In tuxedos and finery, one of the most famously dressed-down industries celebrated Friday night with a “Crypto Ball” in Washington to welcome the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump, which the crowd of digital-assets insiders trusts will lift their sector into U.S. legitimacy.
Big names in crypto, such as Michael Saylor, Brian Armstrong, the Winklevoss brothers and Jesse Powell, and future officials in the incoming administration, most notably Trump’s crypto czar pick, David Sacks mixed in the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium. As they drank cocktails and downed truffle tuna tartare, they took in a performance from rapper Snoop Dogg and — maybe more significant for their Washington prospects — a visit from Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.
The event marks the dramatic upswing in Washington fortunes for the crypto industry. With red “Make Bitcoin Great Again” hats circulated at the event, the attendees count on a close relationship with the new administration and the new session of Congress that could finally cement policy to establish digital assets as a full-fledged part of the regulated U.S. financial sector.
U.S. tech firms — with crypto companies included — have used inauguration contributions as another means of showing financial support for the new administration after Trump had already benefited from a number of big-dollar campaign supporters. Crypto businesses, including Coinbase, Ripple, Kraken and Circle, have made major contributions to Trump’s inaugural committee, helping bring its total to record levels. Some of the same companies are on the Crypto Ball’s sponsor list.
The four-hour affair, which was advertised at various advertised prices of $2,500 and $5,000 for the tickets, was billed by a spokesperson as an “exclusive social event,” and the outside press was barred from joining the crowd of CEOs and founders.
Nestled among the neoclassical buildings that house the Environmental Protection Agency headquarters, the government auditorium is the same historic space that saw the signatures that gave birth to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and also President Bill Clinton’s signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (both of which are roundly criticized by the incoming president). On Sunday, the venue will also house the inauguration-eve party hosted by conservative news purveyor Newsmax.
By Monday, Trump will be sworn in as president. That ceremony, moved indoors because of forecasts of temperatures even more frigid than the day Barack Obama first took the same oath, is expected by Trump’s crypto supporters to be quickly followed by a rain of executive orders and appointments that they’re betting will put the industry on firmer footing with the U.S. government.