US Ends War on Crypto

PLUS: SEC drops case against Ripple, Bitcoin rises, and Crypto-theme bar to open in Washington, D.C.

Author

Michael Stinson
March 21, 2025

Happy Friday, Maestros!

Welcome to the latest chapter of the Bitcoin Renaissance!

This week, we cover Trump’s vow to make America the “Bitcoin superpower,” Bitcoin’s rise past $86K after the Fed’s steady stance, and the SEC dropping its appeal against Ripple, boosting the crypto market. Plus, a crypto-only bar, Pubkey, expands to D.C., bringing Bitcoin culture to the capital!

Maestro’s Mempool APIs just got a massive speed boost—now 10x faster!

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🚀 Featured Stories

President Trump vows to end war on crypto. President Donald Trump delivered a pre-recorded address at the Digital Assets Summit in New York City, outlining how his administration ended former President Joe Biden's 'regulatory war on crypto and Bitcoin.' Trump vowed to make America "the undisputed Bitcoin superpower and the crypto capital of the world.

Bitcoin Rises Amid Federal Reserve's Steady Stance. Bitcoin experienced a rise on Thursday following a press conference by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who reassured investors that interest rates would remain unchanged for the time being. In response, Bitcoin gained 1%, reaching $86,304, and has increased by 7.7% in the past five days.

SEC Drops Appeal Against Ripple Labs, Boosting Crypto Market. The SEC has decided to drop its appeal against Ripple Labs, resulting in a significant boost in the value of XRP. Other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum also saw gains.

Crypto-Themed Bar 'Pubkey' Set to Open in Washington, D.C. A Washington bar traditionally frequented by Republican staffers is set to close, being replaced by Pubkey, a bar exclusively accepting cryptocurrency. Originating from New York’s Greenwich Village, Pubkey is known for its Bitcoin-oriented environment and casual, community-focused atmosphere.

💡 Spotlight: The Internet Computer Protocol (ICP)

We are excited to highlight the Internet Computer Protocol (ICP) and its groundbreaking integration with Bitcoin. In this spotlight, we’ll explore ICP’s history, its Bitcoin integration, and what this means for the future of decentralized finance (DeFi) on Bitcoin.

History of ICP

The Internet Computer Protocol (ICP) was developed by the DFINITY Foundation in 2016. Officially launched in May 2021, ICP aims to transform the public internet by enabling it to host smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps) at scale. Its mission is to extend the functionality of the internet, allowing developers to build secure, scalable, and interoperable applications without relying on traditional cloud services.

Key Features

  • Direct Bitcoin Integration – ICP’s smart contracts (canisters) can send and receive Bitcoin natively, eliminating the need for wrapped assets or third-party bridges.

  • Chain-Key Cryptography – Enables ICP smart contracts to manage Bitcoin private keys securely, allowing trustless BTC transactions.

  • Threshold Schnorr Signatures – Supports Bitcoin’s Taproot upgrade, making it possible to interact with BRC-20 tokens and advanced Bitcoin protocols.

  • Access to Bitcoin Block Headers – Allows smart contracts to verify Bitcoin transactions on-chain, improving security and interoperability.

Recent Developments

  • Threshold Schnorr signing is now live, enabling smart contracts to manage BRC-20 tokens and execute Taproot transactions.

  • Expanded Bitcoin block header access, allowing for enhanced verification and security in Bitcoin transactions.

The Future

ICP’s Bitcoin integration is paving the way for trustless Bitcoin DeFi—removing intermediaries and making BTC a fully programmable asset. As developers build more applications leveraging these capabilities, ICP is positioned to play a key role in Bitcoin’s expanding ecosystem.

ICP is focusing on expanding its decentralized AI capabilities. The Vertex milestone, which includes the alpha launch of Caffeine—the self-writing internet—is currently in progress. This initiative aims to enable AI models to run as smart contracts on ICP, providing transparency into data usage and response generation.

Learn more about ICP and their Bitcoin Integration here: https://internetcomputer.org/bitcoin-integration

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