In June, Cameron and I were invited to a crypto round table in DC with the White House in attendance. Two weeks later, we were disinvited because we publicly endorsed former President Donald Trump.
The Biden-Harris Administration did not want us there and refused to attend the event if we were present. While this is totally their choice, it perfectly captures this Administration’s unwillingness to sincerely engage with our industry beyond paying lip service. If you are truly looking to engage with our industry — after waging war on it for the past 4 years — and understand its points of view in earnest, then certainly you would want to hear from and welcome the most vocal and critical voices, the people who have been most negatively impacted by your policies, even if their minds are made up. That is how you get real signal and perspective for self-reflection.
Disinviting your critics from a round table discussion because they support an opposing candidate (who by the way promised in no uncertain terms to end your war on crypto) is exactly the kind of behavior that makes crypto partisan.
Not only is this behavior petty, it’s fake engagement that only serves to create a meaningless echo chamber. But it also begs a deeper question.
Who exactly from the White House disinvited us from this round table?
President Biden?
Doubtful. He didn’t even show up.
Was he even aware that this round table was being convened and happening?
Again, doubtful given all that we now know and have seen.
So, who exactly is in charge here?
Is it the same people who one week say that President Biden is “sharp as a tack” and the next week sideline him? Who are these people and how can we look them in the eye and get assurances that the next 4 years will be different? I’d love to know.
The Biden-Harris Administration had an opportunity to try and reset the relationship with the crypto industry this week. In direct contrast to how we all have been stonewalled and disinvited the last 4 years, and despite an infinite number of reasons not to, the The Bitcoin Conference graciously and magnanimously extended an invitation to Kamala Harris to speak to and engage with our industry in Nashville this weekend. That’s an olive branch of real engagement. Harris declined.
Which of course is no engagement at all.
But to her defense, did she really? Maybe she wanted to speak but the same people who installed her a week ago would not let her.
We don’t really know, and that’s the problem. The only way to solve for this confusion and broken trust is for whoever is in charge to demonstrate real concrete action before November.
Demanding that Harris, or whoever calls the shots, take action before November is the most non-partisan position of all. As an industry, we should be completely aligned on this. We should demand to know, among other things, who the next chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is before we head to the ballot box. This is table stakes, and this is how you make crypto bipartisan. No more guessing. No more hoping. No more surprises. Our industry should not tolerate any possibility of a repeat of the last 4 years. We need to see tangible change and a proof of commitment to treating our industry fairly and dealing with it in good faith going forward.
My hope is that in the not-too-distant future there are no politicians at any Bitcoin or crypto conferences. Not because they are not welcome, but because crypto is so universally accepted that it is no longer a campaign issue and therefore would be a waste of their time.
Like going to a conference on whether or not email or the Internet should be legal or allowed. I’d like to get back to building full-time and I know all of you would too. In order to do this, we, as an industry, must demand that both parties embrace our industry, treat it fairly, and do everything in their power to ensure that America is the best home in the world for crypto. The Biden-Harris Administration has 4 years of terror to unwind and only 101 days before November to do it. The ball is in their court.
