According to a disclosure, Ben Labolt owns at least one bitcoin, and will be unable to serve in relation to matters related to past clients.
President Biden’s new communications director, Ben LaBolt, owns $50,000-$100,000 worth of bitcoin according to a regular disclosure filed. In addition, President Joe Biden has restricted the role of LaBolt in matters involving cryptocurrency and technology firms that LaBolt previously represented. The restrictions will apply to firms such as Meta Platforms, Haun Ventures and Shopify. LaBolt will, however, be permitted to advise on the president’s approach to regulating cryptocurrency and social media companies.
The restrictions imposed on LaBolt are consistent with rules followed by other senior White House staff.The latest economic report from the White House which discussed Bitcoin for the most part wrote off the benefits of the technology, while simultaneously reflecting on the various properties that the Administration believes gives the U.S. dollar its value. While the latter was not wholly untrue, the former misrepresented the fundamental value of Bitcoin.
This came shortly after a roadmap was released that detailed the Administration’s plan to investigate an American CBDC and how that may be implemented. The same report also addressed various challenges that the White House sees in the cryptocurrency industry, mainly in reaction to the collapse of FTX in 2022.
Beyond this, regulatory pressures from different agencies under the current Administration have led to major firms within the United States to potentially consider movement overseas, including Coinbase, the largest exchange in America. The U.S. would be much better off if the Biden Administration realized the capacity of the industry to create jobs and economic progress, along with the inherent benefits of Bitcoin adoption at large.
