Keisha Lance Bottoms, rapper Bow Wow appear at crypto rally ahead of presidential debate

Faryar Shirzad, chief policy officer of the publicly traded cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, attended the event as a supporter.

“[This event is] fundamentally about bringing out the crypto voter or 50 million Americans who own crypto,” Shirzad said, “as they’ve been largely overlooked by politicians who just don’t realize how big a community of Americans have decided to adopt crypto technology in their lives.”

Organizers provided participants with free food and drinks. There were also guest performances from Atlanta hip-hop acts Bow Wow and Dem Franchize Boyz.

Bow Wow’s performance included a live rendition of songs like the rap slow jam “Let Me Hold You,” while Dem Franchize Boyz entertained with their hit dance track “Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It.”

Bow Wow, who calls himself a longtime user of cryptocurrency, explained that the issue of crypto and its future is one that hits close to home.

Revealing that he was first introduced to cryptocurrency by Dem Franchize Boyz member Jamal “Pimpin’” Willingham years ago, Bow Wow said he has since grown to appreciate the industry and connections it facilitates between communities.

“For me, [cryptocurrency] is important because it bridges the gap between hip-hop and people in the tech world,” Bow Wow said. “So my main message is we’ve got to keep it alive. We’ve gotta keep it going.”

In addition to the musical performances, speakers of the event included Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Anthony Mathis of the Atlanta Blockchain Center, Ronald Falls of Fireblocks and Shawn Wilkinson of Storj.

Bottoms, who recently joined the Biden campaign, and recently joined Coinbase’s global advisory council, claimed crypto has economic and societal benefits. She also suggested that skepticism and negative crypto industry news are results of little legislation regarding crypto, and are not reflective of the overall field.

“What’s really interesting about this industry is that this is an industry that’s asking for regulation. We want more regulation, because we want to make sure that when we’re dealing with these financial products, we’re doing so in a fair way,” Bottoms said.

“We’re doing it in a way that’s equitable and accessible for communities, and we want to make sure that the bad actors don’t have a seat at the table because it gives the industry as a whole a bad name.”

Credit: Courtesy of Stand With Crypto

Credit: Courtesy of Stand With Crypto

Bottoms told the audience her first interaction with cryptocurrency was the Lockbit ransomware cyberattack on Fulton County earlier this year. The former mayor said she’s since made efforts to better understand the industry.

“In getting more information, [cryptocurrency] really aligned with a lot of the things that we focus on in the city of Atlanta – creating opportunity for access [and] initiatives regarding the underbanked, and unbanked, in communities of color,” Bottoms said.

Other cryptocurrency advocates present at the event indicated that industry rallies helped them feel represented as voters and taken seriously as an industry.

“Crypto is meant to make you free, financially,” said Travis Sherman. “Not just as far as getting rich, but sending money wherever you want, whenever you want, 24-7, as well as having technology shift from authorities and big tech [companies] to now ourselves as well.”