In tuxedos and finery, one of the best dressed industries celebrated Friday night with “Crypto Ball” in Washington to welcome the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump, who most digital-assets insiders trust will elevate their sector to US legitimacy.
Big names in crypto, such as Michael Saylor, Brian Armstrong, the Winklevoss sisters and Jesse Powell, and future officials in the incoming administration, above all Trump’s crypto czar pick, David Sacks mixed in the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium. As they drank cocktails and ate truffle tuna tartare, they took a performance from rapper Snoop Dogg and – perhaps more significantly for their prospects in Washington – visit by Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.
The event marked a dramatic upturn in Washington’s fortunes for the crypto industry. With a red “Make Bitcoin Great Again” hat. cycle through the eventattendees are hoping for a close relationship with the new administration and the new session of Congress that can finally enact policy to establish digital assets as a full part of the regulated US financial sector.
US tech firms — including crypto companies — used inauguration contributions as another way of showing financial support for the new administration after Trump benefited from several big-dollar campaign backers. Crypto businesses, including Coinbase, Ripple, Kraken and Circle, have made large contributions to Trump’s inaugural committee, helping to bring its total to record levels. Some of the same companies are on the Crypto Ball sponsor list.
The four-hour affair, advertised at various advertised prices of $2,500 and $5,000 for tickets, was billed by a spokesman as an “exclusive social event,” and the outside press was barred. who joined most CEOs and founders.
Located in the neoclassical buildings that house the headquarters of the Environmental Protection Agency, the government auditorium is the same historic space that saw the signatures that gave birth to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as well as President Bill Clinton’s signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (both heavily criticized by the incoming president). On Sunday, the venue will also host an inauguration-eve party hosted by conservative news purveyor Newsmax.
On Monday, Trump will be sworn in as president. That ceremony, which was moved indoors due to forecasts of temperatures colder than the day Barack Obama was first sworn in, is expected by Trump’s crypto supporters to be quickly followed by a shower of executive orders and appointment they bet will put the industry on a firmer footing with the US government.
Read more: Bitcoin Snaps Downtrend, Reaches $105K as Anticipation Builds for Trump’s Inauguration
