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

• Crypto prices retreat after Trump’s crypto reserve post spurs a surge. Let’s unpack. 

• We don’t have the guest list or the agenda, but there’s a crypto gathering Friday in Washington. 

• It’s another busy week for economic data. Get the schedule below.

Unpacking Trump’s crypto reserve reveal 

You know by now that crypto prices saw a lift after Donald Trump’s crypto reserve announcement on Sunday. By early Monday, they’d retreated.

The president listed assets to be included in the stockpile (BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP and SOL) in his post, but did not give any sort of timeline. 

So-called crypto czar David Sacks added: “More to come at the Summit.” (Scroll for Casey’s take on that event).

Bitcoin surged roughly 10% on Sunday to about $95,000. At this morning’s market open, it was at about $93,100. By 2 pm ET: $87,300.

Not all were thrilled about the possible inclusion of assets beyond bitcoin (i.e. Brian Armstrong, Nic Carter, Bitwise execs). Check out this piece from Blockworks’ Donovan Choy.

Trump’s reveal was a sign of how quickly a pro-crypto regime can get the market to turn, noted eToro market analyst Josh Gilbert.

“However, the concerns from last week remain unchanged from a macro perspective, and clearly, the market is willing to overlook that for now,” he said. 

“Macro perspective” here means all that inflation and monetary policy stuff. (Casey also details upcoming economic data below). Then there’re the tariffs on Canada and Mexico imports set to hit tomorrow — and a new investigation into lumber imports. 

Macro headwinds and the Bybit hack drove BTC briefly below $80,000 last week. But Trump’s vested interests in the space signal “sell-offs of this nature could continue to be supported moving forward,” Gilbert added. 

Some theorized we’d see a further lift in BTC price Monday as investors sought to pile into bitcoin ETFs after Trump’s weekend message. Those don’t trade 24/7, after all.

Though we won’t know the Monday inflow tally for a bit, volumes for BlackRock iShares Trust (IBIT), as of 2 pm ET, weren’t exactly atypical. 

As we wait for more US crypto reserve details, we’ve seen movement from a number of US states. Sen. Cynthia Lummis said last week she expects one of them to have a BTC reserve before the federal government.

Those comments from the Wyoming Republican came before Trump’s post. Still, the sheer number of state-level proposals signals she could be right.

Though such efforts are effectively dead (at least for now) in five states — Pennsylvania, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota — 19 others have live proposals, according to Bitcoin Laws data.

A Utah proposal passed the House last month and is working its way through the Senate. Similar planned reserves expect to be soon voted on in the Oklahoma House and the Texas Senate.  

Lummis had, prior to the election, proposed a federal reserve. That was for BTC specifically, and included specifics (a holding period of at least 20 years, funding from revaluing the Fed’s existing gold certificates, etc.), noted S&P Global’s Andrew O’Neill.

“Yesterday’s proposal lacks details on size, timing and whether it will be managed by the Federal Reserve or another new or existing entity,” O’Neill added.

Trump speaking without reserve (see what I did there?) is typical. We’ll see what more we learn on Friday and how Congress could choose to act.

— Ben Strack

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The penalties paid and the number of business changes Kraken must make as its legal battle with the SEC appears done for now.  

This crypto exchange said Monday the regulator has “agreed in principle to dismiss its lawsuit against Kraken with prejudice.” Kraken did not admit any wrongdoing. 

“It ends a wasteful, politically motivated campaign, lifts uncertainty that stifled innovation and investment and clears the path toward a stable, forward-thinking regulatory regime,” the company said in a statement.

In Friday’s newsletter — which focused on some particularly discouraging economic data — I encouraged our readers to unplug over the weekend. If you took my advice, you probably missed some major updates on the crypto front. 

Ben already caught you up to speed on the crypto reserve. Here’s the 411 on the other big news from the White House we got over the weekend: 

Trump’s AI and crypto czar will be hosting the first-ever “crypto summit” on March 7. 

“Attendees will include prominent founders, CEOs and investors from the crypto industry, as well as members of the President’s Working Group on Digital Assets,” the White House said in a statement late last Friday evening. 

The president will deliver remarks, it added. 

As a reminder, the Working Group, also chaired by Sacks, includes SEC Chair Mark Uyeda and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. 

The summit’s agenda has not been released, but we can imagine the crypto stockpile and stablecoin legislation will take center stage. 

Both the newly announced stockpile and various stablecoin bills in Congress have highlighted tension between crypto companies and high-profile industry members. 

Those pushing for a bitcoin-only reserve were disappointed to learn that Trump plans to include four additional tokens, and we’ve written before about how US-based stablecoin issuers may be hoping to lock in advantages by lobbying for forthcoming stablecoin laws. 

We’ll be watching on Friday and will have the latest post-summit news in your inbox next week.

— Casey Wagner

No Theories. Just Market Movers.

The biggest players in finance and crypto aren’t waiting for the next cycle to play out — they’re engineering it. Who’s taking the mic at DAS NYC?

• Miguel Morel (Arkham) – Onchain intelligence is rewriting the playbook. Here’s how.

• David Mercer (LMAX Group) – The real institutional flow into crypto (not the headlines).

• Keerthi Moudgal (Kinexys by JPMorgan) – The infrastructure that’s actually making TradFi-to-DeFi real.

• Leah Wald (Sol Strategies) – Navigating market swings like it’s second nature.

Less than 3 weeks to go to DAS NYC. The smartest money is already in. Are you?

Happy Monday! We have a busy week of what is likely to be market-moving events, for both cryptocurrencies and US equities.

Here’s what’s on tap: 

• President Trump will deliver the first joint Congressional address of his second term on Tuesday. It’s an unofficial State of the Union of sorts; Trump is expected to discuss key topics he ran on, including immigration and Elon Musk’s government efficiency efforts. The speech will also come after the one-month extension for tariffs on Mexico and Canada expires at midnight.

• On Wednesday we’ll get two key data points: the Fed’s Beige Book and the ISM services report. Both will give us a look into current economic sentiment and conditions. The ISM services print for February is expected to increase mildly from January. 

• On Friday comes the biggest report of the week: US employment data. Analysts project the economy added 160,000 jobs last month, which would be an increase from January. Projections also show the unemployment rate ticking up slightly and wage growth dropping. It is the final monthly employment report to be published ahead of the next FOMC meeting on March 18.

— Casey Wagner

• House Majority Whip Tom Emmer and Rep. Ritchie Torres are reportedly set to create a Congressional Crypto Caucus in an effort to advance pro-crypto policies.

• Crypto investment products saw a third-straight week of net outflows last week. $2.9 billion of capital left those investment vehicles, marking the largest weekly outflow total on record, according to CoinShares data.

• We mentioned BTC’s Monday price drop. Ether was trading around $2,180 at 2 pm ET — down more than 13% from 24 hours prior. SOL, XRP and ADA saw similar declines over that span.