The first-of-its-kind event at the White House with top crypto executives and the president showcased Mr. Trump’s embrace of the once-renegade industry.
Sitting beneath a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, more than two dozen of the most powerful figures in the U.S. cryptocurrency industry, together worth many billions of dollars, gathered in the White House on Friday for an audience with President Trump.
When Mr. Trump entered the ornate State Dining Room after a short wait, the executives rose to applaud him.
“Many of you have been fighting for years for this,” Mr. Trump said as the room quieted. “It’s an honor to be with you at the White House.”
Mr. Trump was holding a first-of-its-kind “crypto summit,” meeting face to face with the leaders of virtually all of the top crypto companies in the United States. Only a small portion of the gathering, which was scheduled to last four hours, was broadcast to the public. But it offered a vivid illustration of Mr. Trump’s recent embrace of crypto, a renegade industry that has spent years battling with U.S. regulators.
Several executives, including Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, the founders of the Gemini crypto exchange, offered words of gratitude to Mr. Trump. They called him “wonderful,” saying they were “overjoyed” with his approach.
“High I.Q. individuals around this table,” Mr. Trump responded.
Since he took office, Mr. Trump has orchestrated a complete transformation of federal policy on crypto. The Securities and Exchange Commission has almost entirely reversed an aggressive campaign by the Biden administration to crack down on the industry. The agency, moving with astonishing speed, has issued legal guidance to help crypto companies, ended investigations into major firms and dropped lawsuits against two of the largest exchanges, Coinbase and Kraken.