Congress On Recess, President Trump Meets with El Salvador's Pro-Bitcoin President
Trump will host Nayib Bukele at the White House Monday
With Congress on Easter recess, it’s a quiet start to the week on the crypto policy front. But Bitcoin enthusiasts will be keeping a close eye on El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele as he meets with President Trump at the White House, watching for any comments or signals from the two men regarding the world’s largest digital asset.
President Donald Trump is scheduled to host El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele at the White House today. The two leaders are expected to discuss a range of topics, with immigration being the main focus. The meeting follows reports that El Salvador has accepted and incarcerated over 200 Venezuelan migrants identified by U.S. authorities as affiliated with gangs. President Bukele, known for his tough stance on crime, has also drawn international attention for making El Salvador the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender.
It’s unclear whether Bitcoin will be discussed.
But the world’s largest digital asset is looking more and more resilient, breaking a three-month down trend and approaching $85,000 this morning, against the backdrop of concerns over mixed messaging from the White House over tariffs.
FOX Business senior correspondent Charlie Gasparino says there is now “significant division” inside the White House over comments by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on the temporary nature of the tariff exemptions.
Yet most of the major cryptocurrencies are in the green today. Is Bitcoin starting to act like that safe haven asset against market uncertainty or is it merely moving higher as tech stocks respond to tariff exemptions on smartphones, computers and semiconductors? We’ll see how the week unfolds.
What’s Happening in Washington This Week?
Not too much!
As I reported last week, Congressional staffers—and even some lawmakers—will be working through the Easter break to finalize draft text for market structure legislation. The goal, one lawmaker tells me, is to have something ready ahead of another House Financial Services Committee hearing on market structure that will be scheduled after the recess.
One D.C. crypto lobbyist put it to me: “It’s very quiet this week. We’ll be feeling out where market structure actually is, timing on the stablecoin floor votes, and what’s doable on crypto tax via reconciliation.”
The industry will also be keeping an eye on whether SEC Chair Paul Atkins, who was confirmed by the Senate last week, chooses to officially step into the role. The timing is up to him, but he will need to be officially sworn in before he takes his seat.
In the crypto conference world
The virtual Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Summit will take place Tuesday. The inaugural event is designed to provide a thoughtful discussion about the future of Bitcoin as a global strategic reserve asset.
TokenizeThis will take place in New York Wednesday-Friday and feature conversations with leading experts in the tokenization and real-world asset (RWA) space.
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Here we go. Another week of finance & economy is upon us.