Written by: Weilin, PANews
In the past month, key White House officials held a second meeting with crypto industry executives. On Thursday morning, California Democratic Representative Ro Khanna organized a long-awaited online roundtable meeting, which was attended by US Treasury Undersecretary Wally Adeyemo, National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Reed, and, most notably, Vice President Harris’s Senior Advisor and Director of Legislative Affairs Kristine Lucius.
On the crypto side, the meeting was attended by Ripple executives Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen, Uniswap CEO Hayden Adams, Stellar Development Foundation Denelle Dixon, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire, billionaire Mark Cuban, Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal and former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci, among others.
What did key White House officials and crypto executives discuss at the meeting? Now that Trump has made his crypto stance clear, what policies and views might Harris elaborate on next?
Crypto executives express appropriate dissatisfaction, White House officials are "very curious" about the crypto industry
In addition to the above attendees, also participating in the meeting were White House policy adviser Joshua Schenk, venture capitalist Ron Conway, Andreessen Horowitz partner Chris Dixon, Electric Capital co-founder Avichal Garg and Kraken CEO David Ripley.
According to sources, there was some “venting of complaints” at the meeting, but participants also discussed use cases and policy outcomes for the crypto industry, including what regulators should focus on and the impacts related to jobs and the economy.
Last month, senior adviser to U.S. President Biden, Anita Dunn, members of Congress, and some crypto industry leaders met at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C. The meeting was also hosted by Rep. Ro Khanna. The meeting discussed a range of topics, including actions taken by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the SEC's SAB 121 rule, and the need for the Biden administration to interact with the crypto industry.
Sources said this second meeting was much smaller, but very different because White House officials Brainard and Adeyemo were in attendance. "The biggest difference was who was in attendance, Adeyemo and Brainard were the highest-level representatives in the Biden administration who were actually responsible for regulating cryptocurrency policy," the source said. "So having Brainard and Adeyemo in attendance really changed the conversation to include people who are actually responsible for setting policy."
“This is widely seen as the key to moving forward,” the source said. Both Brainard and Adeyemo were “very curious,” the source added.
At the meeting, Paul Grewal, chief legal officer of Coinbase, called on the White House to support legislation to regulate the cryptocurrency industry. "The current record (policy) is ineffective, and any dialogue that goes beyond the ineffective record of this administration is positive." Grewal said, "It's not too late, but time is running out. The White House should publicly support a bipartisan market structure bill passed by the Senate, just as the House of Representatives did, and sign it into law."
Crypto advocates supporting Harris form Crypto4Harris
Next Thursday (August 15), civic organization Crypto4Harris will host a conference where cryptocurrency industry leaders will speak, including Crypto Council CEO Sheila Warren and billionaire Mark Cuban.
“A crypto movement is forming to support Kamala Harris,” Crypto4Harris said in an earlier post on the X platform. “A group of industry leaders, policy experts, and ordinary crypto enthusiasts are organizing to support Harris while pushing for a nuanced policy stance that puts the United States at the forefront of the digital asset space.”
On August 6, Harris officially announced that she would run for the 2024 presidential election with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Although the two's positions on cryptocurrency and blockchain are still unclear, officials related to the crypto industry are reportedly joining their team.
Harris recently added two former cryptocurrency advisers to her campaign team: David Plouffe, who served on the advisory board of Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, and Gene Sperling, who served on the board of directors of blockchain payment company Ripple.
Plouffe was a campaign manager and senior adviser to former US President Obama. After leaving the White House in 2013, he got involved in the cryptocurrency field. He joined Binance's global advisory board in 2022 and served as a global strategic advisor to crypto payment service provider Alchemy Pay in 2023. Sperling joined Ripple's board of directors in 2015 after serving as an economic adviser to Presidents Clinton and Obama. He has served in the Biden administration since 2021. The two will undoubtedly bring more help to Harris in specifying crypto policies.
Harris is "on the offensive" to win over the crypto community
Regardless of the outcome, the 2024 US election is the first time that cryptocurrencies have been on the stage of the general election and played an important role. Currently, only the Republican Party has taken measures to attract the cryptocurrency community. Republicans, including former President Trump, are increasingly embracing cryptocurrencies. The Republican Party included cryptocurrency content in the Republican National Convention platform released in July, and Trump gave a speech at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in late July.
The Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum, a London-based think tank, said Harris must develop her own agenda for crypto positions or she risks ceding the field entirely to the Republicans.
“For the past four years, the cryptocurrency community has faced uncertainty. While other regions, such as the European Union, Switzerland, Hong Kong, and Singapore, have passed legislation to clarify regulatory measures for crypto businesses, the United States has lagged behind. While relevant bills have been enacted, such as the 21st Century Financial Innovation and Technology Act on Crypto Market Structure, which even passed the House of Representatives with bipartisan support. They have faced strong opposition from other leading Democrats, such as Senator Elizabeth Warren. President Biden’s decision to veto the overturn of SAB 121 also clearly demonstrates the administration’s deep skepticism of cryptocurrencies.”
“Beyond Capitol Hill, the SEC’s approach to regulation through enforcement has been highly controversial, with even its own commissioners criticizing it…Trump, with his characteristic opportunism, has identified a group of disaffected voters and, perhaps more importantly, potential donors.”
The think tank said it is still possible for Harris to regain control of the issue. Much of the hard work of crafting legislation has already been done. The FIT21 bill and the stablecoin bill, while not perfect, will certainly provide crucial regulatory clarity to the industry. This move has little to lose, but could have a lot to gain… Pulling some votes and donations from cryptocurrency supporters and donors away from the Republican camp could make a difference in key battleground states.
As of August 9, according to data from the prediction market Polymarket, Harris and Trump have a 49% to 48% chance of winning the election. Driven by the latest news, Harris's chance of winning has even broken the tie situation of the previous day. Currently, Trump and Harris have agreed to a debate held by the American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on September 10. Whether crypto will appear in the debate is also a point worth looking forward to.
