Ex-Atlanta Mayor Bottoms will remain with Coinbase after joining Biden campaign

Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms will not step down from her role on the global advisory council of Coinbase despite joining President Biden’s reelection campaign as a senior adviser, the cryptocurrency giant told The Hill.

Coinbase is the largest U.S. crypto exchange and one of the industry’s leading advocates in Washington. The company spent nearly $2.9 million last year to lobby the federal government on issues including digital asset regulation and the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, a sweeping crypto bill passed last month by the House over the objection of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler.

In a statement to The Hill, Bottoms said she is “working to address the systemic issues that impact communities of color who are disproportionately unbanked and underbanked in America.”

“Crypto and the blockchain economy are evolving the financial system — empowering Black-owned businesses in Atlanta and unlocking opportunity,” Bottoms said. “More than ever, crypto is a nonpolitical and unifying issue that has received bipartisan support and gaining the attention of voters across the country.”

Bottoms and Coinbase declined to say on the record whether the former mayor would be paid by the company. The Biden campaign also did not answer questions about whether it would pay Bottoms.

The company established the global advisory council last May “to help navigate the complex and evolving landscape of the crypto industry, and strengthen relationships with strategic stakeholders around the world.” Lance Bottoms left her role as senior adviser for public engagement at the White House in March 2023 a couple of months before the board was established.

Bottoms joined a star-studded council of political insiders in April that includes former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, former Sen. Patrick Toomey (R-Pa.) and former Reps. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.) and Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.).

The former mayor headlined a Stand With Crypto event Wednesday in Atlanta, the day the news broke that she would advise for the Biden campaign. Coinbase helped launch Stand With Crypto, a 501(c)4 nonprofit that describes itself as grassroots “champions for clear, common-sense regulations for the crypto industry,” last August.

“This nonpartisan issue is receiving the attention and support of elected officials across the country, with cities and small businesses improving and expanding services through the use of crypto and blockchain technology,” Bottoms said at the Wednesday event.

From a legal perspective, the arrangement does not present a conflict of interest, Danielle Caputo, legal counsel on the ethics team at the nonpartisan nonprofit Campaign Legal Center, told The Hill.

“Generally there really aren’t many rules that apply to advisors of campaigns,” Caputo said, noting her organization does not have an opinion on the ethics of the situation.

But good governance advocates and lawmakers have long decried the “revolving door” between public service and the private sector, which they say can give companies and organizations an edge when it comes to tweaking legislation, securing government contractors or swaying policymakers in their favor.

An inaugural member of the global advisory council, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) stepped down from his position earlier this year amid concern from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) about a potential conflict of interest after he was nominated by Biden as U.S. representative to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Warren, who Stand With Crypto rates as “strongly against” crypto, said she secured “unprecedented ethics commitments” from the former congressman including his immediate resignation from private sector advising upon confirmation, recusal from OECD decisionmaking on crypto and digital assets policy and a four-year ban on working for a crypto or digital assets company after his tenure as OECD ambassador.

A Coinbase spokesperson pointed out that Maloney stepped down for an official government job, not a role on a campaign.

“The number of crypto advocates double the number of votes Biden won by in Arizona and triple the number of votes he won in Georgia. Last night’s rally and today’s 1,400+ planned watch parties around the country show that the crypto voter is real and ready to make an impact this November,” said Sabrina Siddiqui, spokeswoman for Stand With Crypto.

Coinbase and the broader crypto industry have been highly involved in conversations around digital asset regulation in Washington, and they have positioned themselves as key players in the upcoming presidential election on which Bottoms would be advising.

The leading pro-crypto super PAC this cycle, Fairshake, raised $177.9 million from Jan. 1, 2023, through May 31, 2024, including $76.5 million from Coinbase and $1 million from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) data.

Fairshake has poured $70.9 million into federal House and Senate races so far this election cycle, and its $10 million effort opposing Rep. Katie Porter’s (D-Calif.) Senate bid in California has been cited as a factor in her loss in the Democratic primary. 

A CNBC analysis found the super PAC’s preferred candidate has won in 33 out of the 35 primary races it has entered, including Westchester County Executive George Latimer who ousted Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) in New York’s 16th Congressional District Democratic primary this week.

Bottoms joined Biden’s campaign while it is focused on gaining ground in swing states and with Black voters, two areas that have been a struggle this cycle against former President Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Georgia is a key battleground state and Lance Bottoms, who was a key surrogate for Biden in 2020 and was largely considered a top contender for a running mate before he named Vice President Harris, brings a boost of star power to his team.

She also discussed Black involvement in crypto against the backdrop of the upcoming election at the Wednesday Stand With Crypto event.

“Atlanta has a thriving Black-owned blockchain community. Crypto offers an opportunity for communities that are often unbanked and under banked to strengthen their financial freedom,” Lance Bottoms said at the Stand With Crypto event. 

Stand With Crypto also says 19 percent of Georgians own crypto and that the number of crypto advocates in the state is three times the vote difference between Trump and Biden in 2020.

The event also featured musical performances by Dem Franchize Boyz and Bow Wow, who said “Atlanta voters understand the power of community and that’s why they’re standing with crypto — now and on Election Day.”

Atlanta will host the first presidential debate of this cycle between Biden and Trump on Thursday.

Trump has been positioning himself as the pro-crypto presidential candidate, pitching himself as the “crypto president” at a fundraiser in San Francisco earlier this month hosted by tech venture capitalists David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya, according to Reuters.

He also took to his social media platform Truth Social last month to tout his support for crypto and bash the Biden administration’s approach to the industry.

“I AM VERY POSITIVE AND OPEN MINDED TO CRYPTOCURRENCY COMPANIES, AND ALL THINGS RELATED TO THIS NEW AND BURGEONING INDUSTRY. OUR COUNTRY MUST BE THE LEADER IN THE FIELD. THERE IS NO SECOND PLACE,” Trump wrote.

The crypto industry has clashed with the Biden administration, particularly SEC Chair Gary Gensler. Coinbase sued the SEC and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Thursday for Freedom of Information Act requests for information related to digital asset investigations and enforcement actions.

“This is no way to regulate. And this is no way to operate a transparent government. Today we demand better from our financial regulators,” Paul Grewal, chief legal officer at Coinbase, wrote on the social platform X.

Updated at 4:40 p.m. EDT.