In a surprising turn of events, officials from the U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration are set to attend a Bitcoin roundtable in Washington, D.C., in early July, according to a report.
The roundtable is being spearheaded by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and will be attended by Biden administration officials, lawmakers from both the House and the Senate, and billionaire Mark Cuban, according to documents shared with Bitcoin Magazine.
Rep. Khanna and Cuban were the only individuals whose identities were confirmed by the report.
The objective of the roundtable is to support innovations in Bitcoin and in the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem within the country.
Notably, Rep. Khanna is a pro-crypto politician who supported the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, better known as FIT21.
Last week, Cuban addressed attendees of Coinbase’s State of Crypto, where he said that current Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) head Gary Gensler could cost the incumbent President his office due to Gensler’s anti-crypto stance.
Decrypt reached out to Rep. Khanna’s office but did not immediately receive a response.
This development comes as a positive surprise to market participants, as the current Biden administration has become infamous for its anti-crypto stance.
On June 1, President Biden vetoed the Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) 121 bill, which received bipartisan support from the House. The incumbent President noted that the bill undermines the SEC’s authority and would cause harm to investors and consumers. The bill would have granted financial institutions the ability to custody Bitcoin along with other cryptocurrencies.
Interestingly, this apparent change of heart from the current Biden administration comes months ahead of the upcoming U.S. presidential elections and days after former U.S. president and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump announced his unwavering support for Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining.
Crypto could play a huge role in the upcoming U.S. presidential elections, as both candidates are neck and neck, according to the polls. Thus, a pro-crypto candidate could have an edge over an anti-crypto candidate.
In building support among the crypto crowd, Trump vowed that he would never allow the creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) if he got re-elected. And earlier this month, the presumptive Republican nominee dubbed himself the “crypto president” during a fundraiser.
In May, the former U.S. president announced that his campaign will now accept cryptocurrencies as donations.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.
