The Democratic Party invited a group of crypto bigwigs to the meeting, but the two sides ended up arguing
Despite the friction, Harris's probability of being elected on Polymarket has caught up with Trump's.Author: Eleanor Terrett, FOX Business
Compiled by: Azuma, Odaily Planet Daily
Editor's Note: At 11:45 AM Eastern Time on Thursday (11:45 PM Beijing Time last night), Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna hosted a meeting aimed at promoting communication with the cryptocurrency industry and repairing relations between the two sides. Clearly, the Harris team is pushing this meeting at this critical time to garner more support from the cryptocurrency industry in the upcoming elections. However, according to FOX Business reporter Eleanor Terrett, the discussion during last night's meeting was not smooth, with tensions running high between both parties.
On Thursday morning, a Zoom meeting aimed at repairing the relationship between the Democratic Party and the cryptocurrency industry officially commenced, but the atmosphere was tense. For the pro-cryptocurrency faction within the party, helping Harris gain campaign support from the cryptocurrency industry was not an easy task.
The Zoom meeting was hosted by California Congressman Ro Khanna, with the aim of communicating with the cryptocurrency industry, which has been heavily regulated and suppressed by the Biden administration (mainly by regulatory agencies such as the SEC and CFTC), to mend relations during this critical campaign window. With Vice President Harris officially becoming the Democratic presidential candidate, the party is seeking to help her win back more cryptocurrency voters from Republican opponent Trump—who has recently been actively courting the industry and vowed to make the U.S. the "crypto capital of the world."
About twenty people attended the meeting, including government officials such as Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, Deputy Director of the National Economic Council Lael Brainard, Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Reed, and Harris's senior advisor Kristine Lucius; cryptocurrency representatives included billionaire Mark Cuban, SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci, investor Ron Conway, and executives from companies like Ripple, Coinbase, Kraken, and Uniswap.
However, the meeting seemingly failed to reach any consensus, as most cryptocurrency representatives fiercely criticized White House officials regarding the regulatory onslaught from the SEC and the Federal Reserve. Participants told FOX Business that this meeting appeared to replay a roundtable hosted by Ro Khanna last month in Washington, D.C., where industry executives also complained to a senior White House official about the unfair treatment they received during the Biden administration.
A participant who wished to remain anonymous told FOX Business: "Several executives candidly told government representatives that their crackdown on cryptocurrency has caused significant damage to the relationship between the industry and the Democratic Party… They (the government representatives) were basically just being scolded."
For instance, Ron Conway "vehemently" expressed dissatisfaction with the government's empty promises to the industry. Conway, an early investor in Coinbase, did not immediately respond to our request for comment.
Another tense moment occurred when Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo defended that banks and regulators have not actively tried to isolate the cryptocurrency industry from the broader financial system. In response, an executive asked attendees to raise their hands if their company/project had been denied service by banks due to White House policies. Two attendees revealed to us that almost all industry representatives present raised their hands.
Despite the friction, Anthony Scaramucci still expressed optimism to FOX Business about Harris gaining some support within the cryptocurrency industry.
Anthony Scaramucci mentioned: "These officials are willing to take the time to attend and listen to voices from our industry, which is encouraging. My colleagues want things to change immediately, but the processes in Washington don't work that way. I believe we are making steady progress."
Coinbase's Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal also held a positive view of the meeting: "This is still a meeting hosted by the Biden administration, but the focus now must be on Harris's campaign and what she is willing to do. She is the ideal representative for the Democratic Party to break from the past and support cryptocurrency."
The market sentiment seems to be shifting towards Harris, as her probability of winning has now caught up with Trump on the cryptocurrency-based prediction market Polymarket, even briefly surpassing him.
