Cryptocurrency executives reportedly expressed frustration and anger towards the Biden-Harris administration during a virtual meeting with top officials from the White House, which aimed to repair relations between the crypto industry and the White House. The meeting was hosted by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) as the current administration has largely taken a negative stance on cryptocurrencies and their associated industries.
Fox Business reported that around twenty people attended the virtual meeting, including Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, Deputy Director of the National Economic Council Lael Brainard, Deputy White House Chief of Staff Bruce Reed, and Kamala Harris’ senior adviser Kristine Lucius, who did not speak during the call.
Among the attendees from the crypto side were billionaire tech entrepreneur and cryptocurrency investor Mark Cuban, SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci, venture capitalist and Democratic donor Ron Conway, as well as executives from Ripple, Coinbase, Kraken, Uniswap, and other major crypto firms.
Instead of mending fences between the industry and the White House, cryptocurrency executives criticized the administration for its anti-crypto actions taken by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC. One attendee described the meeting as a situation where “executives didn’t hold back on telling the administration reps how much damage they’ve done to the crypto industry and to the Democrat Party with their actions against digital assets. They basically just got yelled at.
Venture capitalist Ron Conway expressed frustration over the lack of concrete actions taken by the administration, stating that they have only given empty promises. Despite being an early investor in Coinbase, Conway was highly critical of the government’s stance on digital currencies.
Deputy Treasury Secretary Adeyemo attempted to assuage concerns by claiming that banks and regulators were not actively trying to cut off the crypto industry from the banking system. However, this assertion was met with skepticism by many attendees who raised their hands when asked if their companies have been denied banking services due to Democrat policies.
Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal acknowledged the frustrations felt by cryptocurrency executives but suggested that Kamala Harris could be a more pro-crypto advocate. He argued, “This was a Biden administration meeting, but the focus now has to be on the Harris campaign and what they’re willing to do. She’s the perfect candidate to be a strong new face for crypto and make a break with the past.
Despite this optimistic outlook from some industry representatives, Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) disputed the idea of a “pivot” towards cryptocurrency by Harris, stating that the Biden-Harris administration has been waging an ideological war against U.S. crypto innovation for nearly four years, taking cues from SEC Chairman Gary Gensler to deny the industry a basic regulatory framework and launch groundless enforcement actions.
Some pro-crypto donors who supported former President Donald Trump, like the Winklevoss twins, laughed at the prospect of Harris becoming more favorable towards cryptocurrency, mocking the “nuanced” crypto policy approach suggested by Crypto4Harris supporters. In contrast, President Trump has promised to be the “crypto president” if reelected in November.
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News.