EXECUTIVES from the cryptocurrency industry are planning to meet with White House aides and Representative Ro Khanna next week to discuss concerns around digital assets and propose policy changes for the next administration, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Outgoing senior White House adviser Anita Dunn, National Economic Adviser Lael Brainard and deputy chief of staff Bruce Reed are expected to attend, according to the source, who asked not to be identified because the meeting is private.
Dunn is leaving her senior adviser position at the White House for a Democratic super PAC that plans to spend at least US$300 million to support Vice-President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign.
This will be at least the second recent meeting between the crypto industry and officials in the White House, following a roundtable in July that was attended by executives from the likes of Ripple and Coinbase Global as well as Dunn and Khanna, a California Democrat. It comes after crypto emerged as a major issue in the US presidential campaign, with the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump, vowing to reverse the Biden administration’s crackdown on the crypto industry.
Dunn and Khanna did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and neither did a representative for Brainard. Reed could not be reached for comment.
Virtual meeting
Cleve Mesidor, executive director of the non-profit Blockchain Foundation and a former official in President Barack Obama’s administration, hosted a virtual meeting on Thursday (Aug 1) with a few hundred participants from the crypto industry. During the meeting, Mesidor said she and other Harris allies expressed optimism about the potential for a Harris-led White House to positively impact Web3 and decentralised finance, especially for people of colour working in the sector.
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Mesidor said that she has spoken with various Democratic Party members who are close to Harris, and advised the crypto industry to be patient regarding the stance Harris may take on the issue.
“With all of the priorities, with all of the various groups that in just a week-and-a-half have really coalesced around her, she’s not going to say ‘my biggest priority is crypto’ or ‘my biggest priority is climate,’” Mesidor said. “She has to be a leader that is tempered, that is measured, that’s pushing the teams.”
After President Joe Biden said he won’t seek re-election and Harris emerged as the de-facto Democratic nominee, many in the crypto industry are hoping her campaign will take a dramatically different position on crypto following the current administration’s crackdown.
“Most of us in the industry are both hopeful and, frankly, eager to have a potential Harris nominee embrace the industry,” said Rob Hadick, a general partner at crypto venture fund Dragonfly. “But we need to see a true commitment towards engaging with our best actors to encourage a thoughtful regulatory environment, a push for passage of good legislation that achieves the goal of clarity without stifling innovation, and a sidelining of those bad faith actors who have continually attempted to demonise hard working and well meaning industry participants.”
The upcoming meeting with the crypto industry was first reported by Politico. BLOOMBERG
