Here’s what you’ll find in today’s edition:

• Casey gives an on-the-ground update on Washington.

• Ben reflects on how crypto vibes at the Exchange ETF conference have changed.

An update from Washington

Hello from Washington! I’m not here to see the cherry blossoms, although they’re providing a nice backdrop for the DC Blockchain Summit. 

It’s a busy week in the District. And I’m not just talking about the drama surrounding crypto’s favorite messaging app. 

Tomorrow, more Trump Cabinet hopefuls head to the Senate for nomination hearings. Paul Atkins, up to be the next chair of the SEC, will join Jonathan Gould (Comptroller of the Currency), Luke Pettit (Assistant Secretary of the Treasury) and Marcus Molinaro (Federal Transit Administrator). We imagine Atkins and Gould will take center stage. 

In the House, Reps. Bryan Steil and French Hill are ready to formally introduce the STABLE Act. The legislation is “80% similar” to the Senate’s stab at a stablecoin bill (the GENIUS Act), Steil said Wednesday at the DC Blockchain Summit. 

The DC Blockchain Summit, the Digital Chamber’s annual policy event, drew the usual suspects today. Aside from Reps. Steil and Hill, Sens. Tim Scott, Tim Sheehy and Bernie Moreno were also speakers. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand represented the Democrats. 

World Liberty Financial’s founding team, including Donald Trump Jr. (appearing via Zoom), spoke as well. They talked a lot about the importance of stablecoins, saying the team hopes to see that type of asset used for day-to-day payments in the future. They were tight-lipped, however, about their own USD1 token. 

Speaking of USD1, we heard Trump has been pushing Congress to pass stablecoin legislation ASAP. Now we have a pretty good guess as to why. 

I tried to catch Chase Herro, Zach Witkoff and Zach Folkman on their way out. Let’s just say the team wasn’t itching to talk to the press. 

If you know DC, you won’t be surprised to hear that most of my conversations today were off the record, or at the very least on background. Suffice to say there are some things I can’t share, but I’ll list a couple of policy-related things I’m keeping an eye on: 

Custody 

There’s a lot of talk around the strategic bitcoin reserve, but I think far too few people are talking about how the US government custodies digital assets. Sen. Lummis has been pressuring the US Marshals Service to release more detailed information about its security practices, and I’ll be curious to see if specific guidelines will be included in upcoming legislation around the bitcoin reserve.

Executive Orders 

President Trump is not done with crypto-related executive orders, people familiar with the matter told me. Even though the OCC recently took a step in the same direction with its reputational risk guidance, debanking in the crypto industry (so-called Operation Chokepoint 2.0) is still top of mind in the White House. 

SEC Rulemaking

Though the SEC certainly hasn’t been idle in the weeks since Mark Uyeda became acting chair, commissioners have stopped short of creating new rules. We’ve seen guidance and staff accounting bulletins. We’ve seen motions for dismissal in some of the agency’s most high-profile crypto cases. But we have not seen any new rules. 

To be clear, even if Paul Atkins is confirmed and takes over as chair, it’s going to be a while before any new rules — crypto or otherwise — are issued. It’s a long process. But it’s a process that won’t get started until Atkins takes the helm.

— Casey Wagner

Permissionless IV is about the people writing smart contracts, pushing protocols forward, and building what’s next.

🚀 Speaker applications are open. Got something real? Take the mic.

🛠 Hackathon locked & loaded. $100K+ in bounties. Your ticket? Covered.

The number of SEC roundtables the agency added to its calendar yesterday. 

On April 11, the agency’s crypto task force will focus on crypto trading regulation. Two weeks later, they’ll talk about crypto custody. 

Later this year: a tokenization roundtable on May 12 and one titled “DeFi and the American Spirit” on June 6.

While Casey was in DC, I traveled to Las Vegas for the Exchange ETF conference. I didn’t gamble, but rather spent time reflecting (through a crypto lens) on all that’s changed since I last attended the event three years ago.

