White House Hosts Crypto Industry Leaders for Policy Dialogue – Go Behind the Scenes

At a virtual meeting aimed at improving relations between the crypto industry and the Democratic Party on Thursday, tensions flared as leaders lashed out at top Biden administration officials over the ongoing crisis. regulatory repression on digital assets, according to inside information gathered by Fox reporter Eleanor Terret.

Cryptocurrency executives clash with Biden officials

The closed-door Zoom call, hosted by Congressman Ro Khanna, was reportedly aimed at helping the party’s 2024 presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, win back the crypto vote that has drifted toward the Republican Party, led by former President Donald Trump’s continued support for Bitcoin and blockchain technology.

However, Eleanor reports that the meeting quickly degenerated into a heated airing of grievances, underscoring the uphill battle Democrats face in gaining support from the crypto industry.

Crypto attendees included high-profile figures such as Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, Coinbase CLO Paul Grewal, and Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Stable Coin issuing company Circle, Uniswap’s Hayden Adams, Kraken CEO David Ripley, SkyBridge Capital’s Anthony Scaramucci and venture capitalist Ron Conway.

Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, Federal Reserve Chairman Lael Brainard and other senior White House officials were present on the government side. Venture capitalists Mark Cuban and Chris Dixon were also reportedly in attendance at the virtual meeting.

“Regulatory assault”

According to Terret’s sources, the industry representatives have not hesitated to express their frustration with the Biden administration’s “regulatory assault” on the crypto sector.

“The leaders were not shy about telling administration officials how much damage they have done to the digital asset industry and the Democratic Party with their actions against digital assets,” an anonymous attendee told Fox Business.

Tensions came to a head when Adeyemo claimed that banks and regulators were not actively trying to cut the crypto industry off from the broader market. financial systemIn response, a cryptocurrency industry executive challenged attendees to raise their hands if their companies had been denied banking services due to White House policies — a move that saw nearly every industry representative raise their hand.

Despite the heated exchanges, some participants managed to strike a more optimistic tone. Anthony Scaramucci expressed hope that Harris could still garner support from the digital asset community, noting that “it’s encouraging that these high-level officials took the time to come forward and listen to our industry.”

Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal also suggested that the focus should now be on the Harris campaign and what it is “prepared to do” to position the vice president as a “strong new face for crypto.”

At the time of writing, the total cryptocurrency market cap stands at $2 trillion after hitting a low of $1.6 trillion on Monday. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency on the market, hit a weekly high of $62,800 late Thursday after plunging nearly 20% earlier this week.

Featured image of DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com