Coinbase has introduced the Stand With Crypto Alliance. It starts with a “TL;DR” (posted yesterday) that said: Today marks the launch of the Stand with Crypto Alliance, an advocacy organization focused on mobilizing the crypto community to directly engage in the legislative process. Join the Alliance to help secure the future of crypto in America by helping drive clear, sensible regulation.”
From the Coinbase blog:
With more than 50 million Americans holding a digital asset, crypto is bigger than Coinbase. Today, with the launch of the Stand with Crypto Alliance, the crypto community will be unleashed as a core constituency in the legislative process.
In particular, the Stand with Crypto Alliance will leverage the underlying technology of the blockchain to help organize the community into a powerful voice advocating for policies that will update our financial system and support economic empowerment. The Alliance is the nation’s first ever independent and unchain advocacy organization, powered by and for crypto supporters.
Building on recent historic, bipartisan legislative momentum in Congress, the Stand with Crypto Alliance is crypto’s first true grassroots movement that will be organized onchain. By providing a launch pad, the Alliance is mobilizing the full force of the decentralized crypto community to tell lawmakers: Recess is over. America’s crypto constituency is strong – and will be holding them accountable this fall when Congress votes on common-sense legislation to protect consumers and their right to crypto…
The Block reported that crypto advocated have ramped up efforts over the past few months to get legislation passed that would improve regulation of the crypto industry in the country. Some have criticized regulators, like the Securities and Exchange Commission, for what they call a regulation by enforcement approach.
Two bills are teed up to be voted on in the full House, including one bill that would direct regulators to create a clear path for how a digital asset can transition from being a security to a commodity. The other would create a comprehensive framework to regulate payment stablecoins. Both passed certain House committees last month.
CNN reported that the Stand with Crypto Alliance’s primary mission is to mobilize support for legislation that would create a US regulatory framework for digital assets – something of a sore subject in the feud between crypto advocates and US regulators, who have fundamental disagreements about how the industry should operate.
According to CNN, a central sticking point is the question of how crypto tokens should be regulated. The Securities and Exchange Commission, Wall Street’s top cop, contends that most crypto products are investment contracts and therefore fall under its jurisdiction – an argument the crypto industry is fighting.
CNN also reported that crypto adoption has been growing, though it remains far from the mainstream and still lacks obvious use cases for most people. The promise of crypto, broadly, is a world in which financial transactions can be executed instantly, free of charge. Advocates envision blockchain, the infrastructure on which crypto is built, as the future of all global finance.
In my opinion, it seems unlikely that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will accept the Stand with Crypto Alliance. CNN reported that in June, the SEC escalated its enforcement campaign when it sued both Coinbase and Binance, the world’s top two crypto exchanges, saying the companies are illegally selling securities on unregistered exchanges.