or crypto), clearly stating that the administration has no plans to do this and that the topic wouldn’t even be broached at the summit. (It wasn’t.)

Something else that wasn’t discussed at the summit was whether or not the U.S. Marshalls have provided the Trump administration with a proper audit of the bitcoin and other digital assets in their custody (last it was reported, they apparently have little idea of what they’re holding). Also unmentioned was how the government plans to secure the private keys to the bitcoin it keeps in the SBR. (I planned to inquire about the latter, but the members of the press present at the event weren’t permitted to ask questions.)

But let’s not get lost in some of the currently minor details here.

It Was A Good Day

Instead, let’s take a queue from Brian Armstrong, and acknowledge that today was, by many standards, a good day.

“It was a pretty historic moment for the crypto industry,” Armstrong told Bitcoin Magazine after the summit had concluded. 

“President Trump really breathed life back into this industry. A few years ago, it felt like we were under attack, and some folks tried to unlawfully kill the whole industry. What a sea change to be invited into the White House and to have the most pro-crypto president ever,” he added.

Armstrong also noted that, next, he wants to see legislation passed to help make concrete some of the positive Bitcoin and crypto initiatives set in motion under the Trump administration.

“Congress is making really good progress on this with stablecoin and market structure legislation, and hopefully codifying this Strategic Bitcoin Reserve eventually, as well.”