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

• Bullish takes (and a bit of gloom) as the Digital Asset Summit gets going.

• This Democratic rep says his party has misunderstood the crypto industry. 

Vibes mixed at DAS Day 1

Casey, Felix and I are at the Digital Asset Summit (as promised). We hope you’ve been following along via the livestream, or our X accounts. 

But if not, we got mixed vibes from the event’s first few speakers, with some forecasts to boot.  

Blockworks co-founder Michael Ippolito shared an observation to kick off the New York event — noting it’s “a tale of two cities.”

He was referring to new institutions jumping into the segment (or getting ready to). Yet some coins haven’t surpassed previous all-time highs, and there’s a general feeling there hasn’t been much “zero-to-one innovation” of late. 

Crucible founder Meltem Demirors took the stage next, highlighting the US government’s planned strategic bitcoin reserve, the president’s memecoin and the fact that every major financial institution has a crypto strategy.

“Yet here we are, and we have no idea what to believe in,” she said.

Demirors showed a chart with crypto market cap and trading volumes over the last five years (sans BTC and ETH). Growing bitcoin dominance, she argued, is “a sign of stagnation.”

She described institutions buying MSTR and bitcoin ETFs as mercenaries, not missionaries.

“They don’t have the same mission as us,” Demirors said. “They’re here to make money.”

LMAX Group CEO David Mercer gave a different perspective in the next session, trying to lift spirits with some bullish predictions.

Among them, he said digital assets would grow to between $20 trillion or $30 trillion by the end of the decade — roughly 15% of all assets. By 2040, he added, they will represent 80% of assets.

Mercer believes half of the 40 large global banks he deals with — none of which directly trade spot bitcoin with LMAX today — will “touch” digital assets by the end of 2026.   

When Ippolito narrowed the timeframe to the next 12 months, Mercer noted: “A tier-one bank will start to clear major institutions into spot crypto trading. That’s not an ETF. That’s not a dollar-settled security. That’s not a dollar-settled derivative. That’s spot digital assets.”

There was a second part to the answer.

“A bulge bracket bank will offer spot digital asset trading to its customers,” Mercer said. “When that happens, guess what? They all follow.”

— Ben Strack

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Hello from the Digital Asset Summit! 

In case you missed it, Rep. Ro Khanna of California kicked off the policy conversation as the first elected speaker to take the stage. 

Khanna, a Democrat representing parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, says blockchain is a hot topic in his district. 

“I understood from conversations with many different entrepreneurs and leaders that this was a very important technology,” he said. “That's why I never understood why it became so political.”

He’s served in the House since 2017, but Trump 2.0 looks a lot different than the president’s first term, especially for crypto. 

Trump and his team have been more than happy to accept the title as instigators of the pro-crypto shift in Washington, but Democrats can help the industry too, Khanna said, even if the party traditionally hasn’t been on board.  

“T​o me, this is about the extension of American leadership and influence. But I don't think the Democratic Party fully understood that.”

Khanna’s appearance comes shortly after Congress passed the DeFi broker CRA with bipartisan support. 

Khanna was one of 76 Democrats in the House to vote in favor of the measure, which seeks to overturn an IRS rule classifying decentralized operations as brokers. The resolution now heads to President Trump’s desk. 

In terms of what’s next on Capitol Hill, Khanna said members are now prioritizing getting a stablecoin bill passed. Also on the docket is a market structure bill. Trump has told lawmakers he wants a bill on his desk by the end of the summer. I fear that’ll be here before we know it.

— Casey Wagner