US President Trump to Host White House Crypto Summit

US President Donald Trump will host a White House Crypto Summit on Friday, gathering top industry executives to discuss the future of digital assets in the US.

However, concerns are growing over the lack of explicit Ethereum (ETH) representation at the high-profile event.

Confirmed Attendees and the Agenda

According to Fox Business correspondent Eleanor Terret, notable industry leaders have confirmed attendance, including:
– MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor
– Bitcoin Magazine CEO David Bailey
– Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang
– Exodus CEO J.P. Richardson
– Multicoin Capital co-founder Kyle Samani
– World Liberty Financial co-founder Zach Witkoff
– Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov
– Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong
– Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev
– Kraken CEO Arjun Sethi

The meeting, expected to host 20-25 attendees, will be in a roundtable format, including members of the Presidential Working Group on Digital Assets, indicating a focused effort to align crypto policy with regulatory considerations.

Anticipated discussions will cover the impact of digital assets on financial markets and regulatory frameworks, as well as broader economic implications. Reports suggest potential discussions on how to fund a US crypto reserve and tax incentives for crypto transactions. Investor Mike Alfred shared that sources indicate the Trump administration is preparing to announce zero capital gains on crypto sales at the summit.

Ethereum’s Indirect Presence

Despite the presence of executives from firms involved in the Ethereum ecosystem, critics argue that a more direct Ethereum representative should attend. Sassal, an Ethereum educator, noted that many confirmed attendees are actively building on Ethereum.

For instance, World Liberty Finance operates on Ethereum Layer 1, while Chainlink is chain-agnostic but has a significant presence in the Ethereum ecosystem. Coinbase developed Base as an Ethereum Layer-2 and is linked to Circle, the USDC stablecoin issuer, which mainly operates on Ethereum.

Robinhood collaborates with Arbitrum (ARB), an Ethereum Layer 2, while Kraken is developing Ink, another Ethereum Layer 2, and has been an Ethereum advocate for years.

Despite these representations, experts suggest a direct Ethereum leader should be in attendance. Danny Ryan, an Ethereum Foundation researcher, has been suggested as a potential representative, although his attendance is unconfirmed. Ryan expressed confidence in effectively representing Ethereum’s interests at the summit.

A notable absence is Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, with speculation that his Russian-Canadian background may influence his participation due to strained US-Russia relations. However, Buterin has not commented on his attendance.

There remains time for additional confirmations, providing a chance for Ethereum to have a more explicit voice in the discussions.

As for Ethereum’s price, it has risen over 4% in the past 24 hours, currently trading around $2,177.