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Ep 35: Rep. Shri Thanedar
212 Plays2 months ago
Congressman Shri Thanadar (D-MI-13) discusses his early adoption of cryptocurrency and emphasizes the transformative potential of blockchain technology. He highlights the importance of financial inclusion, arguing that digital assets can democratize access to financial services.
Transcript
00:00:06
Speaker
Hello and welcome to this OWL Explains Hootenanny, our podcast series where you can wise up on blockchain and web3 as we talk to the people seeking to build a better internet. OWL Explains is powered by Avalabs, a blockchain software company and participant in the avalanche ecosystem. My name is Silvia Sanchez, project manager of OWL Explains and with that I'll hand it over to today's amazing speakers.
00:00:34
Speaker
Welcome to everyone this ah this morning, this afternoon, this evening, as we have another wonderful episode of Owl Explains. My name is Norma Cram. I'm the Vice President and Chair of the Cybersecurity, Privacy, and Digital Innovation Practice at Man Square Associates. and I am thrilled to welcome you to our Al Explains podcast by Ava Labs with Congressman Thanadar. So, Congressman, we're gonna have an exciting time today as we talk about the wide world of digital assets and cryptocurrency and blockchain, how we can make sure that we keep the innovation in the United States and continue to make and keep the United States as a technology leader. So first, welcome to you, and you know any thoughts you'd like to share with us before we jump in?
00:01:21
Speaker
ah No, thank you for having me. My name is Sri Thanedar. I represent Detroit and Michigan's 13th congressional district in the US Congress. Thank you for that. And actually, just you know for a little color about the congressman, because this is really important. He has an amazing and a wonderful background. He was elected to do Congress in 2022. As he mentioned, he's from Detroit, Michigan. And he was a well-known and very successful entrepreneur prior to coming to Congress. One of the many things that is amazing about Congressman Thanedar, all that you have done is both your diverse background and committees and issues that you care about as well. Congressman is on the House Homeland Security Committee, the Small Business Committee, but he's also a very important leader on the Financial Literacy and Well Creation Caucus. And as we talk about some of these issues, the goal is to make sure that more Americans understand and have that financial literacy as a background.
00:02:17
Speaker
um I would also like to add as a fun fact, not only is he a member of the New Democratic Coalition, he is the co-chair of the Congressional Rock and Roll Caucus. So, Congressman, maybe we can add in some rock and roll related thoughts on blockchain and digital assets as we go through this. Well, look, I represent Detroit, and Detroit is the music capital, and we have some incredible music here in Detroit. it It is a wonderful community and your leadership in Congress on these issues and across the board have been very, very important. you know as is We're gonna jump in right now on on some of these key issues. And as we we focus today, we really do wanna talk about how the United States is managing and addressing what I'm gonna call that digital revolution through Web 3.0, as well as the use of blockchain and the growth and use of digital assets across the board.
00:03:15
Speaker
Now, we still do, I guess, in a good way, have a long way to go to ah be explaining to policy and decision makers the differences between blockchain and cryptocurrency. Right. These are not the same. Blockchain is that tech platform. But we do want to make sure that more people understand the value to blockchain and digital assets and certainly tech issues. And as Congress continues to move forward on some of these policy and regulatory frameworks, what we've seen is that a lot of members are still learning that baseline about these issues and the tech. But Congressman, you are clearly light years ahead of many since you've actually been buying and selling crypto for some time. So tell us a little bit about your journey, your interest in digital assets and just your experience in buying and selling crypto.
00:04:03
Speaker
Well, you know, I learned about um the crypto industry back in 2017. And I made my first investment in Bitcoin and Ethereum back in 2017. And I have been invested in cryptocurrency ever since. And I currently hold a significant investments in cryptocurrency. That's amazing. So we are now obviously in 2024, you were a ah ah leader ahead of the curve in 2017 when most people really didn't understand any of these issues. So based on, actually it's a very long history and ah for for for normal people's lives in this, in buying and trading cryptocurrencies. So what do you think are maybe the top two issues every investor should know as they think about buying crypto?
00:05:02
Speaker
and And just in general, tell us how you think we can get more people to learn and understand, you know, just how digital assets work. You know, what excites me about this technology is ah how ah its global impact. and how ah people, all walks of life, people, low income, ah middle class, ah you know, this is not just ah investing in crypto, it's not just a privilege of those that are wealthy and access to large sums of money. ah You know, I live in Detroit and a large portion of my constituents ah live at or below poverty.
