White House Plans Crypto, Prediction Market Summit Next Week

The White House will gather cryptocurrency and prediction market executives next Wednesday, according to three people familiar with the plans. The guest list remains unsettled, and traditional finance executives could also join.

The timing matters. Regulators convene many of the same executives 24 hours later. That hands Washington two straight days of contact with the industries pushing for new federal rules.

What the White House Crypto Summit Signals

President Donald Trump has aligned his administration with digital assets since returning to office last year. His regulators have opened doors to prediction market operators as well.

Neither the attendee list nor Trump’s own participation has been confirmed, Politico reported. The White House has not commented publicly on the plans.

Prediction markets let users trade contracts on the outcome of real events. They have moved from the margins of financial regulation toward its center.

Scrutiny has followed. New York City lawmakers opened an investigation into prediction markets this week over how the platforms advertise to residents.

CFTC Panel Convenes 35 Executives a Day Later

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) supervises US derivatives markets. It holds the first meeting of its Innovation Advisory Committee on Aug. 20 in Washington.

Chairman Michael Selig created the panel to advise the agency on technology, law, and policy questions. Its 35 members read like a guest list for the White House itself.

They include Polymarket’s Shayne Coplan, Kalshi’s Tarek Mansour, Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong, and Ripple’s Brad Garlinghouse. Executives from CME Group, Nasdaq, DraftKings, and FanDuel also hold seats.

That roster explains why the two days carry weight. Federal courts have already backed the platforms against state restrictions. A ruling favoring Kalshi kept their contracts trading in Minnesota.

CLARITY Act Vote Looms Over Both Meetings

The Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act would rewrite how Washington polices token trading. The bill sets a firmer test for which assets count as securities. Oversight would split between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the CFTC.

The Senate Banking Committee advanced the measure 15-9 in May. Senators then left for their August recess without holding a floor vote.

Democrats object to an ethics carve-out covering Trump’s crypto holdings. Republicans Josh Hawley and Jerry Moran oppose the stablecoin yield provisions on behalf of community banks.

Sixty votes are needed to break a filibuster. That arithmetic has left researchers rating the bill’s passage odds as slim for this year.

Lawmakers return in September, and Majority Leader John Thune has said the chamber will move early on the bill. The SEC has meanwhile started drafting its own crypto rulemaking as a fallback.

Executives will arrive in Washington with one ask above all others. Access to the administration is far easier to win than 60 Senate votes. The coming month will show whether next week’s meetings shifted either number.