Crypto money is lining up behind former Rep. Mike Rogers’ (R-Mich.) second run for the Senate. But well before Rogers received a crypto PAC endorsement last month, the Michigan Republican warned that cryptocurrency was a dangerous force.
In a string of comments from 2017, Rogers repeatedly railed against Bitcoin as an unregulated facilitator for illegal activity.
“I’m not a big fan of Bitcoin,” Rogers said during a 2017 speech. “It’s primarily used in illicit trades… They use it in human trafficking. And every international organized crime event you can think of is using it.”
In a 2017 op-ed for the New York Daily News, Rogers laid out why Bitcoin is “so attractive to hackers, criminals and terrorists.”
Rogers’ crypto skepticism coincided with his post-House career as a cybersecurity expert. Rogers, one-time chair of the House Intelligence Committee, began hosting an online digital series delving into global cyber threats, including how Bitcoin could be exploited.
Grain of salt. Rogers’ comments came during a different epoch of crypto politics.
As an asset, Bitcoin was in its infancy until roughly 2020. In 2017, though, Bitcoin gained national prominence by growing in value from roughly $900 a unit in early 2017 to a peak of more than $19,000 in December before crashing back to Earth.
Rogers’ comments were a reflection of that time. Then, Rogers was a fierce critic of Bitcoin specifically and crypto broadly.
Now, Rogers is a crypto evangelist. Rogers teamed up with top crypto supporter Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) to write a Coindesk op-ed in support of the GENIUS Act, which would regulate stablecoins. Rogers also traveled to the Bitcoin 2025 Conference alongside Lummis.
In a 2024 op-ed, Rogers noted that as “crypto usage has risen, its use in money laundering has fallen precipitously.”
It’s important to note that supporters of the GENIUS Act argue that the bill will address concerns about crypto being a risky investment.
Last cycle, Rogers got slammed by heavy crypto PACs spending in support of his Democratic opponent, now-Sen. Elissa Slotkin (Mich.). The Fairshake super PAC network spent more than $10 million backing the Michigan Democrat in 2024.
And Rogers certainly isn’t the only politician to evolve on crypto. President Donald Trump himself dismissed Bitcoin as a “scam” as late as 2021 before embracing the sector — and its considerable campaign finance war chest — in the summer of 2024.
