Crypto-friendly Congress steps into power

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You already know a bunch of pro-crypto political candidates won their elections in November. Today marks the start of seeing what that will mean.

Well, sort of. The Republican-led House gathered just hours ago to begin voting on whether to re-elect Mike Johnson as its speaker. So there’re some other things to deal with before crypto-related matters take center stage.

But it appears they will eventually, with crypto market structure and stablecoin legislation expected to gain attention in the coming months. As mentioned yesterday, Rep. French Hill tapped Allison Behuniak — staff director of the House Financial Services Committee’s digital assets subcommittee — to serve as the committee’s policy director.

Stand With Crypto put the final tally at 298 crypto-friendly legislators in the 119th Congress. The organization also hosted a coffee gathering Friday in an effort to “build camaraderie among the pro-crypto legislators, policymakers and community members.”

Coinbase chief policy officer Faryar Shirzad was apparently in attendance, posting a coffee pic to X. Two days earlier, he shared the following expectation for the new year:

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When I interviewed Shirzad in October (prior to elections), he measured the industry’s 2024 success by seeing virtually no candidates push an anti-crypto message.

“Because I don’t think it has any resonance,” he explained at the time. “I think you can fit every anti-crypto voter in the country all in a single bus — maybe even a single minivan.”

One X user warned this morning that it’s one thing to “talk the talk” in a pre-election survey. Keeping the pressure on the lawmakers — letting them know “they are constantly being watched and scrutinized” — is the next step.

That’s a good idea for industry players, sure. But the optimism around these politicians following through seems to be rooted in something real.

As Blockchain Association CEO Kristin Smith said in a Nov. 6 X post when describing the biggest post-election takeaway: “There is zero electoral upside to being anti-crypto.”

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