U.S. Presidential Candidates Chat About Crypto, Target Federal Regulators

Three
U.S.
presidential
candidates
vowed
to
reboot
the
embattled
cryptocurrency
ecosystem,
a
sign
the
industry’s
lobbying
investments
could
bear
fruit
in
the
coming
elections.

The
trio,
two
Republicans
–
entrepreneur
Vivek
Ramaswamy
and
former
Arkansas
Gov.
Asa
Hutchinson
–
and
Democrat
Rep.
Dean
Phillips,
promised
to
ease
regulatory
pressures
on
crypto
companies
during
the
hours-long
event
hosted
by
the
Coinbase-backed
Stand
with
Crypto
Alliance.
While
their
approaches
varied
in
tone
and
scope,
they
shared
a
common
theme:
Creating
a
clear,
cohesive
regulatory
framework
for
digital
assets.

“Whether
or
not
something
is
a
commodity
or
a
security,
businesses
deserve
to
know
rather
than
playing
regulatory
musical
chairs,”
Ramaswamy
said
after
calling
regulatory
overreach
on
the
crypto
sector
a
“cancer.”

Each
candidate
delivered
a
speech
on
crypto
policymaking
and
fielded
questions
from
CoinDesk
Regulations
and
Policy
Editor
Jesse
Hamilton.
Their
comments
centered
on
the
creation
of
a
unified
regulatory
framework,
from
curbing
federal
regulators’
powers
to
educating
policymakers
about
crypto
and
protecting
coders
from
criminal
charges.
The
consonance
between
those
proposals
contrasted
with
the
political
dissonance
that
has
stymied
recent
efforts
on
Capitol
Hill
to
create
a
regulatory
rulebook
for
the
industry.

While
the
speakers’
comments
were
often
constructive,
they
also
degenerated,
at
times,
into
shameless
self-promoting
spiels.
All
three
blasted
the
Securities
Exchange
Commission’s
crackdown
on
crypto
exchanges
including

Coinbase,

Kraken
and

Binance,
and
called
for
the
agency’s
powers
to
be
curtailed.

“We
want
to
see
an
SEC
that…
doesn’t
treat
everybody
they’re
regulating
as
an
adversary,”
Hutchinson
said
as
he
called
for
an
end
to
regulators’
“guidance-by-enforcement”
strategies.

Ramaswamy
vowed
to
reduce
the
agency’s
workforce
as
part
of
his
goal
to
eliminate
75%
of
bureaucratic
jobs,
noting
that
the
third
U.S.
president,
Thomas
Jefferson,
who
died
nearly
200
years
ago,
would
be
“turning
in
his
grave”
over
the
agency’s
actions
toward
crypto,
a
technology
that
was
invented
roughly
15
years
ago.

None
of
the
participants
are
leading
in
their
parties’
primary
election
polls,
meaning
they
probably
won’t
have
the
powers
of
the
presidency
at
their
disposal
to
promote
crypto.

Later,
the
hopefuls
discussed
how
blockchain
technology
could
disrupt
traditional
finance
(TradFi),
laying
the
groundwork
for
a
fairer,
trustless
financial
system.

“There’s
more
transparency
actually
in
the
crypto
market
than
there
is
in
banks
and
traditional
finance,”
Hutchinson
said.

Crypto
“eliminates
so
many
hands
in
the
pot
that
take
little
bits
of
peoples’
money
…
at
a
time
when
life
is
already
so
unaffordable,”
said
Phillips.

While
the
speakers
appeared
to
be
aware
of
the
crypto
industry’s
unique
and
numerous
challenges,
they
sometimes
lapsed
into
parroting
tired

industry
lines
(“crypto
needs
clarity”)
while
skirting
opportunities
to
engage
on
some
of
the
finer
points
of
the
crypto
regulatory
debate.