Overview:
Executives from Coinbase, Multicoin Capital, and the Wharton Cypher Accelerator testified on June 24, 2025, before the U.S. Senate Banking Subcommittee, urging lawmakers to support innovation rather than stifle it. Their message was clear: crypto isn't a threat — it's a frontier, just like Napster once was.
Washington, D.C.
In a high-stakes Senate Banking Subcommittee hearing on June 24, 2025, leaders from the cryptocurrency world issued a stark warning to lawmakers. They said, “Don’t let history repeat itself.”
They invoked the story of Napster, the revolutionary peer-to-peer music sharing platform that shook the industry in the early 2000s. However, Napster was vilified and shut down before streaming became the global norm. According to crypto executives, the U.S. government risks repeating the same mistake with digital assets by casting young entrepreneurs as villains instead of visionaries.
Napster
“Napster was ahead of its time. It showed us what was possible. But instead of guiding it, we buried it,” said one attendee. “Now the same thing is happening to crypto.”– Napster now is Spotify. Spotify is the most popular subscription-based music download platform in the world. Co-founders of Napster, Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker, were arrested for these copyright-related issues – in 2002 they had to file for bankruptcy.
Testifying at the hearing were:
- Sarah Hammer, Executive Director at The Wharton School and Founder of the Wharton Cypher Accelerator, emphasized the need for balanced regulation. As both an academic and entrepreneur, Hammer highlighted the disconnect between federal regulators and the pace of innovation.
- Greg Xethalis, General Counsel at Multicoin Capital, spoke to the difficulties startups face when navigating legal gray zones. He stressed the importance of regulatory clarity. Xethalis stated that “policy uncertainty is stifling capital, creativity, and the competitiveness of the U.S. market.”
- Ryan VanGrack, Vice President of Legal and Global Head of Litigation at Coinbase, brought a powerful perspective shaped by his past role at the SEC. He warned that aggressive government posturing is already driving talent overseas. “The same engineers who could build the next financial revolution are being told to lawyer up instead of launch,” VanGrack said.
Across their testimony, a consistent theme emerged. The U.S. is at risk of forfeiting leadership in one of the most transformative technologies of our time. Just as it did with digital music sharing two decades ago. Instead of embracing the next wave of tech, the nation is leaning into fear, bureaucracy, and outdated frameworks.
“Crypto is not the Wild West. It’s the new frontier,” one speaker. “But the longer we treat pioneers like outlaws, the more likely they are to build the future somewhere else.”
The hearing made one thing clear: the next few years will define not just the future of digital assets, but whether the United States chooses to lead or lag behind.
