Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer gave a warm embrace to the crypto industry in a virtual town hall supporting Vice President Kamala Harris Wednesday night.
Schumer, addressing a “Crypto4Harris” virtual event, hailed the promise of digital assets to an extent we haven’t heard before.
Schumer’s words may be the friendliest we’ve ever heard from a Democrat as senior as Schumer. Harris has said nothing about the crypto industry since her campaign sprung into existence over the last few weeks.
“Why are we here today?” Schumer asked. “Because we all support Vice President Kamala Harris to be our next president, and we all believe in the future of crypto.”
Schumer was introduced by billionaire investor Mark Cuban, who Schumer said was a guy who “cares about things, and he calls me up about them all the time.”
Schumer also said he believed it was still possible Congress could pass meaningful crypto legislation before the end of the 118th Congress.
It’s worth taking some time to read Schumer’s fuller remarks. Here’s more of what the New York Democrat said:
Schumer said he believed Congress could “help crypto reach its full potential.” He added that lawmakers would need to “provide some guardrails to keep users of this technology safe, to preserve our national security and to ensure that this tech can’t be abused by criminal organizations.”
From any angle you look at it, Schumer’s remarks should be remembered as a significant moment for the crypto sector.
It’s one thing for Schumer to say the Senate should respond to crypto with legislation. But this kind of bear hug is something different.
The significance wasn’t lost on Rep. Wiley Nickel (D-N.C.), a pro-crypto Democrat who helped organize the town hall. “What we heard from Sen. Schumer was a big deal,” Nickel said during the event.
Other Democrats who spoke included Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.) and Sen. Debbie Stabenow (Mich.). Stabenow, who chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee, dedicated part of her remarks to accusing some Senate Republicans of not “working in good faith” since bipartisan negotiations on her panel fell apart at the end of July.
This event was a remarkable testament to how the crypto sector has managed to flex its political power this cycle, pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the 2024 campaign. The industry says that crypto voters could make a significant difference on the margins. We won’t know whether those folks are listening until November.
