Exit interview with Coin Center chief

Jerry Brito, the original executive director of the pioneering crypto advocacy group in Washington, Coin Center, is preparing to leave the organization at the end of the year, as one of his long-time deputies takes over.

Why it matters: The organization began in 2014, when only a handful of elected leaders even knew what Bitcoin was. Today, you'd be hard-pressed to find one who didn't have an opinion about cryptocurrency.

The big picture: The broadest change he's seen over his 10-year tenure, Brito tells Axios, is crypto becoming quite partisan. (It wasn't, early on.)

• "When you think of crypto and who's building it, it's a certain demographic that I think progressives are suspicious of," he says.

That mindset can trace its roots to 2019, when Facebook tried to launch Libra.

• "That I think was an inflection point for crypto," Brito says. After that, a lot of lawmakers — mostly Democrats — got dug in on the idea that blockchains are suspect.
• That's also the source of one of Brito's biggest regrets from his tenure.

What he's saying: "There's a progressive case for crypto," he says. Looking back, that's something he wishes he would have worked on sooner, making that case to lawmakers on the left before events like Libra's launch caused them to make up their minds.

Zoom in: In a rich country that's enjoyed liberal democracy for more than 100 years, Brito sees a population that has come to take their civil liberties for granted.

• "People don't realize that cash is this escape hatch," Brito says. It's the only kind of payment we can make that doesn't leave a permanent record.
• Cryptocurrency, he's been arguing these past 10 years, is a digital escape hatch from the world of financial gatekeeping. Digital payments work easily here, but wholly at the pleasure of companies like Apple and Chase, or agencies like FinCen or the DOJ.

Inside the room: His organization has sought to get legislators working on financial policy to the same level of sophistication as those overseeing commerce.

• The internet, as Brito put it, isn't really regulated, but the companies that set up shop on the internet are. That's how blockchain networks should be treated too, he contends.

Flashback: Coin Center has been pulled into many conversations, but two besides Libra have stood out.

• One was when the Trump administration suddenly tried to regulate software wallets. "It's unconstitutional, bad policy and unacceptable," Brito said. His side won.
• There were losses though. Crypto managed to hold up President Biden's infrastructure bill, but Team Blockchain lost on their demands. "Subsequently, we filed suit," Brito said.

The bottom line: "I think folks are concerned on all sides about the strength of our democracy," Brito said.

• One option beyond activism, he said, is "you can also, I think, work to make it more difficult if not impossible for corporations or the government or other powers to restrain your freedom, and crypto is perfect for that."