00:05:48
Speaker
Many don't have a checking account or a savings account in a bank. ah Through cryptocurrency, ah people could own their own, they can open an account, own a cryptocurrency, they could use the cryptocurrency to make transactions, local, ah national or international transactions. They can make these transactions without going through a financial institution which could charge them as much as 25 to 30 percent additional fees. This is a technology that ah will revolutionize, you know, it is a transformational technology, but it does come with some concerns. There are safety issues. We saw the collapse of FTX.
00:06:42
Speaker
And there was a lot of concern among general population. There was a lot of concern among members of Congress. if There still is. ah There is a lot of uncertainty is uncertainty. There is a lot of lack of knowledge. So ah we all ah need to learn more about this emerging technology And, you know, the United States have been always been on the forefront of innovation. And this new technology, ah we cannot be behind because some of the innovators in this blockchain technology and cryptocurrency ah currently are in the US based. But some of them, if they see that the environment, the government environment, the regulatory environment,
00:07:38
Speaker
is non-productive for them, ah these innovators could certainly move out of the United States and set up their shop, but ah their lab ah elsewhere in the world. And the United States could lose this edge in this technology. So while we need to be cautious, we need to educate, we need to learn, Congress needs to learn about this technology, and ensure that we have the safeguards that are needed, but we need to continue to focus on innovation, not stifle the innovation by making meaningful ah regulations on this.
00:08:21
Speaker
will ah protect the consumer at the same time it will allow innovation to happen ah to this new exciting ah way of doing business which will ah help a common man, common person ah but get involved and take advantage of this technology. Well, that is just such a wonderful approach and and thoughtful way to deal with these issues. And and you touched on so many pieces that that we do want to talk about in the next few minutes. So I'm going to actually pick up on your point about innovation and maintaining U.S. leadership across the board on innovation and technology.
00:09:04
Speaker
which which brings me to the just a brief discussion about how the US and certainly the Congress has been trying to do that. When the Congress and the House passed Fit 21, that was certainly the the first effort to try and bring some guardrails, if you will, to the structures and different issues in and and try and understand where that regulatory certainty you know would be or could be or even should be when it comes to the Securities and Exchange Commission or even the ah Commodities Future Trading Commission or the CFTC.
00:09:39
Speaker
One of the things we did see as that as that bill was going through in the debate is that that there seemed to be this this bit of a divide ah on on how to look at regulation and the technology. And as I always like to say, there is no red technology, there is no blue technology, right? This is just technological innovation. So how do we help address some of those issues potentially in Congress where they seem to fall on one side of the eye aisle on the political spectrum to just, you know, do to the things that you've mentioned, right? Educate, learn, protect. So tell us just a few of your thoughts around maybe Fit 21 and some of those issues. I've i've given you a lot.
00:10:22
Speaker
Yeah well now I was proud ah to support FIT21 and look SEC is trying to regulate based on very old laws some of these laws were established in in 1930s. And it does not take into account the um the blockchain technology, the the the cryptocurrency, the new innovation, new technologies. And ah you know this is ah you know stifling innovation. Now, there are 55 million coin-based investors in the United States.
00:11:08
Speaker
And what they are looking for is ah ah a good ah decision making on the part of the administration, good regulations, lawmaking on the part of Congress. This should not be a Democratic or Republican issue. ah This is a financial issue. This is about financial literacy. This is about giving financial power to ordinary people so that they can do the transactions seamlessly within seconds as opposed to days. You know sometimes you go through financial institutions and you got three days before ah your transaction is cleared. We
00:11:55
Speaker
ah ah ah through use of this technology ah will allow ah people to instantly transact and that will help a great deal ah for commerce, interstate commerce, commerce between countries. ah This will allow ah people to ah minimize the fees and the middleman and be able to do financial transactions. An interesting thing is that this technology, for example, someone sitting in Russia who wants to help Ukraine without Russian government interfering with that, will be able to send use this technology to send money to Ukraine ah to fight the Russians.
00:12:42
Speaker
ah This technology, the blockchain technology is not just cryptocurrency, it can be used for food safety, it could be used for supply chain, it could be used for medical privacy of medical records. So this technology is revolutionary. And the fear that is there in Congress, especially among ah Democratic members of Congress about this technology, especially after the collapse of FTX, is unfounded. And what needs to happen is that ah there needs to be more hearings. There needs to be more education, more seminars. The members of Congress from both sides of the aisle
00:13:26
Speaker
ah need to understand this technology and set meaningful guardrails so that people can make use of this technology. The United States continues to dominate on the innovation front, on the discovery front and we transform the current um system ah to a digital financial system that is international in nature and and more importantly gives the same access to a low-income person that currently only a privilege of the wealthy and the powerful.
