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

• Trump highlighted the need for stablecoin and market structure legislation to the Digital Asset Summit crowd.  

• Powell is up to his old tricks.

POTUS crashes DAS. Sort of.

I enjoyed taking the Digital Asset Summit stage with Algorand Foundation CEO Staci Warden a few hours ago.  

Our opening act? The president of the United States. 

There wasn’t exactly market-moving crypto news out of Donald Trump’s mouth (i.e. another executive order) — though he did utter the word “Blockworks” upon kicking off his three-minute virtual address. 

Staci and I watched Trump on a screen backstage. Strategy executive chairman Michael Saylor — the speaker to follow us — was close by getting mic’d up. It was an interesting moment.

The president doubled down on some of what we heard on the campaign trail and during his first couple months in office. 

Trump vowed the US would “dominate crypto and the next generation of financial technologies.” He labeled the so-called Operation Chokepoint 2.0 as “a form of lawfare through government weaponization” that “went beyond regulation.”

To that point, Warden told me: “Frankly, we don’t even need directive support. We just need to not be hampered. 

“We have the deepest, most liquid financial markets in the world,” she added. “If we could just have a level playing field, we can definitely compete globally.”

Trump reaffirmed in his pre-recorded remarks that he’s called upon Congress to pass legislation creating “simple, common-sense rules” for stablecoins and market structure. Casey wrote yesterday that Trump has told lawmakers he wants a bill on his desk by summer’s end.

Dollar-backed stablecoins will help expand dominance of the US dollar, the president added.

Trump flattered the DAS crowd, noting, “Pioneers like you will be able to improve our banking and payment system.” Warden talked more about that and broader blockchain adoption.

The appearance offered a bit of a jolt to the conference for some — and it’s safe to assume legislation is coming. The questions, of course, are how quickly, what the final versions will look like and how exactly that will spur the next generation of financial markets.

— Ben Strack

Looking for a companion for your morning cup of coffee? Join Katherine Ross for the Empire newsletter — top crypto news and analysis delivered to your inbox weekdays at 8:45 am ET. Inform your day in crypto with Empire.

Blockworks is hiring a VP of sales! As our VP of sales, you’ll be directly responsible for the day-to-day operations and leadership of our media and subscription sales teams.

Remote US | $200k Base & OTE $300k

Apply today if you are:

• Crypto native

• Obsessed with sales

• Have run a team before

• Know how to sell into protocols

Jay Powell yesterday brought back his favorite pandemic-era word: “transitory.” 

The term, and the Fed’s projections as a whole, surprisingly didn’t spook investors. Markets initially fared well, but have since pared gains — perhaps a signal that traders are now looking closely at yesterday’s materials. 

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite closed Wednesday 1.1% and 1.4% higher, respectively. By 2 pm ET on Thursday, however, both indexes were back in the red, trading 0.3% and 0.4% lower, respectively. 

Median projections show that FOMC members still expect interest rates to end 2025 50bps lower, which should be reassuring to markets. But the committee is now also projecting slower growth, higher inflation and higher unemployment than what they predicted at the end of last year. 

President Trump’s tariff plans and layoffs from DOGE are likely major catalysts for the committee’s change of heart. 

“We now have inflation coming in from an exogenous source, but the underlying inflationary picture before that was basically 2.5% inflation, 2% growth and 4% unemployment,” Powell said during yesterday’s press conference. 

Still, though, Powell said “tariff inflation” could be — you guessed it — “transitory,” and therefore the Fed may not have to adjust its interest rate plans.

Whether Powell was trying to convince us or himself however is a question only he can answer.

— Casey Wagner