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Shomari Figures, the Democratic nominee for Alabama’s recently redrawn 2nd Congressional District, signed onto a joint letter to the Democratic National Committee and Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday.
Signed by fourteen Democratic members of Congress and thirteen fellow candidates, the letter asks the DNC to “take a forward-looking approach to digital assets and blockchain technology.”
Specifically, it calls to: “include pro-digital language in the party’s platform,” “select a vice-presidential candidate sophisticated in digital asset policy,” “select a pro-innovation SEC chair,” and “engage with industry experts.”
The letter also criticizes the “current SEC’s approach to these transformative technologies” and claims swing voters will consider the parties’ crypto policy this November.
During the competitive Democratic primary earlier this year, cryptocurrency PAC Protect Progress supported Figures with millions of dollars in sympathetic mailers and ads.
On the issues page of his campaign website, Figures has promised to “embrace the new landscape around digital assets, like Cryptocurrency, to stimulate innovation and technological advancement.” He indicates he will support “reasonable regulation” on the industry though.
But in February, Figures avoided addressing whether he helped regulate cryptocurrency as a Department of Justice employee and how he would weigh cryptocurrency and constituent interests in a statement he provided to APR.
He also maintained that his campaign “cannot control who outside organizations support and how they spend their money.”
While around 7 percent of Americans used cryptocurrency in 2023 according to the Federal Reserve, the industry remains remarkably controversial.
Perhaps the most obvious reason is the rapid collapse of one-time crypto industry darling FTX. The crypto exchange and hedge fund went from airing Super Bowl ads in 2022 to filing for bankruptcy later that same year.
FTX founder/CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to serve 25 years in prison this past March. As FTX CEO, he had stolen and misallocated billions of customer funds.
Besides the long history of “pump-and-dump” scams based on low market cap altcoins, cryptocurrencies are also a regular tool for many types of criminals. Crypto has been used as the currency for countless online markets dealing in illegal drugs and other illicit goods, and is often the request of choice for ransomware demands.
Famously, the dark web black market Silk Road used bitcoin as its only currency. Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht was convicted in 2015 for running the site after attempting to hire hitmen—former President Donald Trump has said he will pardon Ulbricht if re-elected.
Because crypto is used to facilitate crime so often, the government has seized billions of dollars worth of the digital currency since Bitcoin was invented in 2009.
While speaking at the Bitcoin Conference on Saturday, Trump promised attendees the federal government would stop selling off the cryptocurrency it seizes if he’s re-elected.
The Republican nominee has taken a remarkably pro-crypto stance while campaigning this year. He claimed he would fire current SEC chair Gary Gensler and let the rules regulating crypto be “written by people who love your industry.”
Also speaking at the Bitcoin Conference, Senator Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming, proposed the federal government should buy billions worth of crypto for a new strategic reserve.
Some Democrats, including the signatories of Friday’s letter, have expressed a positive view of the industry, but Democratic politicians in general appear to be more skeptical than Republicans. And the Biden-Harris administration’s attempts to regulate cryptocurrency have been fairly ambitious.
Under Gensler, the SEC did eventually approve Bitcoin ETFs after a successful court challenge. But SEC commissioner and Trump appointee Caroline Crenshaw dissented, calling the decision “unsound and ahistorical.”
In addition, the SEC has actively prosecuted cryptocurrency companies and executives, including Sam Bankman-Fried.
The Harris campaign does appear to have reached out to major crypto companies in recent weeks, but the fairly skeptical approach the Biden administration has utilized may continue if she is elected.
However, depending on the margins in Congress, a President Harris could still be limited in how she cracks down on crypto crime. Figures for one seems unlikely to support ambitious regulation of cryptocurrency based on his campaign promises and this recent letter.
