State of Crypto: Crypto Takes Jackson Hole

The annual SALT Wyoming conference took place this week. Government officials said a lot the industry will like.

Aug 23, 2025, 2:00 p.m.

Policymakers of various stripes spoke at the SALT Wyoming conference this week in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

You’re reading State of Crypto, a CoinDesk newsletter looking at the intersection of cryptocurrency and government. Click here to sign up for future editions.

The narrative

Congress is still on vacation, but policymakers trekked up to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to speak to the crypto industry — largely praising it or saying how they expect legislation to move forward. Here are some clips of what they said, courtesy of CoinDesk's Helene Braun and others.

Why it matters

The industry has seen a lot of progress on crypto policy priorities this year. Lawmakers' comments hint at what the last four months of 2025 might look like, and what we can expect from federal regulators.

Breaking it down

"I believe that we'll have between 12 and 18 Democrats at least open to voting for market structure." — Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott

"We will have it on the President’s desk before Thanksgiving." — Senator Cynthia Lummis on market structure legislation

"Just imagine seeing on public equity all the transactions that go in and out of that company and how much information that gives you." — Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson

"We need a clear, strategic regulatory framework that will facilitate the adoption of new technology, recognizing that in some cases, it may be inadequate and inappropriate to apply existing regulatory guidance to address emerging tech." — Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman

"There is nothing to be afraid of when thinking about smart contracts, tokenization or distributed ledgers." — Federal Reserve Board Governor Chris Waller

"It’s no secret that my side of the aisle would prefer not to see any sitting President — I won’t name one — participating in this market while a sitting president unless those assets are in a sealed trust." — Rep. Angie Craig, ranking member on the House Agriculture Committee

• U.S. Treasury Department Starts Work on GENIUS, Gathering Views on Illicit Activity: The U.S. Treasury Department published its first request for information stemming from the GENIUS law — focused on detecting illicit activity in crypto. Interested members of the public have two months to file a comment.
• New U.S. Crypto Group AIP Joins Crowded Field, Targets Policymaker Education: A new 501(c)(3) group funded by crypto lobbying organizations wants to host events to tell lawmakers about crypto.
• Crypto Offers Answer to Money Laundering Crisis: Global Alert Network Called 'Beacon': An industry-wide effort led by TRM Labs hopes to make it easier to respond to and mitigate major exchange hacks.
• Crypto World Petitions Trump to Push Quintenz's CFTC Nomination in Ongoing Saga: A group of crypto lobbying organizations urged the White House to move forward with the nomination of former CFTC Commissioner Brian Quintenz for chair of that agency.
• Winklevoss Twins Heave $21M Toward Republicans in Next Year's Congressional Battles: Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss donated $21 million in bitcoin to a new political action committee that will specifically support Republicans.

• Congress remains on break and no regulatory agency is holding an event this week.

• (CNBC) Goldman Sachs expects U.S. consumers to pay for the tariffs that U.S. President Donald Trump imposed on most countries trading with the U.S. A few days after that earlier article, Sony announced it would raise the price of Playstation 5 consoles in the U.S.
• (Electronic Frontier Foundation) Wyoming and South Dakota have enacted stringent laws requiring websites to verify users' ages if they host "any sexual content," including "a broad range of non-pornographic content, including classic literature and art."
• (The Wall Street Journal) Despite Elon Musk's public statements about founding a new political party, he is backtracking and instead considering supporting Vice President JD Vance and other Republicans, the Journal reported.

If you’ve got thoughts or questions on what I should discuss next week or any other feedback you’d like to share, feel free to email me at [email protected] or find me on Bluesky @nikhileshde.bsky.social.

You can also join the group conversation on Telegram.

See ya’ll next week!

Nikhilesh De

Head of IRS Crypto Work Exits as U.S. Tax Changes Loom For Digital Assets

Trish Turner, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service veteran running its digital assets effort, is the latest senior official leaving for the private sector.