Dean Phillips, competing against Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination in the 2024 presidential elections, stated that there are very few people in Congress who understand crypto assets. Speaking at the Crypto Presidential Forum in New Hampshire on December 11, Phillips admitted that he does not know everything about financial technology and cryptocurrencies.
Dean Phillips criticized U.S. President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump for their attitudes towards the crypto market. The U.S. Representative became the third presidential candidate to address the crowd in New Hampshire following Republicans Vivek Ramaswamy and Asa Hutchinson. Phillips made significant statements about the crypto market and included the following remarks in his speech:
“Right now, the two leading candidates for the U.S. presidency, on both the left and the right, are definitely not in a position to understand this, to prepare us for it, to anticipate it, and to take us into the next century. Joe Biden and Donald Trump are not the right people to move us forward in their current ages and stages of life.”
Phillips disclosed that he has never personally invested in crypto assets like Bitcoin or NFTs and added that any potential investments he could have would be with a blind trust. He cited conflicts of interest in his role as a presidential candidate and legislator as the reason for this.
U.S. Presidents and the Crypto Market
Congress members are required to disclose their investments, including cryptocurrencies, but there is no significant sanction for legislators who delay filing. All presidential candidates speaking at the Crypto Presidential Forum are leading President Biden and Trump by double digits in several polls, respectively.
Ramaswamy has been one of the most outspoken Republicans on the topic of crypto assets and released a crypto-focused policy platform at the North America Blockchain Summit in November. While Trump’s campaign has explored aspects of the crypto asset space and Trump sold his own NFT series, the former president has rarely spoken publicly about cryptocurrencies.
President Biden, on the other hand, issued an executive order in 2022 to create a regulatory framework for crypto assets. Under the Biden administration, Justice Department officials charged former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, and former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky.
