Crypto is getting political—Ethereum giant Consensus wants out of it

In the year Crypto Emerges as a Bipartisan Issue in the 2024 Presidential Election – What's Up with Donald Trump? Overcompensation For the industry, and President Joe Biden Intimidation To kill a law meant to protect it – US crypto companies have begun spending heavily to help the campaigns of pro-crypto candidates across the country.

Industry majors like Coinbase, Andreessen Horowitz and Ripple Labs have already decided Tens of millions of dollars To influence this year's key Senate and House races. Meanwhile, crypto leaders have started Embrace clearly Trump in a way that was unimaginable four years ago.

But as the crypto industry grows as a force in US election fundraising, one of the nation's most valuable crypto companies has chosen to steer clear of partisan politics.

Consensus, the 7 billion dollars The Ethereum software giant, in particular, has refrained from endorsing crypto-friendly candidates in the 2024 election. For the company's founder and CEO Joe Lubin, this is a deliberate choice to ensure the long-term success of the crypto industry (disclosure: Consensys is one of 22 investors). Decrypt).

“We like to be politically neutral,” Lubin said Decrypt. “It doesn't make sense to elect a corrupt party.”

Relying on one political party or faction to support crypto is not as sustainable a long-term strategy as strengthening the legitimacy of the industry through the judiciary, believes the co-creator of Ethereum.

“The way of all this, the way we rest … is to rely on the courts,” he said.

Last month, Consensys a Conditional charge Against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), arguing that the regulator lacked the legal authority to classify ETH as a security – a position kept secret More than a year later, the case was revealed.

“The lawsuit with the SEC is a good platform to help people understand the benefits of the technology,” Lubin said. “I don't think we need to be politically partisan or make political contributions to be the clearest and loudest voice on this topic.”

This does not mean that the entrepreneur is aloof from politics. Lubin said Consensus regularly holds closed-door discussions with politicians and regulators about the importance of crypto to America's future.

What's important, however, is that those talks aim to create a broad – excuse me – consensus around crypto.

“We may not be seeing it, but we're definitely doing things,” Lubin said of Consensus' political machinations.

Edited by Andrew Hayward.