How Both Parties Can Win At Bitcoin Policy

(Full disclosure: I’m helping build Coinbits.app, a bitcoin banking platform.)

Bitcoin Bitcoin policy will play an important role in the coming years. We live at an unusual time when bitcoin is still new enough that few of those in government understand it, but it is already well established industry and critical to the continued competitiveness of the United States.

Technology experts and other stakeholders can and should help ensure government policies and regulations accelerate the industry rather than undermine it. Former President Trump seems to understand this, as shown in his call for a bitcoin advisory group within the Executive Office of the President

In what will one day be recognized as a historic milestone, Trump delivered a keynote at the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville that set the stage for a golden age of digital asset innovation in the United States. One part of the speech that stood out was when Trump made a self-deprecating remark about his own understanding of bitcoin.

“I sort of say to my sons, it’s like, incredible, because they know so much about it. They’re so aware of it, much more so than people that are a little bit older.”

To those in the audience, it was clear that Trump was implying that he is no expert on bitcoin, but he recognizes the value of expertise in others.

This comment triggered my memory of an episode of The Daily Show from many years ago where Jon Stewart made a humorous comment about then-President Obama. (Yes, even mainstream comedians sometimes poked fun at Democrats back then).

The story was about an incident where Obama, flexing his intellect in an interview with a Pakistani newspaper, claimed to have a keen interest in Urdu poetry.

“You read Urdu poetry?” the Pakistani journalist asked in surprise.

“Absolutely,” Obama responded.

Pointing out Obama’s obviously silly flex, Jon Stewart joked that the President also must have boasted that he donates his time to give theremin lessons to the homeless.

Adopting an entirely different style, former President Trump wasn’t shy to admit that he is no expert on digital assets. If he had taken the stage in Nashville and read a speech from a teleprompter that delivered a well-crafted message about bitcoin that he himself clearly didn’t understand, the message would have fallen flat. It would have raised concerns that Trump might think he understands more than he does – just enough to get himself, and the country, into trouble with poor bitcoin policy.

Instead, Trump stated that he views bitcoin as a vector for American innovation, but that he would rely upon a council of bitcoin stakeholders who could advise him on the complexities of bitcoin policy.

Although Obama’s “Urdu Poetry Moment” has been all but forgotten, Kamala Harris displays the same tendency to communicate from a position of authority instead of authenticity. If her Democratic colleagues’ nascent overtures to the crypto voter bloc gains momentum, she would be wise to follow President Trump’s template and embark on a campaign to listen to leaders in the bitcoin industry rather than following the existing self-described crypto experts in her party such as Elizabeth Warren.

A well-appointed bitcoin advisory council within the Executive Office of the President would include senior leaders from the bitcoin mining industry (including the large, publicly traded miners like Marathon, Riot, as well as smaller ecosystem players), the energy industry (especially companies that have already dipped their toes in bitcoin mining, like Chevron and ExxonMobile), and fintech (especially payment providers that work with stable coins).

However, the council must also include members of the bitcoin brain trust that are not involved in big business, but are critically important to crafting bitcoin policy that works for all Americans, including human rights and privacy activists, as well as developers and contributors to the open source projects that maintain and extend the Bitcoin Network.

Since Trump’s speech, bitcoiners have been speculating intensely about what bitcoin policy might look like during a second Trump term. However, engaging the right team to be involved in a council within the Executive Office of the President is more important. As the old saying goes, personnel is policy. If each party would lay out a vision for their own bitcoin advisory council, we would be able to have a clearer picture of how each party’s bitcoin policy may end up taking shape.