The Daily: Bitcoin could be treated differently from altcoins in Trump's reserve plan, industry leaders set to attend US Crypto Summit and more

The following article is adapted from The Block’s newsletter,  The Daily , which comes out on weekday afternoons.

Happy Wednesday! The market seemingly continues to move in lockstep with every piece of U.S. crypto reserve news, while participants hope for some greater clarity from the Trump White House on Friday.

In today's newsletter, bitcoin could be treated differently from altcoins in a potential U.S. crypto reserve, industry leaders line up to attend the inaugural Crypto Summit, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan says Trump's reserve plan is bullish despite its flaws and more.

Meanwhile, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele vows to continue the country's bitcoin purchases despite the terms of its $1.4 billion IMF loan deal.

Let's get started.

Lutnick says bitcoin would be treated differently from altcoins in US crypto reserve

More details about the potential U.S. crypto reserve are set to come out of the White House's Crypto Summit on Friday, according to independent political news outlet The Pavlovic Today.

• "The President definitely thinks that there's a bitcoin strategic reserve," Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick reportedly told the outlet. "Now there will be the question of, how do we handle the other cryptocurrencies? And I think the model is going to be announced on Friday when we do that."
• Lutnick suggested that bitcoin could receive a "unique status" under Trump's plans, with the foremost cryptocurrency jumping 4% to climb back above the $90,000 mark following the news.
• "A bitcoin strategic reserve is something the President's interested in. He spoke about it all during the campaign trail, and I think you're going to see it executed on Friday," Lutnick said.
• "So bitcoin is one thing, and then the other currencies, the other crypto tokens, I think, will be treated differently — positively, but differently," he added.
• However, questions remain over how any such reserve would be funded and how likely it is to be enacted — with Federal Reserve and Treasury Department options both likely to require new legislation to be passed by Congress.

Industry leaders line up to attend Trump's Crypto Summit

Strategy co-founder Michael Saylor, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi and Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov are among the industry leaders slated to attend the inaugural Crypto Summit hosted by President Trump in Washington, D.C.

• "I look forward to discussing how America can take a leadership role in promoting the principles of open crypto and enabling builders in ecosystems such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana," Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang, another of the attendees, said on X.
• Trump's crypto czar, David Sacks, and Presidential Working Group on Crypto Executive Director Bo Hines will chair the Crypto Summit.
• The event is expected to start at 1:30 p.m. ET on Friday, according to a source familiar with the scheduling.

Bitwise CIO says Trump's crypto reserve plan is bullish despite flaws

Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan said the " market has this wrong " and is "overthinking things" amid the U.S. crypto reserve-fueled Trump pump and slump.

• Hougan argued in a note to clients that market participants soured on the announcement as the proposed reserve holds more than bitcoin, adding that if it had been bitcoin-only, prices would likely be higher.
• "Despite the flawed rollout, I think the market is misreading things. In the end, this is bullish, and I think the market will come around to this view sooner or later," Hougan said.
• Hougan sees Trump's announcement as a negotiation tactic, broadening the Overton window for a bitcoin reserve and potentially triggering a global accumulation race, with any acquired assets likely to be held long-term.
• "After the dust settles, I suspect the final reserve will be nearly entirely bitcoin, and it will be larger than people think," he added.

Ethereum devs activate Pectra on Sepolia ahead of mainnet rollout

Ethereum developers activated the Pectra upgrade on the Sepolia testnet early Wednesday, marking the final major test phase before the mainnet launch.

• Sepolia achieved finality. However, an issue with a custom deposit contract led to empty blocks on the network for several hours, according to Tim Beiko of the Ethereum Foundation.
• Developers later appeared to identify the issue and rolled out a fix , as blocks have once again started recording transactions.
• This is the second testnet issue for Pectra after Holesky faced challenges with incorrect deposit contract addresses during its February upgrade, which led to delayed finality.
• Pectra introduces improvements, including account abstraction (EIP-7702), increased validator stake limits (EIP-7251) and enhanced rollup scalability (EIP-7691).

Metaplanet continues bitcoin buying spree

Metaplanet bought another 497 BTC for $43.9 million , just two days after acquiring 156 BTC for $13.4 million.

• The Tokyo-listed investment firm's total holdings now stand at 2,888 BTC, worth $251 million, bought at an average price of $83,172 per bitcoin for a total cost of $240.2 million.
• Metaplanet has been on a bitcoin buying spree since adopting the treasury strategy in April 2024, aiming to accumulate 10,000 BTC by the end of 2025 and 21,000 BTC by the end of 2026.

In the next 24 hours

• The ECB's latest interest rate decision is due at 8:15 a.m. ET on Thursday. U.S. jobless claims figures follow at 8:30 a.m.
• ECB President Christine Lagarde will speak at 10:15 a.m. U.S. FOMC members Thomas Barkin and Raphael Bostic follow at 7 p.m.

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