Can cryptocurrency be non-partisan? Some of the industry’s biggest boosters hope support can spread — but for now, they say crypto is a bastion of conservatism that must strike back against liberal critique and regulation.
“It’s become such a watershed moment for the country,” said Jessica Anderson, president of the right-wing super PAC Sentinel Action Fund. “Are we going to have American jobs here? Are we going to have American innovation? Are we going to do it in a way that allows the industry to flourish? And what’s the policy needed? The right is the only party that is putting out those answers.”
The revealing discussion unfolded at Reboot 2024, an all-day conference at Fort Mason on Thursday focused on the intersection of tech, politics, and society. Dubbed “The New Politics of Crypto,” the panel featured a quartet of industry heavies: Anderson, whose group is funding conservative, pro-crypto candidates across the country; Katie Biber and Justin Slaughter from crypto investment fund Paradigm; and Kyle Blingen of Chamber of Progress, a self-proclaimed “progressive” trade group that is funded by the tech industry’s biggest players (including Amazon, Google and Meta).
The crypto industry has matured in the last five years from a “fringe” group into one with significant political power, Slaughter observed. The massive collapse of crypto in 2022 led a number of leading crypto companies and their backers, including Paradigm, Andreesen Horowitz, Coinbase, and Ripple, to re-envision a comeback.
“[We] decided that we really need to influence the electoral elements of politics,” Slaughter said. “Because we don’t have a policy problem, we have a politics problem.”
He made his point by referencing how Fairshake — “the preeminent PAC of crypto” — boosted Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff and Republican candidate Steve Garvey in the Senate race to replace Sen. Dianne Feinstein, knocking out Rep. Katie Porter, a “protege” of Sen. Elizabeth Warren whom Slaughter characterized as anti-crypto. (Fairshake has spent $119 million on the 2024 election, according to consumer advocacy group Public Citizen.)
“She went back to teaching,” Slaughter said.
“Never discount Republicans in California,” replied Biber. “We can still eke this one out.”
Evangelists for crypto say that the digital commodity, which uses a decentralized system of ownership to track and document value over time, represents an evolution of currency and a radical break from big banks and government control. Anderson argued that while there is nothing inherently partisan about crypto, it represents values in conservatism that are being rejected by the American left.
“Ideological strands unite the crypto industry and founders with the [Republican] party itself. Which is, we support pro-freedom, pro-liberty, we support a max amount of choice to use your dollars, to have independence and freedom,” Anderson said. “So I think the genesis of the industry aligns very nicely with Republicans and in a lot of ways, that’s providing common cause this year.”
So far in 2024, the crypto industry accounts for nearly half the funds given to PACs by corporations, according to research by Public Citizen. Not all of that cash has gone to conservatives — Fairshake, for example, has backed Congressional candidates on both sides of the aisle.
But despite support for crypto-friendly legislation from Democratic leaders like Sen. Chuck Schumer and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, Thursday’s discussion emphasized the need for crypto believers on the right to win their races. That includes Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania, Bernie Moreno of Ohio, Sam Brown in Nevada, and Tim Sheehy in Montana, Anderson said.
“U.S. Senate is the No. 1 priority,” Anderson declared.
Bligen, who serves as director of financial policy for the Chamber of Progress, added that severe partisanship is ultimately bad for crypto innovation, but also noted that Democrats are much more supportive of the industry “behind closed doors.”
“There needs to be a new face of the Democratic Party when it comes to technology policy… You got to get Democrats back to the center, back to reality,” Bligen said.
Slaughter had a more specific possibility, once again invoking the specter of Warren, who has built a reputation as a spirited watchdog on all things corporate tech.
"You need to get rid of the last five to six years of Democrat politics. And the person who has a bad relationship with Warren is Kamala [Harris],” Slaughter said.
A new opportunity may arise with Tuesday’s presidential debate, said Slaughter: He hopes that former President Donald Trump will bring up crypto to criticize Harris. Blingen agreed, noting that the Chamber of Progress has requested that ABC News, which is hosting the debate, raise the question of crypto directly to the candidates.
Despite the focus on the industry, the panel’s ambitions seemed more fixated on turning liberals to the center and rejecting the left’s skepticism of crypto, all while leveraging conservative power. Biber made multiple references to “abolishing liberal nonprofits,” ending her time on the mic with a crack:
“I’m so exhausted of progressivism that I’d gladly take Bill Clinton again,” she said.
