U.S.
crypto
legislation
can
happen
this
year,
Senate
Majority
Leader
Chuck
Schumer
(D-N,Y,)
said
Wednesday
at
the
first
major
event
in
which
crypto
insiders
have
come
out
for
Vice
President
Kamala
Harris
as
their
favored
presidential
contender.
“We
all
believe
in
the
future
of
crypto,”
Schumer
said
at
an
online
event
hosted
by
Crypto4Harris.
“Congress
has
a
responsibility
to
provide
common
sense
and
sound
regulation
on
crypto,
and
we
need
your
support
to
make
sure
that
any
proposal
is
bipartisan.”
In
Harris’
absence,
several
Democratic
lawmakers
and
prominent
supporters
stood
in
and
shared
assurances
during
the
virtual
town
hall
that
she
would
pave
the
way
for
new
U.S.
crypto
regulations.
Crypto4Harris
is
among
a
handful
of
fledgling
efforts
aiming
to
drum
up
crypto-world
backing
for
Harris
after
months
in
which
former
President
Donald
Trump
seemed
to
be
cementing
himself
as
the
industry’s
pick.
Harris
hasn’t
made
any
policy
statements
about
digital
assets
in
the
U.S.,
and
her
campaign
hasn’t
formally
embraced
crypto
support,
though
campaign
officials
were
said
to
be
listening
in
at
the
opening
online
event.
Schumer’s
legislative
optimism
faces
a
number
of
practical
hurdles.
This
congressional
session
is
careening
into
the
general
election,
making
potential
progress
difficult
on
major
policy
efforts.
While
the
House
of
Representatives
has
made
some
strides
this
year
in
pushing
crypto
bills
through
final
approvals,
the
Senate
hasn’t
matched
that
progress.
“I
believe
we
can
make
that
happen,”
Schumer
insisted,
but
he
didn’t
specify
what
the
bill
might
be
beyond
getting
“something
passed
out
of
the
Senate.”
Still,
Schumer
said
twice
that
his
goal
was
to
have
a
bill
passed
out
of
the
Senate
and
signed
into
law
by
the
end
of
the
year.
He
mentioned
the
Financial
Innovation
and
Technology
for
the
21st
Century
Act
(FIT21),
a
House-passed
bill
spearheaded
by
Rep.
Patrick
McHenry
(R-N.C.),
as
well
as
a
yet-to-be-introduced
bill
being
developed
in
the
Senate
Agriculture
Committee,
though
he
stopped
short
of
explicitly
endorsing
either
product.
“Crypto
is
here
to
stay,
no
matter
what,
so
Congress
must
get
it
right,”
Schumer
said.
SkyBridge
Capital’s
Anthony
Scaramucci,
who
briefly
served
as
Trump’s
press
secretary,
said
he
was
looking
for
crypto
to
remain
bipartisan
and
“less
tribal.”
Congressman
Wiley
Nickel
(D-N.C.)
briefly
praised
crypto
before
introducing
a
panel
of
additional
lawmakers
to
speak
to
the
attendees.
“Let
me
tell
you,
there’s
only
one
candidate
running
for
president
who’s
called
crypto
a
scam,
and
that’s
Donald
Trump,”
Nickel
said.
“He
did
absolutely
nothing
for
four
years
as
president
and
was
openly
hostile
up
until
just
recently.”
Sen.
Debbie
Stabenow
(D-Mich.),
who
chairs
the
Senate
Agriculture
Committee,
said
her
goal
is
to
“provide
the
structure
that
both
protects
consumers
but
also
allows
this
innovation
to
really
flourish,”
referring
to
crypto
commodities
as
something
the
Commodity
Futures
Trading
Commission
–
long
seen
as
a
potentially
friendlier
regulator
toward
crypto
than
the
Securities
and
Exchange
Commission
–
should
oversee.
“Our
House
colleagues
have
already
moved
forward
a
bill.
In
the
senate,
it’s
the
Democrats
that
are
serious
about
getting
something
done
and
working
with
our
great
new
president,”
she
said.
Billionaire
Mark
Cuban,
who
has
been
heavily
involved
in
trying
to
get
Harris
into
the
pro-crypto
camp,
said
that
Trump
and
Republicans
are
only
interested
in
crypto
to
boost
the
wealth
of
their
allies.
“They
just
want
to
see
the
Bitcoin
maxis
get
richer,”
Cuban
said.
Sen.
Kirsten
Gillibrand
(D-N.Y),
Gov.
Jared
Polis
(D-Colo.)
–
a
former
House
member
who
cofounded
the
Congressional
Blockchain
Caucus
–
and
Reps.
Elissa
Slotkin
(D-Mich.)
and
Adam
Schiff
(D-Calif.)
–
both
of
whom
are
running
for
their
states’
respective
Senate
seats
–
spoke
with
both
pretaped
and
live
remarks.
Other
lawmakers
similarly
took
the
virtual
stage
to
speak
to
the
innovations
they
saw
in
crypto,
how
they
believed
the
Democratic
Party
could
approach
the
industry
and
otherwise
support
the
effort
to
raise
support
and
funds
for
Harris.
Until
Harris
makes
her
policy
positions
clear,
she’ll
generally
be
judged
on
the
record
of
the
Biden
administration.
For
crypto,
that
record
has
been
marked
by
years
of
legal
combat
and
an
inability
to
get
industry-specific
regulations
in
place.
The
industry’s
primary
election
weapon
–
the
extremely
well
funded
Fairshake
political
action
committee
–
has
straddled
a
careful
line
between
the
parties.
It
lavished
millions
on
political
ads
during
the
congressional
primary
elections
this
year,
spreading
that
spending
to
both
Democrats
and
Republicans,
and
its
recent
disclosures
of
ad
buying
for
the
general
elections
show
a
similar
split.
In
the
House,
Fairshake
and
its
affiliate
PACs
(one
for
Democrats
and
one
for
Republicans)
is
so
far
backing
nine
incumbent
Democrats
and
nine
incumbent
Republicans.
In
the
Senate,
they’re
devoting
$12
million
to
defeat
Sen.
Sherrod
Brown
(D-Ohio),
the
sitting
chairman
of
the
Senate
Banking
Committee,
while
also
committing
$3
million
each
to
Democrats
seeking
seats
in
the
key
states
of
Arizona
and
Michigan.
The
industry’s
primary
campaign-finance
arm
hasn’t
touched
the
presidential
race,
yet,
and
has
shown
no
signs
of
weighing
in.
Some
of
the
biggest
sources
of
Fairshake’s
cash,
though,
have
also
backed
Trump.
