Politicians who embrace crypto

For years after its creation, Bitcoin was scoffed at by “serious” people like the super wealthy, institutional investors, politicians, and corporations – and politicians who embrace crypto were few and far between.

Even if the rich and powerful held crypto in the past, they often would not admit it in public to avoid getting raised eyebrows. But nowadays, with the crypto market cap crossing $3 trillion, it’s hard for people to ignore, including governments. As institutional money flows into crypto and regulators begin to sit up and pay attention, some politicians are getting on board as well.

The collision of crypto and politics was inevitable and now, much as we all lament the idea of mixing the two worlds, the crypto lobby is on the lookout for politicians who support crypto.

Here are some of them…

Eric Adams

The newly elected, Democratic Mayor of New York has been making headlines lately with his very bullish attitude toward crypto.

In what some have described as a rivalry with the Miami Mayor, Francis Suarez, Adams is introducing NewYorkCityCoin (NYCCoin), to answer Miami’s MiamiCoin. He also said that crypto technology should be taught in schools and that he would look into encouraging businesses in NYC accepting Bitcoin. As a topper on his pro-crypto cake, Adams announced that he would be taking his first three paychecks in Bitcoin.

Francis Suarez

On the other side of the political crypto rivalry, the Republican Mayor of Miami doesn’t just have talking points that support crypto, he’s actually finding ways to use it.

“We’re going to be the first city in America to give a bitcoin yield as a dividend directly to its residents,” he said. He rolled out MiamiCoin in August of 2021 using CityCoin, which allocates 30% of rewards to Miami when the coins are bought or mined. Just a few months into the new endeavor, Miami had already generated $21 million of revenue from crypto.

Suarez also says he wants to reward citizens of Miami for staking their MiamiCoins. Staking crypto is another way crypto investors earn income and is a very progressive idea that could benefit many Miamians.

Gavin Newsom

Way back in 2014 when he was the Democratic lieutenant governor of California, Gavin Newsom came out early to support crypto and regulated crypto exchanges.

Newsom began accepting campaign contributions in Bitcoin before it was a popular thing to do. At that time, even more than now, it was taking a political risk because it was a challenge trying to explain Bitcoin skeptics. Any wariness of crypto, however, didn’t turn people completely off to him because, in 2018, he was elected Governor of California.

Ted Cruz

Republican Senator in Texas, Ted Cruz, is known to outspokenly support crypto.

He was vocal in the fight to remove crypto regulations from the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that passed congress in November 2021. He argues that regulating crypto too heavily will hurt the US by, “Sending cryptocurrencies overseas to our competitors because we’ve made it impossible for them to succeed here.” Cruz also says he’s excited about possible energy innovations using Bitcoin and blockchain to strengthen energy infrastructure in the near future.

Andrew Yang 

Perhaps one of the most outspoken politicians to support crypto is Andrew Yang.

He was the first presidential candidate to begin accepting campaign contributions in Bitcoin during his 2020 Democratic run for the White House, but now, that’s small potatoes. These days, he’s looking to create a whole new, third party with a pro-crypto platform. He said, “I want to make the Forward Party the Crypto Party, truly. Because I see the alignment as very, very deep.”

Yang is also on the same page as Eric Adams about NYC, hoping to make it a Bitcoin megahub of the world.

Eric Swalwell

Another 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, Eric Swalwell, has been seen to support crypto.

Swalwell was the second candidate at the time to start accepting campaign contributions in Bitcoin and five other kinds of crypto, tweeting it out in May of 2019. “Blockchain can change the world if we let it,” Swalwell said. As a Congressman in July of 2021, Swalwell called for Congress to look into crypto’s role in ransomware attacks.

This may not mean he’s completely flipped on crypto, but it may indicate he’s in favor of more regulations.

Pat Toomey

Like Ted Cruz, Republican Senator Pat Toomey has also been involved in pushing back against proposed crypto regulations, saying that they, “Would have a detrimental impact on fintech, the fundamental privacy of Americans, and efforts to combat illicit activity.”

Toomey also invested in Bitcoin and Ethereum through Grayscale trusts, as reported in required financial disclosures. Some dislike the fact that he did so a few days after making statements to support crypto, others may see it as Toomey putting his money where his mouth is.

Cynthia Lummis

Among the growing number of politicians who support crypto is Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis.

Lummis and Ron Wyden partnered with Toomey to craft an amendment to language opening the door for tighter crypto regulations in the 2021 infrastructure bill. Unfortunately, though,  the amendment was shot down and the bill passed. Lummis has also been reported to have recently bought more than $50,000 in Bitcoin and made her first Bitcoin investment back in 2013. She also advocates stablecoins having 100% cash reserves and being regulated and compliant with KYC-AML.

Can politicians who embrace crypto be trusted?

A lot of people in the crypto community have been or still are skeptical of political partisans who embrace crypto.

And, it’s true that many of them flip-flop on their positions. But as regulators continue to come harder for the cryptosphere, it’s important to have politicians who support crypto and understand the importance of keeping Bitcoin and the rest of the ecosystem free and open. Adoption will continue to increase and it will continue to become harder for the government to ignore. Thankfully, there are a few politicians who understand the possibilities of technology and support crypto.

Hopefully there will be more of them in the future—and perhaps one day, every major city will have its own cryptocurrency!