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Some in the crypto industry shifted focus to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, led by U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner (VA) and Marco Rubio (FL), because of an amendment Sen. Warner added to the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 (S.4443), which had implications for crypto exchanges.

Yesterday, President Biden officially announced his intent to nominate CFTC Commissioner Kristin N. Johnson to be Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions at the Department of the Treasury. 

According to media reports, the Biden campaign is exploring crypto donations through Coinbase Commerce. This came as a surprise to some Black leaders in crypto given the public anti-DEI views of Coinbase's CEO, who this January implied Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was a DEI hire in a post on X.

If two trees fall in a forest at the same time, but only one is heard…why?

 The opening sentence of an article in New York Magazine’s Intelligencer titled, “Are Democrats Pivoting on Crypto?” got to me. It references a 2023 September crypto event in Washington, DC with young people of color that was attended by the CEO of Galaxy Digital. So, of course I got excited. Last September was the 6th annual Black Blockchain Summit in the nation’s Capitol to spotlight diverse leaders in Web3 and DeFi. Galaxy was a sponsor. But my enthusiasm would soon fade. The reporter gave credit for engaging Democrats to Coinbase, whose CEO has publicly denounced DEI.

Being the firebrand that I am, I emailed the reporter. Yes, Stand with Crypto, a political action committee launched by Coinbase in 2023, also convened an event during that same time. But it never dawned on me that we were so invisible. The reporter explained that she was only referencing the Stand with Crypto event that she attended - a very narrow perspective. 

I began to wonder, is invisibility the same as irrelevance?

* Irrelevant despite the fact that data shows the “invisible“ are in fact the earliest and largest adopters of crypto, and are the quintessential crypto voter. Even the Intelligencer article in question cites, “Recent polls showed that 20 percent of registered voters have owned crypto, amounting to some 35 million Americans, disproportionately made up of young Black men...”

* Invisible figures, though our track record dates back to when the first bitcoin was mined in 2009 and we have Black and Latino organizations that have been educating and mobilizing for over a decade. 

* Dismissed despite six years of Black Blockchain Summits in DC to get in the radar of Progressives, as well as annual conferences in Washington by National Policy Network of Women of Color in Blockchain since 2019, and Black Women Blockchain Council since 2022.

All this work is not worth even a footnote in mainstream narratives about blockchain and cryptocurrency. 

It’s not just this reporter that ignores the more than a decade contributions of diverse crypto leaders. Mainstream media and Washington policy and regulatory officials also operate as if we are hiding from view. They do not see us, except as pawns on someone else’s chessboard, or extras in our own movie. 

That’s why I launched butterscotch Media. To broadcast our bold, vivid, lively stories. The powers that be may continue to ignore our deep footprint and robust accomplishments, but we will do our part to bring visibility to Black, Latinx, Indigenous pioneers and change-makers who are fueling the $3 trillion crypto market. 

This rant is not a defeatist exercise. Just the opposite. I’m fired up because butterscotch Media is filling an important gap…There’s more to the story of crypto 🧡

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butterscotch is a digital news studio broadcasting stories about Black, Latino, Indigenous DeFi retail investors, Web3 consumers, founders, executives, officials. The virtual newsroom - featuring eNews, Podcast, Live Events – seeks to deepen mainstream understanding of diverse segments of the emerging $3 trillion crypto industry.

Cleve Mesidor, CEO & Managing Editor

Ashlynn Mesidor, CTO & Co-Founder