Market Response and Outlook After the First Crypto Summit in the United States

On March 7, 2025, the White House hosted the first-ever "Crypto Summit" in history. Prior to this, the market widely anticipated that the government would announce significant positive news, such as declaring an increase in Bitcoin purchases or incorporating more cryptocurrencies into the national reserves. This expectation drove the price of Bitcoin from $80,000 to nearly $95,000, and other major cryptocurrencies also saw an increase of 5% to 25%.

However, the actual content of the summit did not meet market expectations. The meeting reiterated its stance of "supporting the industry and moderate regulation," but did not announce any new large-scale purchasing plans or substantial new policies. As a result, the market experienced a noticeable correction after the summit, with Bitcoin dropping by 3% to 5% the following day, and other mainstream currencies also generally retreating by 5% to 10%.

Despite this, compared to the strict controls of the previous government, the current policies and regulatory environment have clearly relaxed. This has led the market to maintain a relatively optimistic attitude towards the clarification of medium- to long-term regulations and the space for innovation. Some investors remain cautiously optimistic about the future evolution of policies in the encryption field in the United States.

To gain a deeper understanding of this summit and its subsequent impact, we need to review the regulatory path and policy changes of the U.S. government in the encryption sector in recent years. This article will comprehensively analyze the market trends before and after the summit, outline key policy signals, and provide an industry perspective on the long-term implications of this summit.

The Evolution of the U.S. Government's Attitude Towards Cryptocurrency

Early: Focused on prudent regulation and risk prevention

After the ICO bubble in 2017, U.S. regulatory agencies focused primarily on combating fraud, money laundering, and illegal capital flows. They strengthened relevant law enforcement efforts, requiring cryptocurrency exchanges to comply with anti-money laundering and customer identity verification regulations. At that time, the government mainly regulated cryptocurrency based on the existing legal framework and did not introduce specific federal legislation or regulatory sandboxes.

Trump's First Term and Biden's Era: Fluctuating Attitudes and Stricter Law Enforcement

During Trump's first term (2017-2020), he held a skeptical attitude towards encryption currencies. In 2019, he publicly stated that he did not like Bitcoin and other encryption assets, believing they could undermine the dollar's status. During this period, the government strengthened law enforcement against ICO fraud cases and proposed to enhance regulation of self-custody wallets at the end of 2020.

The Biden administration (2021-2024) issued an executive order on digital assets in 2022, requiring federal agencies to coordinate research on issues related to encryption. However, the subsequent enforcement efforts have intensified. Regulatory agencies have sued several large encryption companies, increasing market concerns over legal risks, which has somewhat suppressed the participation of institutional investors.

After the 2024 elections: Policy shifts dramatically to "encryption-friendly"

In January 2025, after Trump takes office again, he quickly signs an executive order declaring that the United States will become the "global cryptocurrency capital." He rescinds multiple regulatory policies from the Biden era, halts several lawsuits against cryptocurrency exchanges, and appoints individuals with relevant backgrounds to oversee artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency affairs.

In late February 2025, Trump signed an executive order to establish a "strategic Bitcoin reserve," but it was limited to retaining approximately 200,000 Bitcoins previously confiscated by the government, with no intention of making additional purchases. This move sent a strong signal to the market about the U.S. government's holding of Bitcoin, but it also dashed the previous market expectations of a "large purchase of various encryptions."

Market Expectations and Heat Before the Summit

Before the official opening of the summit, the Trump administration hinted at the possibility of incorporating multiple encryption currencies into the "new U.S. cryptocurrency strategic reserve." This sparked rapidly rising market expectations of "significant good news being announced soon." The price of Bitcoin rose from $84,000 to nearly $95,000, and other mainstream coins also saw significant increases.

The market originally expected the government to announce stronger favorable policies at the Crypto Summit, such as officially purchasing Bitcoin or other mainstream coins using the federal budget, thereby further driving up market prices. Under this expectation, market liquidity significantly increased, with trading volume and the number of open contracts in derivatives growing rapidly. Overall market sentiment has turned optimistic, and investors' imagination of "government endorsement" has been quickly amplified.

