Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms will not leave her role on Coinbase’s global advisory board when she joins President Biden’s re-election campaign as a senior advisor, the cryptocurrency giant told The Hill.
Coinbase is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the US and one of the sector’s leading advocates in Washington. The company spent nearly $2.9 million last year to lobby the federal government on issues such as digital asset regulation and the Financial Technology and Innovation for the 21st Century Act, a sweeping crypto bill passed in the last month by the House, despite the objection of the Securities and Exchange Commission. SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler.
In a statement to The Hill, Bottoms said she is “working to address the systemic issues that impact communities of color that are disproportionately unbanked and underbanked in America.”
“Crypto and the blockchain economy are evolving the financial system – empowering Black-owned businesses in Atlanta and opening up opportunities,” said Bottoms. “More than ever, encryption is a non-political, unifying issue that has received bipartisan support and captured the attention of voters across the country.”
Bottoms and Coinbase declined to officially say whether the former mayor would be paid by the company. The Biden campaign also did not respond to questions about whether it would pay Bottoms.
The established company the global advisory board last May “to help navigate the crypto industry’s complex and evolving landscape and strengthen relationships with strategic stakeholders around the world.” Lance Bottoms left her role as senior adviser for public engagement at the White House in March 2023, a few months before the council was created.
Bottoms joined a star-studded board of politicians in April that includes former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, former Sen. Patrick Toomey (R-Pa.) and former Reps. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.) and Kendrick Meek (D-Florida).
The former mayor headlined a Stand With Crypto event on Wednesday in Atlanta, the day news broke that she would be advising Biden’s campaign. Coinbase helped launch Stand With Crypto, a 501(c)4 nonprofit that describes itself as a “grassroots champion of clear, commonsense regulations for the crypto industry,” last August.
“This nonpartisan issue is receiving attention and support from elected officials across the country, with cities and small businesses improving and expanding services through the use of cryptographic and blockchain technology,” Bottoms said at Wednesday’s event.
From a legal perspective, the deal presents no conflict of interest, Danielle Caputo, legal counsel on the ethics team at the nonpartisan, nonprofit Campaign Legal Center, told The Hill.
“There generally aren’t many rules that apply to campaign advisers,” Caputo said, noting that his organization doesn’t have an opinion on the ethics of the situation.
But good governance advocates and lawmakers have long condemned the “revolving door” between the public service and the private sector, which they say can give companies and organizations an advantage when it comes to adjusting legislation, securing providers government services or influence political decision-makers in your favor.
Inaugural member of the global advisory board, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (DN.Y.) resigned from his position earlier this year amid concerns from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) about a potential conflict of interest after he was appointed for Biden as US representative to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Warren, who advocates cryptography, rates it as “strongly against” encryptionsaid he guaranteed “unprecedented ethical commitments” from the former congressman, including his immediate resignation from private sector advice upon confirmation, recuse from OECD decision-making on crypto and digital asset policy, and a four-year ban from working for a crypto or digital asset company after his term as OECD ambassador.
A Coinbase spokesperson pointed out that Maloney left the role for an official government role, not a campaign role.
Coinbase and the broader crypto industry have been highly involved in conversations about digital asset regulation in Washington and have positioned themselves as key players in the upcoming presidential election, which Lance Bottoms would advise on.
This cycle’s leading pro-crypto super PAC, Fairshake, raised US$177.9 million from January 1, 2023 to May 31, 2024, including $76.5 million from Coinbase and $1 million from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, according to data from the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
Fairshake has invested $70.9 million in federal House and Senate races so far this election cycle, and its US$10 million effort Opposition to Representative Katie Porter’s (D-Calif.) Senate bid in California was cited as a factor in her defeat in the Democratic primary.
A CNBC Analysis found that the super PAC’s preferred candidate won 33 of the 35 primary races he entered, including Westchester County Executive George Latimer, who unseated Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) in the Democratic primary in New York’s 16th Congressional District. York this week.
Bottoms joined Biden’s campaign as it focused on gaining ground in swing states and black voters, two areas that have struggled this cycle. former President Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
Georgia is a key state and Lance Bottoms, who was a key surrogate for Biden in 2020 and was widely considered a leading contender for running mate before nominating Vice President Harris, brings a boost of star power to his team .
She also discussed Black involvement in crypto against the backdrop of the upcoming election at Wednesday’s Stand With Crypto event.
“Atlanta has a thriving black-owned blockchain community. Crypto provides an opportunity for communities that are often unbanked and underbanked to strengthen their financial freedom,” said Lance Bottoms at the Stand With Crypto event.
Stand With Crypto also claims that 19 percent of Georgians own crypto and that the number of crypto supporters in the state is three times the vote difference between Trump and Biden in 2020.
The event also featured musical performances by Dem Franchize Boyz and Bow Wow, who said that “Atlanta voters understand the power of community and that’s why they support encryption – now and on Election Day.”
Atlanta will host the first presidential debate of this cycle between Biden and Trump on Thursday.
Trump has been positioning himself as the pro-crypto presidential candidate, presenting himself as the “crypto president” at a fundraiser in San Francisco earlier this month hosted by tech venture capitalists David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya, according to Reuters.
He also took to his social media platform Truth Social last month to tout his support for crypto and criticize the Biden administration’s approach to the industry.
“I AM VERY POSITIVE AND OPEN-MINDED TOWARDS CRYPTOCURRENCY COMPANIES AND ALL THINGS RELATED TO THIS NEW AND GROWING INDUSTRY. OUR COUNTRY MUST BE THE LEADER IN THE FIELD. THERE IS NO SECOND PLACE”, Trump wrote.
The crypto industry has clashed with the Biden administration, especially SEC Chairman Gary Gensler. Coin base sued the SEC It is the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Thursday, the Freedom of Information Act requests information related to digital asset investigations and enforcement actions.
“This is no way to regulate. And this is not the way to operate a transparent government. Today we demand better from our financial regulators,” said Paul Grewal, chief legal officer at Coinbase. wrote on social platform.
Updated at 2:30 pm EDT.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
