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A virtual conference aimed at mending relations between the crypto industry and the Democratic Party turned ugly Thursday morning, Fox Business has learned, underscoring the uphill battle progressive crypto advocates are facing trying to rally industry support for Kamala Harris’ presidential bid.
California Congressman Ro Khanna hosted a Zoom meeting aimed at mending fences during a contentious election year with a burgeoning industry that has been the target of a massive regulatory push by the Biden administration’s financial regulators. With Vice President Kamala Harris now at the top of the ticket, the party is looking to help Harris, its 2024 candidate, win back crypto votes from her GOP opponent Donald Trump, who has recently embraced the industry and vowed to make the United States the crypto capital of the world.
U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo delivers a speech explaining the new action taken by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to impose a second round of sanctions on key officials and financial networks associated with Hamas. (Daniel Leal/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images)
About two dozen people were on the call, including senior Biden administration officials such as Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, Deputy National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Reed. Christine Lucius, a senior adviser to Harris, was also present but did not speak, according to three people who participated in the call.
On the crypto side, attendees included billionaire tech entrepreneur and crypto investor Mark Cuban, SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci, venture capitalist and Democratic donor Ron Conway, and a handful of executives from Ripple, Coinbase, Kraken, Uniswap, and other crypto companies.
Instead of finding common ground, industry executives largely criticized White House officials for the regulatory assault from agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Reserve. People who attended told Fox Business that the meeting felt like a replay of a roundtable Khanna hosted in Washington, D.C., last month, when industry executives aired their grievances to a senior White House official about unfair treatment they had received under Biden.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – January 13: Lael Brainard, Governor of the Federal Reserve and President Biden’s nominee to be the next Federal Reserve Vice Chair, takes the oath of office during her nomination hearing with the Senate Banking Committee on Capitol Hill on January 13. (Photo by Drew Unger/Getty Images)/Getty Images
“The executives didn’t hesitate to tell the administration representatives how much damage they were doing to the crypto industry and the Democratic Party with their actions against digital assets,” one attendee who wished to remain anonymous told FOX Business. “They were basically yelled at.”
For example, Conway “strongly” expressed his frustration that the administration has only made empty promises to the industry. Conway, an early Coinbase investor, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Another tense moment came when Adeyemo told the audience that banks and regulators were not effectively trying to isolate the industry from the broader financial system. In response, one crypto executive asked the callers to raise their hands of companies that had been locked out of banking services due to White House policies. Nearly every industry representative raised their hands, according to two attendees.
Anthony Scaramucci, founder and managing partner of SkyBridge Capital II LLC, speaks during the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore, Tuesday, November 15, 2019. October 15, 2022. The New Economy Forum is organized by Bloomberg Media Group, a division of Bloomberg. (Brian Van Der Beek/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)
Despite the controversy, Scaramucci told Fox Business he is optimistic that Harris will get some support in the crypto space.
“It’s encouraging that these high-level officials took the time to come and listen to our industry,” Scaramucci said. “It’s understandable that my colleagues in the crypto space want to take action now, but that’s not the way things work in Washington. I think we’re making steady progress.”
Coinbase’s chief legal officer, Paul Grewal, also came out with a positive outlook.
“This was a Biden administration meeting, but the focus now needs to be on the Harris campaign and what they want to do,” he said. “She’s the perfect candidate to be a strong new face for crypto and break away from the past.”
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