Anika Begay
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer hands a “golden gavel” to U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris after she cast her 32nd tie-breaking vote in the Senate, the most ever cast by a vice president, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on December 5, 2023.
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday that he believes the Senate can realistically pass a bipartisan cryptocurrency regulation bill before the end of the year, giving new hope to an industry that has been stuck in legislative limbo for years.
“Passing legislation this year is absolutely possible, even in these divisive times,” Schumer said during a virtual town hall event to raise funds for Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris.
Dubbed “Crypto4Harris,” the event featured billionaire Mark Cuban and Schumer’s fellow New York senator, Kristen Gillibrand, as well as Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan. Stabenow chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee, where a bipartisan cryptocurrency bill is making its way through the committee.
Two Democrats running for Senate seats also joined the event: Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who is running to replace the retiring Stabenow in Michigan, and Rep. Adam Schiff, the favorite to win a vacant California seat. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Rep. Wiley Nickel, R-N.C., were also on the call.
“Why are we here today? Because we all support Vice President Kamala Harris as our next president and we all believe in the future of cryptocurrency,” Schumer said.
“My goal on cryptocurrency regulation is this: I want to unite members of both sides of the aisle here in the Senate… so we can pass meaningful legislation that helps the United States maintain its status as the most innovative country in the world,” he added.
Schumer’s general support for cryptocurrencies is nothing new: He joined Republicans earlier this year to overturn regulatory guidelines the industry called too burdensome. But his resounding support for digital currencies on Wednesday went beyond what many on Capitol Hill expected to hear from him.
“Cryptocurrencies are here to stay, no matter what happens. So Congress needs to get this right,” he said.
Sheila Warren, CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation, hosted the evening event, the latest in a series of Zoom calls and town halls aimed at raising funds and solidifying support for Harris among diverse constituencies.
Harris did not attend the online event, but several members of her party spoke to reassure the cryptocurrency industry as a whole that a Harris administration would support the creation of a regulatory framework for the industry that would help foster innovation at home.
Gillibrand said in a pre-recorded speech that a future Harris administration will “understand” and “facilitate” a “balanced approach” to regulating the industry.
More than 70 House Democrats crossed the aisle to support the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, which passed the House in May. It will now move to the Senate.
Schumer has yet to indicate which of the bills under consideration he will support. But Stabenow’s presence with Schumer at Wednesday’s town hall could be a clue that Schumer is leaning toward Stabenow’s legislation.
In recent months, the token-savvy voting bloc has emerged as a key player in the 2024 elections, both at the presidential level and in key Senate elections.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has been catering to the cryptocurrency industry in recent public speeches on the campaign trail. He even headlined the biggest bitcoin event of the year in Nashville last month after spending years disparaging both bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, saying the tokens aren’t money and their value is “based on nothing.”
Harris has yet to officially comment on cryptocurrencies, but Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Nickel, D-Calif., both told Vscek on the sidelines of this year’s bitcoin conference in Tennessee that they are in direct conversation with Harris’ campaign team about the topic.
“I think we’ll hear from Vice President Harris on this very soon. And I’m very optimistic that there will be a reset. And I think that will matter a lot,” Rep. Nickel previously told Vscek. “This issue is not going anywhere. And we need to make sure that we continue to embrace it in a bipartisan way.”
The race to curry favor with pro-crypto voters coincides with the industry pouring tens of millions of dollars into key races.
Pro-crypto super PAC Fairshake pledged Wednesday morning to donate $3 million to Slotkin and Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego, who is running for a seat in coveted Arizona.
Both are facing tough Senate elections against Trump-backed candidates, seats that could ultimately decide whether Schumer and his party maintain their majority.
According to an NBC report, Fairshake’s financial support for Democratic candidates in these races apparently angered top Republicans “who viewed the industry as an ally, not an adversary.”
Robert Mitchnick, head of digital assets at BlackRock, told Vscek that “the most important thing” he’s seen in 2024 is that cryptocurrencies are “not only being seen as a more legitimate and important issue,” but that this transformation has also become more bipartisan.
