Senior White House officials participated in a conference call with about a dozen cryptocurrency leaders Thursday morning in the Biden administration’s latest overture to the industry.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Reed and National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard joined the call, along with Kristine Lucius, senior advisor and director of legislative affairs to Vice President Harris, according to sources known.
The call, organized by pro-cryptocurrency Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna (Calif.), comes as the White House and the Democratic Party seek to mend fences with the crypto industry amid increasingly frosty relations.
Khanna hosted a roundtable with industry executives and Democratic lawmakers last month, which was attended by Anita Dunn, then a senior adviser to President Biden, in her personal capacity.
Dunn has since left the White House to work for a super PAC supporting Harris’ campaign as the vice president became the Democratic nominee following Biden’s decision to step aside.
Paul Grewal, chief legal officer at cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, said government officials on Thursday’s conference call seemed to understand the industry’s frustrations and were eager to find ways to resolve them. However, they have not made any firm commitments, he said.
“I applaud [Khanna] for working valiantly to keep people talking to each other and continuing to call for Democratic support for basic encryption legislation and basic encryption standards that do not cede this issue to Republicans or make it more partisan than it necessarily needs to be,” Grewal said The Hill.
Republicans, including former President Trump, have increasingly embraced encryption. The Republican Party included crypto in the party platform launched last month ahead of the Republican National Convention, and the former president headlined a bitcoin conference in late July.
“I am laying out my plan to ensure that the United States is the crypto capital of the planet and the bitcoin superpower of the world,” Trump said at Bitcoin 2024.
However, as Harris’ campaign takes off, her team is in talks with the crypto industry.
“Today’s conversation, in many ways, was a real contrast to other conversations the industry has been having with the Harris campaign… about how it could mark a break from the policies of the past and really signal not just the crypto industry . but the 52 million Americans who have crypto are the ones who get it,” Grewal said.
White House spokeswoman Robyn Patterson noted in a statement Thursday that the president has initiated the “first comprehensive approach to supporting innovation in digital assets.”
“The Biden-Harris administration will continue to meet with a range of stakeholders and work with members of Congress on legislation to develop safeguards necessary to realize the potential benefits and opportunities of cryptoasset innovation,” Patterson added.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
