Zach Witkoff, the co-founder of the Trump family-linked World Liberty Financial, earlier today offered to represent the Ethereum community at the inaugural White House Crypto Summit on Friday.
America continues to forge a path toward global crypto dominance, and the next item on its agenda is the White House Crypto Summit on Friday, March 7. It is the first of its kind, and reports claim invites have been sent out to industry leaders and stakeholders that will be present.
The pioneering event is to be hosted by the country’s AI and crypto czar, David Sacks, and industry leaders are hoping to gain regulatory clarity that could help the US retain its blockchain talent while encouraging domestic crypto business growth following years of oppression under the previous administration.
Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett said in a tweet on March 5 that “invites were sent to attendees via email.” However, she shared no further details beyond time and location.
U.S. President Donald Trump stands in front of a crowd in a hall in the White House. Source: White House (X/Twitter)
Ethereum’s representation at the White House Crypto Summit is unclear
While most are excited about the summit, which is America officially saying it is getting involved with crypto, many, especially ETH maxis, have expressed concern about the lack of a direct network representative at the meeting.
Attendees pose for a photo at the second-ever Ethereum DevCon in 2016. Source: Ethereum.Org (X/Twitter)
Ethereum plays a significant role in the crypto ecosystem; some will even argue that it is the most important platform for the future of US debt security, and as such, needs to have direct representation at the summit.
Experts on social media have tried to quell the grumbling by highlighting that even though ETH is not directly represented, many of the attendees are directly involved with the chain, which makes them indirect representatives.
Lateral options include Chainlink, which has a significant presence on Ethereum despite being chain-agnostic; Coinbase, which developed Base an L2 on ETH; and Robinhood, which is working with Arbitrum, another Ethereum L2.
These firms could represent Ethereum indirectly, but many still feel the chain should have its own representative at the summit. Co-founder Vitalik Buterin would have been a great representative, but it is still unclear if he will attend.
In the meantime, World Liberty Financial co-founder Zach Witkoff has offered to champion Ethereum’s cause at the meeting.
In his tweet from earlier today, he said World Liberty Financial has always been in ETH’s corner and stands with the ETH community then asked the community what topics they would like to hear tabled at the summit.
Vitalik Buterin and the Ethereum Foundation may not attend the crypto summit
While Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin fits the caliber of guests at the summit, if his past tweets and statements are anything to go by, even if he gets invited, he may pass.
Vitalik Buterin poses for a selfie with cattle in a field. Source: Vitalik Buterin (X/Twitter)
Buterin is one of the few remaining OGs in crypto who maintain their stand on keeping crypto and politics as far apart as possible. He has been very vocal about keeping Ethereum neutral in the face of politics both personally and via the Ethereum Foundation (EF).
Buterin knows that what he is trying to stop by making sure the EF stays away from politics is inevitable, but he continues to preach about keeping Ethereum and the foundation far from partisanship to protect their long-term vision.
In January, via a tweet, Buterin implied that the EF would not aggressively lobby regulators or court powerful political figures in countries like the U.S. as that could jeopardize Ethereum’s status as a “global neutral platform.”
This desire to uphold neutrality is also why Buterin says the EF doesn’t stake its ETH holdings to fund operations (instead of selling).
According to him, staking could force the EF to “take a position on any future contentious hard fork,” and this would compromise its impartiality in governance disputes.
Buterin believes that “good neutral tech needs to be left alone to flourish,” not corrupted by state or political agendas. This position he refuses to back down from is why it is unlikely that he will be at the summit.
Unlike other leaders in the ecosystem who have been scrambling to enter Trump’s good books at events like the White House Crypto Summit, Buterin will most likely try to maintain his neutrality for personal reasons and for the benefit of the EF.
Some attendees of the White House Crypto Summit are confirmed
According to Eleanor Terrett, attendees of the upcoming event have already been confirming their invitation. This includes Strategy founder Michael Saylor, Bitcoin Magazine CEO David Bailey, Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang, and Exodus CEO JP Richardson.
“The guest list, according to two sources close to the proceedings, will be smaller than previously anticipated,” Terrett said.
It will be attended by 20-25 people and will be a roundtable setting at the White House. It will also include other members of the Presidential Working Group on Digital Assets, which is why the industry invites are going to be fewer, Terrett says.
Besides Sacks and the Executive Director of the Presidential Council of Advisers for Digital Assets, Bo Hines, it was unclear who else would join the meeting from the government’s side.
The President’s Working Group on crypto includes Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and the chairs of the SEC and CFTC, all of whom are likely to attend.
For those who don’t get to attend the roundtable meeting, they are preparations for a larger, invite-only reception across the street from the White House afterward.
Also on the list of attendees are Kyle Samani, managing partner at Multicoin Capital, Zach Witkoff, the co-founder of the Trump family DeFi platform World Liberty Finance, Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, and Kraken CEO Arjun Sethi.
Those on the unconfirmed list of invite recipients include Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, Ark Invest’s Cathie Wood, Circle boss Jeremy Allaire, Cardano’s Charles Hoskinson, Vitalik Buterin, and the Winklevoss twins. These people have yet to be officially confirmed but are likely to attend.
As for what topics will be discussed at the meeting, potential options include the establishment of a US crypto reserve, stablecoin oversight, potential tax incentives for crypto businesses, and AI’s role in crypto fraud detection and compliance.
