Stand With Crypto Speaks Up at the North American Blockchain Summit

The team at Texas Blockchain Council have had a great time hosting y’all at the North American Blockchain Summit (NABS), the Digital Asset Conference. It was another important milestone in the growth and maturity of our sector. There are many unsung heroes that it is important to mention after the event. Some of those heroes are the people behind Stand With Crypto who spoke to delegates and shared their valuable insights about the grassroots of the cryptocurrency ecosystem. 

Stand With Crypto was a Summit Sponsor at this year’s NABS. Next to Riot Platforms, Luxor, and Cardano, Stand With Crypto is one of the biggest supporters of how NABS is developing. More importantly, how it is giving back to you, our members. 

Many of our members and followers will already be aware of what Stand With Crypto stands for. For those who don’t, it is America’s leading crypto advocacy organization. A grassroots hub empowering crypto users, builders, and supporters to make their voices heard. One of the priorities for Stand With Crypto is to encourage users to engage with Senators and representatives of Congress with topics like stablecoin adoption. It’s not just in the U.S. that this pressure is being applied, in the United Kingdom the same campaign is underway.

Let’s Talk Stand With Crypto - Insights from Stand With Crypto Leaders

During the Summit delegates got behind-the-scenes insights from Stand With Crypto with the support of moderator Wade Preston, State Chapter Program – Outreach & Growth at Stand With Crypto.

His panellists included: 

Ant. Mathis, President Georgia, Stand With Crypto

Carrie ‘Ms. NFTy’ Lin, President California, Stand With Crypto & Founder, Learnville

Ian McCullough (Cullah), President Wisconsin, Stand With Crypto

Thomas Fite, President New Mexico, Stand With Crypto

Elizabeth Hansson, President Michigan, Stand With Crypto

Wade explained how he enjoys working with the North American Blockchain Association. During the Summit the North American Blockchain Association and Blockchain Association announced a partnership to bridge federal-state stablecoin policy coordination. The partnership will focus on ensuring that state policymakers understand the GENIUS Act (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act) and can effectively develop supporting state-level regulations. He also enjoys the grassroots advocacy that is part of his role at Stand With Crypto. 

Wade was keen to introduce the chapter leaders of five individual U.S. states. We summarized some of the most important things that they shared.

Elizabeth Hansson

Elizabeth, representing Michigan, has a background in software engineering. She is working hard in her role leading the Michigan chapter, to close the gap between the community and legislators by making sure that people’s voices are heard on Capitol Hill. 

Using stories about how crypto has had a positive impact on people’s lives is one of the best ways to gain attention, Elizabeth shared. She added how the crypto industry today isn’t just crypto bros and rich people, like some legislators may think. It is as diverse as America; and it cannot be dismissed anymore. 

Elizabeth works with over 50,000 people, or advocates, in Michigan. She described her role as like a field general for all the advocates. In ten days, advocates she works with sent out 300,000 emails about the recent stablecoin policy that Stand With Crypto is trying to highlight. She emphasized how powerful a force this can be.

Thomas Fite

Thomas, representing New Mexico, has been involved with crypto since 2017. He had previously helped establish the New Mexico Blockchain and AI Council before joining forces with the team at Stand With Crypto. 

New Mexico was one of the first municipalities to create a City Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, Thomas shared. He sees the biggest challenge for crypto adoption as being education. People should be exposed to the technology behind crypto and discuss the problems that it can solve. 

Thomas is also keen to ensure that the ecosystem starts to grow in New Mexico. He is impressed with the work done at local university level to expose students to blockchain, but once they start to get interested there needs to be more jobs for them to apply for.

Cullah

Cullah, representing Wisconsin, has a music background. He got into crypto as he saw a chance to help the music industry through bringing power back to local communities. Then he realised he could do even more by joining Stand With Crypto. 

When people meet for a common purpose, like raising awareness about crypto, it can be very powerful. It’s important that these events keep happening, be they in Wisconsin or at the North American Blockchain Summit. These human interactions are key if crypto is going to grow in popularity.

Carrie Lyn

Carrie, representing California, has been involved with crypto since 2016. Her first experience with crypto was when Ethereum started to become visible as a technology, which made her want to learn more. Her motivation for working with Stand With Crypto comes from her desire to bring access and awareness to inner city communities. 

Working primarily on Discord and X as well as other social media platforms, Carrie isn’t just a virtual leader. She encourages advocates in California to meet in person at gyms or for activities like scavenger hunts together. Being together as a community, not just online. 

Carrie talked about how blockchain can help with certifying your training course or your employment record. How it can ensure that you are a more trustworthy person online because blockchain can’t be faked. She shared how Stand With Crypto had done an amazing job at humanizing crypto. Adding how this is helping policymakers understand that crypto isn’t just because people want to own it, but because people are being directly impacted by whether there is clear regulation. 

Social media is a game changer, Carrie added. She encourages people to engage on social media and to understand that they have a voice that needs to be heard. 

Ant. Mathis

Anthony Mathis or Ant, representing Georgia, works with the Atlanta Blockchain Center alongside his role at Stand With Crypto. Ant has been involved with crypto since 2014, and today he runs weekly events in Atlanta with builders, creators and developers. He is also a big fan of hip hop.

“DYOR,” or “do your own research,” was a message that Ant was keen to remind anybody interested in crypto today. He does a lot of outreach in his role, even using a purple cybertruck to amplify the message. As part of the outreach, he speaks to young people about crypto and goes to meet them locally. It’s not just about coming to the center of Atlanta every Thursday, it’s about being visible, available and somewhere local to the people, on a day that suits them. 

Ant is proud that he engages with policymakers in his role. He sees the reaction when he can tell a Senator that blockchain can create job opportunities. Crypto isn’t just a solution, it can be a problem solver too. 

Texas Blockchain Council Stands With Crypto

Here at the TBC, much like the leaders of Stand With Crypto, we believe in changing the attitude towards crypto. We believe that all of America should benefit from the opportunities that blockchain represents, not just institutional investors. 

Just like the young entrepreneurs we heard from at NABS, it’s the human touch and the people that make the difference. 

We hope to see you at next year’s Summit! In the meantime, if you get a chance, get in touch with your local chapter of Stand With Crypto and make sure your voice is heard.