Today in crypto, crypto stocks surged after US President Trump and US regulators forged ahead with their crypto support. The nomination of Kevin Warsh as chairman of the US Federal Reserve has been officially sent to the US Senate for confirmation, and in a first for the crypto industry, Kraken’s banking unit gained access to the Fed’s payment system, Fedwire, with a limited-access master account.
Stocks rally as Trump, regulators nudge pro-crypto agenda
Crypto-related stocks surged in the trading session on Wednesday, as pro-crypto US presidential commentary pushed up Bitcoin and the broader crypto market.
Alongside a rise in the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin treasury company Strategy spiked by more than 10%. Crypto exchange Coinbase registered a more than 14% gain, while miners Hut 8 clocked 13.89%, and American Bitcoin Corp rose 11.65%.
Dominick John, an analyst at Zeus Research, told Cointelegraph the promise of clearer regulations on the near horizon could be one of the factors fueling the rally.
“Crypto equities are rallying as regulatory risk is being fundamentally redefined. With the executive branch championing a clear digital asset framework, coupled with robust spot ETF inflows and the potential passage of the Clarity Act,” he said.
Pav Hundal, the lead analyst at Australian crypto platform Swyftx, told Cointelegraph that US President Donald Trump’s recent swipe at the banks and his push for the Senate’s crypto market structure bill to pass could also be playing a factor.
Trump sends pro-Bitcoin Fed chair nomination to Senate
The US Senate will soon vote on Donald Trump’s nominee to head the US Federal Reserve after the president picked Kevin Warsh, who has previously expressed pro-Bitcoin views, to replace Fed chair Jerome Powell.
In a notice on Wednesday, the White House said that Trump had sent Warsh’s nomination to the Senate to be chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve for a term of four years, and as a Fed governor for 14 years. The president had previously taken to social media to announce Warsh was his pick to replace Powell, whose term as chair ends in May but may stay on as a Fed governor until 2028.
The prospective Fed chair has made many public statements in favor of Bitcoin (BTC) adoption. In a January 2021 interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box, he said "if Bitcoin never existed gold would be rallying even more right now, but I guess if you are under forty, bitcoin is your new gold." In a 2025 interview with the Hoover Institution, Warsh said the cryptocurrency “could provide market discipline, or [...] could tell the world that things need to be fixed.”
Kraken wins approval for limited master account access
US cryptocurrency exchange Kraken’s banking unit has been granted a limited-purpose master account by the US Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, giving it direct access to the Fed’s core payments system in a first for the crypto industry.
Kraken Financial, the exchange’s banking unit, has gained access to the Fed’s payment system, Fedwire, allowing it to move money on the same rails used by banks and credit unions, according to an announcement on Wednesday.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City approved a limited-purpose account for Wyoming-based Payward Financial as a “Tier 3 entity,” according to a statement by the bank.
“With a Federal Reserve master account, we can operate not as a peripheral participant in the US banking system, but as a directly connected financial institution,” Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi said. The approval gives the exchange the ability to settle directly on Fedwire, reduce dependency on correspondent banks and integrate fiat liquidity into crypto, he added.
The news marks a milestone for the crypto industry in the US, though the approval does not provide the full range of services available to banks, including interest payments on reserves held at the central bank.
Several crypto companies in the US have been pursuing a master account with the Fed for years, with Caitlin Long’s Custodia Bank doubling down on efforts to obtain one through a court petition in late 2025.
