Crypto takes its 2024 political campaign to the White House

Nearly a dozen cryptocurrency executives on Thursday participated in a video call with senior White House officials and voiced a number of concerns about how the current administration is treating the industry.

Their larger goal was to reset relations with Democrats after a bumpy few months in which they tried to position crypto as a bipartisan issue for the rest of the 2024 campaign and into 2025, whether or not Donald Trump or Kamala Harris wins.

“It’s not too late,” Coinbase Global chief legal officer (COIN) Paul Grewal told Yahoo Finance after participating in the call. “There’s certainly an opportunity, even in the next 90 days and in this legislative session, for there to be a real reset moment.”

The meeting is the latest attempt to break the ice between the two sides, with one of the participants saying the crypto executives’ side of the virtual table did most of the talking, while White House officials mostly listened.

The executives discussed what they see as a lack of consistent regulation of cryptocurrencies and, in one case, even the ouster of SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, a vocal opponent of the industry.

Thursday’s meeting was organized by Representative Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, and was attended by senior Biden administration advisers, from National Economic Council director Lael Brainard to White House deputy chief of staff Bruce Reed, according to people familiar with the matter.

Harris had a say in the meeting, which was also attended by Kristine Lucius, the vice president’s senior adviser and legislative affairs director, according to people familiar with the matter.

Lael Brainard, director of the National Economic Council, speaks during a press briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in January. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images) (SAUL LOEB via Getty Images)

The meeting was also attended by important names from the crypto world: Skybridge CEO Anthony Scaramucci, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire, Kraken CEO David Ripley and others.

The White House declined to provide details about Thursday’s meeting, saying it was private.

White House deputy press secretary Robyn Patterson told Yahoo Finance that President Joe Biden has proposed a comprehensive approach to digital assets and that “the Biden-Harris Administration will continue to meet with diverse stakeholders and work with members of Congress to develop the necessary safeguards to capitalize on the potential benefits and opportunities of crypto asset innovation.”

The wish list voiced on Thursday largely aligns with a request the crypto community has been voicing for months: more favorable regulation from the next U.S. president.

The list includes everything from tax breaks to stablecoin regulations to rules that determine which cryptocurrencies are securities and therefore subject to SEC scrutiny.

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The crypto world is also calling for the SEC and its chairman, Gensler, to reduce aggressive pressure on the industry through enforcement actions and lawsuits.

A federal judge on Wednesday put an industry-friendly end to one of those landmark lawsuits.

XRP issuer Ripple Labs Inc. was ordered to pay a $125 million fine for improperly selling its XRP token to institutional investors, far less than what the SEC had requested.

Greater access to Kamala Harris

This week’s meeting is thought to be one of several initiatives in the coming weeks to strengthen ties between Democrats and the crypto community.

Less than 20 days into her campaign as the presumptive Democratic nominee, Vice President Harris has not yet provided details on whether cryptocurrencies will be a major part of her platform, but some industry players remain hopeful.

A newly formed group called Crypto4Harris is holding a virtual meeting next Wednesday that will bring together Democratic lawmakers and industry officials.

Snickerdoodle Labs CEO Jonathan Padilla is helping organize the effort. The former head of blockchain strategy at PayPal shared on social media that next week’s speakers will range from investor Mark Cuban to Scaramucci to Crypto Council for Innovation CEO Sheila Warren.

But others in the industry have been harshly critical of the U.S. government’s approach to cryptocurrencies under the Biden administration, with Grewal and others describing the industry’s many clashes with the Securities and Exchange Commission as an all-out struggle.

Cameron Winklevoss, one of Biden and Gensler’s harshest public critics, recently called these promotional efforts “The Big Bluff.”

Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris arrives to speak at a campaign rally in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, on Wednesday. (KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images) (KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI via Getty Images)

Thursday’s call comes after the Republican Party launched an extensive effort to seize crypto support.

Former President Donald Trump and a group of Republican politicians traveled to Nashville last month to address the crypto world during the Bitcoin 2024 conference.

Trump laid out his plan to make the US “the crypto capital of the planet and the Bitcoin superpower of the world” in his speech at the conference on Saturday.

These include appointing a crypto Presidential Advisory Council if elected in November, ousting Gensler, introducing friendlier regulations for crypto token issuers, operators and bitcoin miners, and making a series of promises to the industry, such as banning central bank digital currencies.

Speaking at the conference, Trump, along with Independent Party candidate Robert Kennedy Jr., promised to order the U.S. government to begin hoarding Bitcoin.

David Hollerith is a senior reporter for Yahoo Finance, covering banking, crypto, and other areas of finance. Ben Werschkul is a Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.

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