On a 100°F 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’s 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.
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.
The Mission and the Margin
“A huge priority for us is turning out the crypto vote,” Logan Dobson, Executive Director of Stand With Crypto, told Bitcoin Magazine.
“Our only cause is crypto. We’re not pushing for specific candidates. We’re not pushing for specific parties. We’re just getting the crypto vote out,” he added.
“And 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.”
Dobson’s final point is particularly pronounced in Arizona, where, in the 2020 presidential election, President Biden beat former President Trump by about 10,500 votes. Stand With Crypto has signed up almost three times the amount of crypto advocates — 27,231 — than the amount of voters who accounted for Biden’s margin of victory in the previous election.
Encouragement from Politicians
Senator Sinema kicked off the event, urging audience members to fearlessly vote for candidates who support pro-crypto policies.
“You guys are a real force in Arizona and it’s important that we use this election cycle to ensure that the crypto community’s voice is heard,” said Senator Sinema.
“We’ve got to push for policies that fuel innovation so the financial system works for everyday people. We’ve got to make sure that candidates up and down the ballot — state legislatures as well as at the federal level — understand crypto and are working towards a great political climate for crypto rather than one that’s based on misinformation, fear and old-school regulations that hinder the industry,” she added.
Sinema concluded her brief speech with what seemed like a mild jab at the Democrats, the party she parted ways with in December 2022.
“Don’t be afraid to support a candidate or an elected official who takes risks,” she said.
“You all understand the value of taking risks. The crypto industry wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for risk taking,” Sinema added.
“We want to look for candidates who are reasonable but are willing to take risks and speak out against the party line rhetoric that’s trying to stop or slow the innovation of this industry.”
Following Sinema was Grantham, a proponent of the freedom with which bitcoin and crypto provides its users.
Grantham didn’t 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’s 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.
“There’s a large group of elected officials who think the government is the solution to our monetary problems, that this fiscal irresponsibility doesn’t matter and that the dollar is going to be the end-all-be-all forever — and that’s just a crazy way of thinking,” Grantham told Bitcoin Magazine.
“One of the reasons [crypto] is becoming so popular is because of what we’re doing to the dollar,” he argued.
Arizona House Speaker Pro Tempore Travis Grantham (R) addresses the crowd.
For this reason, Grantham felt it’s essential for voters to support candidates who don’t believe in regulating crypto out of existence, and to vote for politicians who support freedom as opposed to those who seek control.
“It’s a freedom and control issue,” said Grantham.
“[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,” he concluded.
Founders Aren’t Asking For Much
Next, a panel of crypto founders based in Arizona took the stage. The panel featured Thor Abbasi, co-founder of DeFi protocol Zivoe; George Mekhail, VP of Operations for Bitcoin Magazine and co-organizer of the Arizona Bitcoin Network; and Shelton Beascochea, co-founder of DevilsDAO and Stand With Crypto Arizona Chapter President.
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, Abbasi discussed the anxiety that crypto founders have faced due to unfair treatment by federal regulatory agencies under the Biden administration.
“One of the toughest things for our project is [knowing] how the industry can interact with banks,” Abbasi told Bitcoin Magazine.
“We’ve all probably heard about Operation Chokepoint 2.0,” he added, referring to the government’s unconstitutional crackdown on the politically unfavorable, but not illegal crypto industry, which resulted in the debanking of many crypto companies.
“If we had regulation describing what crypto companies need to do in order to be banked, that would be hugely beneficial.”
George Mekhail addresses the crowd as part of a crypto founders panel.
Mekhail ended the spoken portion of the night’s programming on a high note, highlighting that the crypto industry has made notable progress, which will likely only gain steam moving forward.
“Think about where we were four years ago,” said Mekhail.
“We couldn’t have an event like this. The fact that 15% of Americans own some form of crypto is crazy, especially thinking about what it’s going to be four years from now,” he added.
“The momentum is behind us. It’s events like this and just showing up and demonstrating that we have a voice that is really important.”
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 here.