Why Many Democrats, Including the White House, Have Come Around on Crypto

Sheila Warren, CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation, joins Unchained to explore the dramatic shift by Democrats in the last few weeks on crypto. She explains why she believes the overturning of SAB 121 and the House vote for the FIT21 bill were both instrumental to the White House's changing view on crypto and may have played a role in the SEC’s surprising approval of spot ETH ETFs. 

Having worked for years on passing crypto legislation and as a lifelong Democrat, Sheila describes what kinds of arguments were persuasive to Democratic members of Congress, addresses some criticisms of the FIT21 bill, and gives her perspective on the debate about single-issue voters.

Show highlights:

• The overall attitude toward crypto in Washington going into the House vote on SAB 121 on May 8
• The bipartisan votes in the House and Senate to overturn SAB 121
• Why, by the time of the Senate vote on FIT21, the White House had had a change of heart about crypto
• Why, after the Senate vote to repeal SAB 121, the SEC approved the spot ETH ETFs
• Why Sheila is so proud of the passage in the House of the FIT21 bill
• How Sheila and CCI approached their discussions with Democrats and what arguments they found effective
• Whether the industry has survived the negative image of SBF and FTX
• The sea change in the White House between the SAB 121 vote and the FIT21 vote
• A high-level description of the FIT21 bill 
• What kind of authority the bill would give the CFTC over crypto 
• What the implications of the bill are for launching tokens
• FIT21’s approach to regulating DeFi and how the FIT21 bill is "kicking the can" on this topic
• The overall political and legislation landscape and the next likely steps for crypto
• Whether the ETF approval changes anything about the SEC’s investigation into Ethereum
• What Sheila thinks about the 'crypto single-issue voter’ debate 

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Guest:

• Sheila Warren, CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation
• Previous appearance on Unchained: Did FTX Ruin Crypto’s Image on Capitol Hill? Two DC Insiders Discuss

Links

• Previous coverage on Unchained of the recent shift in the US political landscape:
• Senator Cynthia Lummis on Why Crypto Now Has Bipartisan Support in Congress
• Bits + Bips: Is US Politics Driving the ETH ETF Approval?
• Why Spot Ether ETFs Are Now Likely to Be Approved on Thursday

SAB 121

• Bloomberg: As Bitcoin Rallies, Banks Are Pushing US Regulators to Change Crypto Guidance 

FIT21

• CCI: FIT21 Coalition Support Letter
• Unchained: FIT21 Bill Heads to The Senate: Should We Really Be Excited?
• Sheila’s op-ed on Fortune: The clock is ticking for Democrats on crypto

Spot Ether ETFs

• Unchained: Analysts Up Odds of Spot Ether ETF to 75% as Prometheum Launches Product That Treats ETH as a Security

Ethereum Foundation investigation

• Fortune Crypto: SEC probing crypto companies in Ethereum investigation as hopes for ETF dim

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