In 2022, tech entrepreneur Pippa Malmgren kicked off the conference by labeling Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs as a “revolution in finance.” 

Michael Saylor called a speech by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen bullish for digital assets. Fidelity revealed the launch dates for its crypto industry and metaverse ETFs. Meanwhile, then-Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein said his firm wouldn’t rule out suing the SEC if the agency rejected its proposal to convert GBTC to an ETF. 

Three years ago, crypto was a shiny object that TradFi was getting more acquainted with.   

A couple months after that event in 2022, the SEC declined Grayscale’s bid, and the asset manager did indeed sue. The firm’s eventual legal victory would help lead to the approval of US spot BTC funds in January 2024. 

The crypto vibes at Exchange 2024 were thus strong, I was told, amid post-ETF launch euphoria. As I strolled the main expo hall at Virgin Hotels this week, the crypto presence remained evident. 

An F1 racecar (yes, a real one) sat in front of Kraken subsidiary CF Benchmarks’ booth. Franklin Templeton and VanEck gave away hats emblazoned with their crypto ETF tickers. On Grayscale’s table sat hardcover books detailing bitcoin’s investment case and FAQs. 

Still, the crypto hype paled in comparison to last year, multiple people told me, as other topics like private credit and ETF share classes gained attention this time around. Perhaps, some optimistically opined, the tempered crypto fanfare means the maturing asset class is now considered just another segment in the broader investment ecosystem.

“It goes without saying crypto’s a part of everybody’s conversation today,” TMX VettaFi’s Cinthia Murphy said — noting product development is moving fast. 

You by now know about all the single-asset spot crypto ETF filings (Fidelity added a solana proposal this week). And the plans for existing crypto index funds (i.e. from Franklin Templeton and Hashdex) to ultimately move beyond holding just BTC and ETH. 

I chatted with Calamos about its funds that offer bitcoin exposure with downside protection over a specific outcome period. And with Innovator, which last month brought to market a fund guarding against BTC losses greater than 20%. 

ProShares, whose renowned bitcoin futures ETF was overshadowed when the SEC approved spot products, also had an Exchange booth. Investment Strategist Simeon Hyman said the firm has “innovative stuff coming,” declining to say more.

State Street Global Advisors didn’t wish to discuss possible future crypto products after introducing actively managed digital asset portfolios with Galaxy in September. But Chief Business Officer Anna Paglia shouted out the category on stage when urging advisers to explore beyond the traditional 60/40 portfolio.

“Look outside of that…whether it is alts, whether it is crypto or whether it is something else,” she said. “Try to diversify away from what used to be comfortable.”

As for some of the other financial titans there, a Charles Schwab rep reiterated the company is “monitoring this space and the regulatory environment closely.” They added that Schwab “plans to offer spot crypto trading after the regulatory environment changes” and that it isn’t counting out launching a spot bitcoin ETF. 

A Vanguard spokesperson, on the other hand, said its previously stated view on crypto (that it doesn’t belong in a well-balanced, long-term portfolio) hasn’t changed. 

I asked an executive at JPMorgan Asset Management whether the firm was planning to offer crypto ETFs. Asking not to be named, he didn’t stutter: “No.”

Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Eric Balchunas kicked off a panel yesterday by asking the few hundred people in the room to raise their hand if they thought BTC would next hit $50,000 or $150,000. A clear majority (perhaps 70%) went with the latter. 

He went on to ask whether the crowd thought BTC hitting $1 million per coin was more likely than it dropping to “zeroish.”

Nearly everyone who put a hand up took the bullish stance, minus two skeptics in the front row.   

— Ben Strack

• House Majority Whip Tom Emmer today reintroduced his Securities Clarity Act with Congress member Darren Soto. It seeks to bring regulatory clarity to the digital assets ecosystem by offering clarity on defining commodities and securities.

• In case you missed it, Fidelity Investments yesterday filed for a spot solana ETF. The product, if approved, would be listed on the Cboe Exchange. 

• GameStop's board updated the company’s investment policy to add bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset. The vote to approve this change was unanimous.