DeFi leaders pen letter to VP Kamala Harris' campaign team asking to meet this month to discuss policy

A group of diverse crypto industry leaders are asking for a meeting this month with Vice President Kamala Harris and running mate Tim Walz's campaign policy team to discuss policy recommendations to push forward innovation and inclusion.

In a letter sent to the campaign policy team on Tuesday, Nat'l Policy Network WOC Blockchain Founder Cleve Mesidor, Black Women Blockchain Council Founder Olayinka Odeniran and a professor at Penn State Dickinson Law Tonya Evans, among others, called for a regulatory framework for web3 and DeFi that encourages innovation in the U.S. Over 20 people signed the letter.

"Our group of diverse Web3 DeFi industry leaders write to request a meeting with the HarrisWalz campaign policy team in October 2024 to discuss the importance of a policy and regulatory framework for Web3 and DeFi that fosters innovation here in America," they wrote.

"... to ensure an opportunity economy with a level playing field, government must balance consumer protection measures with policies to fuel financial inclusion and capital formation," the letter added.

Crypto has quickly made itself a hotly contested election issue. Last week, Democratic presidential candidate Harris said her administration would encourage innovative technologies like AI and digital assets while protecting consumers and investors," according to her 80-page economic plan . Meanwhile, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has made his own pledge to end an "unlawful and un-American crackdown" on the U.S. crypto industry and is seen as being friendly toward the industry.

Tuesday's letter called for a spot in policy discussions and said recent policies make it easier for the wealthy to get access to digital assets, pushing out groups that have been excluded from the country's financial systems.

"Black, Latino, AAPI, indigenous communities were the earliest, and continue to be the largest adopters of crypto. Since the inception of this sector in 2008 and 2009, diverse innovators have been a significant part of this emerging industry," they said. "We want a seat at the policy table and a say in the regulatory debate."

Specifically, signers of the letter asked for more access to capital for diverse web3 startups and entrepreneurs, in part through creating a new "SBA [Small Business Administration] Emerging Technologies Digital Equity Loan program." They also called for more financial education for digital assets and turned to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to provide funding for that.