Welcome to FinTech TV.
I'm Emmy Blair.
We're coming to you live from Consensus Miami 2026.
Over 20,000 attendees have converged here at a critical inflection point for the global financial system.
Right now, the US is navigating a high stakes legislative landscape regarding the future of digital assets, and Congress is working to pass the landmark clarity Act while policymakers carefully weigh the integration of stablecoins into the.
Traditional financial system.
Now globally, the US does face mounting pressure as adversaries, as well as allies alike, scramble to build the next gen of financial infrastructure.
Well, at the center of this effort is our next guest, Patrick Witt, executive director of the President's Council of Advisor for Digital Assets at the White House.
Patrick, welcome.
Thank you so much for joining me.
Thank you for having me.
Well, we're here in Miami at Consensus 2026.
There's traditional finance.
There is decentralized finance, and there are policymakers as well as innovators, builders, and media on the ground.
So give us your take on where we stand with the Clarity Act right now.
Well, we've made a tremendous amount of progress recently.
We've had, I would say, a big breakthrough on a number of issues.
Obviously the stable porn rewards yield language getting out there, some of the work that we've done on the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, working with Senator Grassley.
Staff and the Judiciary Committee closing out those two issues were huge steps forward, so we're definitely trending in the right direction.
I'm very optimistic about being able to mark up this bill next week, as you heard from Senator Moreno yesterday.
Thursday is the day, and we're working behind the scenes to close out all the remaining issues, but we're looking good right now.
Yes, and Patrick, it's very interesting to be at an event such as.
Consensus because there are so many players in the industry, traditional finance as well as decentralized finance and policymakers.
A lot of legislative conversations taking place on the ground here.
But as we look at the future, we know that things have been changing in the digital asset space.
So when it comes to the current administration, what's the thinking when it comes to Bitcoin in terms of a strategic asset?
Well, we, we talked about it a little bit out in Las Vegas.
We will be making an announcement around the strategic Bitcoin reserve digital asset stockpile in the coming weeks.
Obviously the president signed the executive order last year, and that was really a starting gun for the agencies to go implement.
We've continued to work diligently.
My deputy Harry Jeong has done an incredible job of leading that interagency effort in order to get this on solid footing and we'll be rolling out some announcements with that, but properly safeguarding these assets, making sure that the United States leads on Bitcoin and other critical assets, and starts to view these in the same way that we would view gold or that we treat our own currency.
It's critically important for our national security.
I think President Trump was really the first one to come along and say that economic security, a lot of the issues in that space. are issues of national security.
One of the pillars that underwrites American hegemony around the world, in addition to our military and our judicial system is our place in global financial markets.
And so these assets are the new infrastructure, the new architecture of the financial future, and we need to be leading on these and thinking very, very forward in terms of how we're approaching these assets.
And Patrick, it is May 2026.
We continue to monitor the situation in the Middle East, and when we're talking about digital assets, in particular crypto assets as well as stablecoins, I think the conflict in the Middle East has really highlighted some of the opportunities as well as risks.
So what has the geopolitical conflict informed you?
About where we stand in terms of digital assets.
Well, I think it's part of our closing argument as we look to mark up this bill and bring it to the Senate floor is we're obviously very focused on the minutia right now, these little details and somewhat the trivia.
We're in the weeds on a lot of these issues, but we're encouraging all the senators to remember why we're doing this in the first place.
This is about US.
Leadership on the new digital asset, you know, future that we're entering into.
And if we don't lead on this issue, we're going to be following somebody else's rulebook, and it's probably going to be a rulebook that's set by potentially our geopolitical competitor in China.
So we need to remember why we're doing this.
This is about stepping up.
This is about America.
Leading and there are so many different jurisdictions, central banks, countries around the world that are waiting on pins and needles to see what the what the United States does to regulate this asset class and to conform the regimes and the frameworks that they put in place and follow our lead.
So it's a pivotal moment right now.
There's a huge opportunity in front of us and we need to seize the moment.
And I do have to say, Patrick, that Americans are concerned about the US economy right now.
But given the fact that the White House has made plenty of announcements in terms of how to set up a secure financial futures for all Americans, where do you believe digital assets actually belong in an American's portfolio?
Well, I think there's, there's absolutely going to be a place for it, not just crypto native currencies, but also all of the real world assets.
That are going to be tokenized whether whether one is crypto native or interested in crypto, there are going to be the back end of the financial infrastructure is going to be running on blockchains, on new payment rails, so people will inevitably be interacting with these products and different products that this technology enables just over time because it's ultimately allows new freedom and new products.
Come to market, new ways of constructing portfolios, new ways of holding assets, new ways of trading them.
So it's an incredibly exciting time in the crypto space, and I think that all Americans are going to benefit from it, whether that's in terms of efficiency, lower costs, faster speed, or the autonomy piece of it.
And Patrick, finally, before I let you go, I know there are a lot of people here that are builders as well as innovators, and when it comes to regulation.
I think a lot of concern regarding talent here being back on American shores has been a talking point here at Consensus 2026.
So how do you think regulation plays into that, and what are your expectations for a timeline, especially during a midterm election year?
Well, in the bill there are protections for software developers, and we view this as a critically important issue, the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act that I mentioned.
The past several years, the United States has lost our leadership position in crypto software development.
So we, I think over the past few years we've lost somewhere north of 50% of developers are no longer domiciled in the United States, and part of that relates to the regulatory uncertainty, the legal uncertainty around the code that they might ship if they're going to be liable for it, even if they had no intent for it to be used for illicit finance.
We need to make very clear that if you're just shipping code, you have no intent to to transact or conduct illicit finance or for your code to be used in that way, you need to be protected.
People need to know where the lines are and that they can build safely here in the United States.
So we get the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act signed into law.
I think you're going to see that that trend reverse and you're going to see a lot of those builders come home.
Take for example Hyperliquid as a company, one of these major, major platform.
Forms that's having tremendous success.
The founders are American.
There's no reason why they should have had to have gone offshore in order to build their business.
That should be back in the United States, and we hope that they and many other businesses will come back home once that regulatory certainty is put in place.
Well, Patrick, I really appreciate your time.
I know you have a busy schedule here in Consensus 2026 in Miami.
So thank you so much for sharing your perspective and thank you so much for all of your insights.
Thank you.
