Michigan Senate candidate and former member of Congress Mike Rogers at Messari Mainnet, with Kristin Smith, head of the Blockchain Association. Photo: Brady Dale/Axios
Republican Senate challengers gathered at a crypto event in New York City yesterday to make the case for a light touch on crypto policy.
Why it matters: We're at a political inflection point in this election, with Democrats suddenly striking a conciliatory tone and Republicans reminding blockchain denizens which party's always been there for them.
Case in point: Semafor reported last week that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) now says she never had a problem with a little crypto trading.
And of course, Vice President Kamala Harris recently name-checked the industry as one to support, albeit with caution.
Yes, but: The No. 1 thing that the government needs to do is get out of entrepreneurs' way, Ohio Senate candidate Bernie Moreno told Axios in a one-on-one yesterday after his panel.
Zoom in: Crypto has a tech side and a money side, Moreno argued. "The tech crypto should have virtually no government interference at all," he said.
"The money crypto, there's where you regulate it very transparently with rules of the road that are understandable, that are easily enforceable. And you separate those two things."
Congress passed mild laws for the web in the 90s and "the internet blossomed in America," he said.
Michigan GOP Senate candidate Mike Rogers argued that he knows firsthand how important crypto will be "if we make sure that it is developed here, innovated here and companies can be here."
A former FBI agent, the former congressman said he first encountered the technology when it was being used to buy drugs on the original dark web marketplace, the Silk Road.
Rogers pushed back on the idea of blockchain's utility for crime, saying that it's fairly easy to follow the money on chain, but it will be much harder if the companies building for it operate out of countries (he named China) that aren't aligned with the U.S.
What they're saying: If the industry is left to the Democrats, Rogers cautioned, their approach will be "to overregulate, regulate and fine."