However, the actual content of the executive order did not include any new procurement plans, only stating that "the Bitcoin assets currently held by the federal government will not be sold for now." This means that in the short term, there is limited new buying space, ultimately becoming one of the key reasons for the market correction after the summit.

Summit Live: Policy Direction Clear, but Lacks Details

On March 7, the White House officially held the first "Crypto Summit", attracting over 20 key figures from the US cryptocurrency industry. Although the event was promoted beforehand as "setting the tone for US cryptocurrency regulatory policy for the next four years", no clear new policies or large-scale purchasing plans were ultimately announced.

Trump himself attended the summit for about 30 minutes at the beginning, stating that "the previous administration's war on encryption has ended" and emphasized that the government will provide regulatory certainty for the crypto market at the legislative level. The subsequent closed-door discussions were led by relevant officials, and attendees made some suggestions, but these suggestions did not receive any immediate commitments or guarantees.

The government reiterated its position of "friendly legislation and light touch regulation" to promote the development of the encryption industry. Although representatives from relevant departments did not make a clear commitment to withdraw more lawsuits, they indicated that the industry's needs would be prioritized in the future. The summit did not issue any new executive orders or immediate bills, indicating that the government is still in the stage of "collecting industry opinions and discussing regulatory details."

Overall, this summit "sets the general direction, lacking specific details", and the short-term impact on the market is more about the "disappointment brought by the expectations being falsified", rather than a disruptive positive factor.

Market Trend Analysis After the Summit

After the summit, the prices of Bitcoin and most mainstream coins experienced a wave of correction. The main reason is that the market quickly digested the "gap between expectations and reality," leading to short-term selling pressure, and many investors chose to sell or temporarily remain on the sidelines.

Overall, the market atmosphere has returned to rationality from the optimistic expectation of "policy good", beginning a correction of "overly high expectations". Bitcoin experienced a short-term pullback after losing the expectation of "government additional coin purchases", but has not yet shown a significant downward break; other mainstream coins are mostly in a state of "ending the short-term upward trend, entering consolidation or correction". In the derivatives market, funding rates have turned to neutral or slightly negative, and the open interest has also decreased, reflecting a decline in the market's bullish leverage willingness and a weakening of short-term speculative sentiment.

Although there has been a short-term decline overall, against the backdrop of significantly alleviated regulatory risks in the medium to long term, many institutions and long-term investors remain optimistic about the possibility of the United States introducing more specific legislation or guidelines in the future. Therefore, after experiencing a period of calm, if the government announces specific favorable policies in the future, there is still a chance to regroup buying momentum.

Conclusion: The encryption market is experiencing short-term fluctuations, but long-term potential remains promising.

From the perspective of regulation and legislation, the U.S. government has explicitly stated that it will support a "light touch regulatory approach to encourage industry development." In the future, the U.S. may take a more proactive stance in formulating legislation or regulatory mechanisms, ensuring that the market is no longer in the previous "ambiguous or uncertain" state. If future legislation can be successfully implemented, it will encourage large financial institutions or technology companies to invest.

Compared to the strong crackdown of the previous government, the regulatory risks today are relatively lower. Many institutional investors have become more accepting of encryption assets, which may expand their digital asset business. In the long term, "national-level reserves" and "government openness" are often important forces driving 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 investments in the future.

In the short term, there is a gap between market expectations and actual results, leading to a price pullback from its high point. Technical indicators and derivatives data suggest that trading sentiment has entered a wait-and-see period, with investors waiting for clearer policy details or improvements in macroeconomic conditions.

In the medium to long term, as long as the direction of "the U.S. government officially recognizes the legal status of encryption assets and is willing to formulate clear regulatory rules" remains unchanged, institutional funds and the developer ecosystem are still expected to continue to flow in. When the macroeconomic and regulatory uncertainties gradually become clearer, the market may welcome a new wave of growth momentum. The current fluctuations are more about digesting the "over-expectations from the previous period" rather than a reversal of the trend. All parties are paying attention to whether the White House can formalize the opinions from this summit and implement them into a new regulatory framework, which will become one of the key driving forces for the subsequent market development.