On Thursday, the Democratic Party of the United States organized an online conference aimed at repairing relations with the cryptocurrency industry. However, according to insiders, the atmosphere of the entire meeting was not pleasant.
About 20 people participated in the meeting, with Congressman Ro Khanna as the moderator, and government representatives including Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, Deputy Director of the National Economic Council Lael Brainard, and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Reed.
Attendees in the cryptocurrency industry include billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban, founder of SkyBridge Capital, venture capitalist Anthony Scaramucci, and Democratic donor Ron Conway, as well as executives from Ripple, Coinbase, Kraken, Uniswap, and other cryptocurrency companies.
According to a participant, cryptocurrency industry executives have almost made no secret of their dissatisfaction, lamenting that the Biden administration and the Democratic Party's actions against the cryptocurrency industry have caused them great damage, and the Democratic Party has basically only been scolded.
And this could mean a huge challenge for Democratic presidential candidate Harris to gain support from the cryptocurrency industry. Compared to her, Republican candidate Trump was widely welcomed by cryptocurrency investors for his early embrace of the industry, laying a solid voting foundation for him.
The Democratic Party's desire to repair its relationship with the cryptocurrency industry at this time is also due to election pressure, and both parties hope to gain support from the cryptocurrency industry.
The Democratic Party's road is blocked and long
Due to the collapse of FTX in 2022, the Democratic Party and the Biden administration have been adopting relatively high-pressure policies towards the cryptocurrency industry over the past two years, which has also brought the relationship between the Democratic Party and the cryptocurrency industry to a freezing point.
It is reported that at Thursday's meeting, industry executives not only failed to reach any consensus with the Democratic Party, but also fiercely criticized White House officials. For example, the large donor Conway expressed strong dissatisfaction with the government's hollow promises, and he was also an early investor in the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.
There was another awkward moment at the meeting. When it comes to the connection between banks, other financial systems, and the cryptocurrency industry, a cryptocurrency executive suggested that if executives have been denied banking services due to White House policies, they can raise their hands to indicate. Almost all representatives of the encryption industry raised their hands on the spot.
However, there are also people with optimistic attitudes. Venture capitalist Scaramucci believes that despite the friction, Harris will gain some support in the cryptocurrency industry. The willingness of senior government officials to spend time listening to the opinions of the cryptocurrency industry is clearly a positive signal.
Paul Grewal, Chief Legal Officer of Coinbase, pointed out that this meeting is still organized by the Biden administration, and the industry's focus should be on what Harris is willing to do in the future.
He emphasized that Harris is a new face in the cryptocurrency field and the perfect candidate to break away from the strict policies of the Democratic Party in the past.