{"id":3960,"date":"2024-09-05T18:15:02","date_gmt":"2024-09-05T18:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/?p=3960"},"modified":"2024-09-05T18:15:02","modified_gmt":"2024-09-05T18:15:02","slug":"politicians-founders-motivate-crypto-voters-on-day-one-of-the-america-loves-crypto-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/?p=3960","title":{"rendered":"Politicians, Founders Motivate Crypto Voters on Day One of the America Loves Crypto Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

On a 100\u00b0F evening in Phoenix, crypto enthusiasts from Arizona came out with gusto for the first night of the America Loves Crypto<\/a> tour.<\/p>\n

The tour, organized by the Stand With Crypto Alliance<\/a>, a non-profit on a mission to get America\u2019s 52 million crypto owners out to the polls in November, will roll through five swing states in the coming weeks, bringing awareness to the importance of voting for candidates who support pro-crypto policies in the upcoming US elections.<\/p>\n

On this evening in Arizona, politicians such as Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) and Arizona House Speaker Pro Tempore Travis Grantham (R) spoke to the audience alongside crypto industry founders before making way for the psychedelic soul grooves of the Black Pumas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Mission and the Margin<\/h2>\n

\u201cA huge priority for us is turning out the crypto vote,\u201d Logan Dobson, Executive Director of Stand With Crypto, told Bitcoin Magazine.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur only cause is crypto. We\u2019re not pushing for specific candidates. We\u2019re not pushing for specific parties. We\u2019re just getting the crypto vote out,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I can tell you that in multiple swing states already, there are more people who have signed up with Stand With Crypto than the margin of victory was in 2020.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dobson\u2019s final point is particularly pronounced in Arizona, where, in the 2020 presidential election, President Biden beat former President Trump by about 10,500 votes<\/a>. Stand With Crypto has signed up almost three times the amount of crypto advocates \u2014 27,231 \u2014 than the amount of voters who accounted for Biden\u2019s margin of victory in the previous election.<\/p>\n

Encouragement from Politicians<\/h2>\n

Senator Sinema kicked off the event, urging audience members to fearlessly vote for candidates who support pro-crypto policies.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou guys are a real force in Arizona and it\u2019s important that we use this election cycle to ensure that the crypto community\u2019s voice is heard,\u201d said Senator Sinema.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to push for policies that fuel innovation so the financial system works for everyday people. We\u2019ve got to make sure that candidates up and down the ballot \u2014 state legislatures as well as at the federal level \u2014 understand crypto and are working towards a great political climate for crypto rather than one that\u2019s based on misinformation, fear and old-school regulations that hinder the industry,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Sinema concluded her brief speech with what seemed like a mild jab at the Democrats, the party she parted ways with in December 2022<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t be afraid to support a candidate or an elected official who takes risks,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou all understand the value of taking risks. The crypto industry wouldn\u2019t exist if it weren\u2019t for risk taking,\u201d Sinema added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to look for candidates who are reasonable but are willing to take risks and speak out against the party line rhetoric that\u2019s trying to stop or slow the innovation of this industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following Sinema was Grantham, a proponent of the freedom with which bitcoin and crypto provides its users.<\/p>\n

Grantham didn\u2019t mince words from the stage. He discussed how politicians are abusing the US dollar by spending more of it than they have and printing it at will. He made the case that it\u2019s up to Gen Z and Millennials especially to vote for pro-crypto politicians to allow for assets like bitcoin to compete against the dollar. He was even more explicit on this topic in an interview backstage with Bitcoin Magazine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a large group of elected officials who think the government is the solution to our monetary problems, that this fiscal irresponsibility doesn\u2019t matter and that the dollar is going to be the end-all-be-all forever \u2014 and that\u2019s just a crazy way of thinking,\u201d Grantham told Bitcoin Magazine.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the reasons [crypto] is becoming so popular is because of what we\u2019re doing to the dollar,\u201d he argued.<\/p>\n

Arizona House Speaker Pro Tempore Travis Grantham (R) addresses the crowd.<\/p>\n

For this reason, Grantham felt it\u2019s essential for voters to support candidates who don\u2019t believe in regulating crypto out of existence, and to vote for politicians who support freedom as opposed to those who seek control.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a freedom and control issue,\u201d said Grantham.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Some politicians want] control by keeping everybody married to one currency and not allowing anything else to break through, which crypto is doing. Competition is a good thing, especially when the person who controls the only thing is abusing it so badly,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n

Founders Aren\u2019t Asking For Much<\/h2>\n

Next, a panel of crypto founders based in Arizona took the stage. The panel featured Thor Abassi, co-founder of DeFi protocol Zivoe<\/a>; George Mekhail, VP of Operations for Bitcoin Magazine and co-organizer of the Arizona Bitcoin Network<\/a>; and Shelton Beascochea, co-founder of DevilsDAO<\/a> and Stand With Crypto Arizona Chapter President.<\/p>\n

The industry leaders asked for little more than clear rules of the road from the US government, so that they could operate their businesses on-shore and compliantly. In an interview with Bitcoin Magazine, Abassi discussed the anxiety that crypto founders have faced due to unfair treatment by federal regulatory agencies under the Biden administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the toughest things for our project is [knowing] how the industry can interact with banks,\u201d Abassi told Bitcoin Magazine.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve all probably heard about Operation Chokepoint 2.0<\/a>,\u201d he added, referring to the government\u2019s unconstitutional crackdown on the politically unfavorable, but not illegal crypto industry, which resulted in the debanking of many crypto companies.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we had regulation describing what crypto companies need to do in order to be banked, that would be hugely beneficial.\u201d<\/p>\n

George Mekhail addresses the crowd as part of a crypto founders panel.<\/p>\n

Mekhail ended the spoken portion of the night\u2019s programming on a high note, highlighting that the crypto industry has made notable progress, which will likely only gain steam moving forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cThink about where we were four years ago,\u201d said Mekhail.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe couldn\u2019t have an event like this. The fact that 15% of Americans own some form of crypto is crazy, especially thinking about what it\u2019s going to be four years from now,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe momentum is behind us. It\u2019s events like this and just showing up and demonstrating that we have a voice that is really important.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second date of the America Loves Crypto tour is scheduled for this evening, September 5, at The Space in Las Vegas, NV. You can RSVP to the event <\/em>here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On a 100\u00b0F evening in Phoenix, crypto enthusiasts from Arizona came out with gusto for the first night of the America Loves Crypto tour. The tour, organized by the Stand With Crypto Alliance, a non-profit on a mission to get America\u2019s 52 million crypto owners out to the polls in November, will roll through five […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-discovery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3960"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}