00:14:07
Speaker
that is such a hundred percent spot on, I think, from industry's point of view. And in particular, there are many in industry who who are very focused on on wanting to educate Congress, wanting to talk about these issues, but to also say it's okay to talk about these concerns. right? Because then we can find ways to fix them, to to manage the concerns overall, because technology is not one ubiquitous block, right? We can build the technology to include the regulatory requirements and the protections as well. But just to expand on one of your points, it it has it has definitely shown that more particularly in the case of Democrats, that they're concerned about these issues.
00:14:54
Speaker
And we need to have an open forum to talk about them because if we don't talk about them, we can't fix them. And so I don't know what your thoughts are as we just continue to do that. Is that just more hearings? or And how can we change maybe the hearts and minds of more members that technology as with everything, they're pros and cons. We just need to figure out how to deal with them. Yeah, I know agree. and And a lot of times so this is ah such technologies, whether investing in Coinbase, investing in ah startups, a lot of it is now only a privilege of the few, the wealthy.
00:15:30
Speaker
And we need to to open these financial opportunities, investment opportunities to all people. you know And that is what needs to happen. And Congress needs to think about this more in terms of, ah it's almost like the internet. We need to make this more accessible. the crypto technology, blockchain technology, this has to become more of a common place that ordinary citizens, ah people of all walks of life, all economic levels, ah start using this technology.
00:16:08
Speaker
And we need to create um ah some level of education, ah some level of ah ah regulations to make sure that ah safety of the consumer is top of line. at the same time, we need to help innovators. We need to attract the innovators to the United States. And we if we go need to do that through ah you know and immigration reform. For example, there are and not US citizens who have access and knowledge of this technology. There are a lot of innovators that ah ah engineers and scientists that are foreign-based who
00:16:59
Speaker
ah we need to retain ah in the United States, change our ah immigration laws such that we attract best and the brightest from all across the world to the United States so that they can help ah keep our age in technology and our age in innovation. This is really an exciting time and this is an exciting technology. And we, United States, cannot be held back. And that some ah sometimes I see the fear, especially the fear among my Democratic members of Congress, you know, members of Congress who are ah in the Progressive Caucus, for example. ah they They look at this and they look at this as something to demonize ah about. And I think ah
00:17:55
Speaker
ah minds need to change and those minds can only change if we educate not only the general public, but we educate members of Congress about the potential of this technology and what it can do to change ordinary people's lives. that That is just so wonderfully said. And and I know, certainly, and I'll explain, this is exactly why we have these podcasts. This is exactly why Ava Labs continues to help do exactly that, to help educate. ah you know I know we've had a terrific conversation. I want to touch just on one more question for you, um because it really brings all of these issues together. And that is, again, the work around financial literacy and education. and There is a caucus in Congress that focuses on that.
00:18:46
Speaker
And it's both about helping Americans have broader educational opportunities to understand these issues. Because to your point earlier, once people understand the really the almost democratization of technology, more people will be able to access it in the way that you've talked about it, and then maybe not be as afraid of it. So if there were there were one or two things you would like to see maybe the ah Financial Literacy Caucus work on for the next maybe six months or a year with you know public and private sector partners, what would that be? How can we help?
00:19:20
Speaker
I think we just have to have more open discussions. We need to ah have seminars. We need to have hearings in Congress. Members of Congress should be able to ask the questions that are in their mind. And the questions that they have heard from their constituents, those questions need to be addressed. And you know we need to in ensure that SEC or organizations like that do not use archaic laws ah to stifle this technology. The Biden administration needs to look at this in an open mind and so is members of Congress and this needs to become a bipartisan issue
00:20:06
Speaker
to give these financial access to people, embrace this new technology. Definitely we need to have some guardrails to protect. We cannot have ah issues like the FTX collapse happen again. ah So with those guardrails, we should really welcome this technology and this will be transformational for ordinary people. My excitement about this technology is because this will change the life of ordinary people, not just the wealthy people, not just the powerful, but this will help
00:20:46
Speaker
people who have not have access to the financial markets, who have not accessed previously for ah seamless financial transactions. This is what this technology could do for all of us. We we are so appreciative of your time today and and for your very thoughtful approach to these issues. It is one particular example where we do need to spend more time talking about how these technologies can help people across all demographics around the world. And particularly to your point, but as you've already said, for those who are dealing i you know with poverty issues, who don't have access to bank accounts,
00:21:30
Speaker
that this gives them ah a much greater ability to do more and actually to ultimately participate more just in our economy. And that is incredibly important and help raises people out of poverty and gives them new opportunities. So many thanks to you again for your leadership in Congress and for your time to spend with us today. I know that we look forward to hearing more about your ideas and partnering with you. And we would just like to say thank you so much for all that you do.
00:22:01
Speaker
and we look forward to working with you in the future.
00:22:07
Speaker
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