Bankless
Bankless

Capitol Hill War Stories from a DC Lobbyist Who’s Seen It All (SBF, Gensler, Elizabeth Warren)

June 4, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

The Real Game Inside the Crypto-DC Machine

Ron Hammond has been in Washington for ten years, and he got into crypto policy by accident. At 24, working for freshman Congressman Warren Davidson, his boss was told by leadership to "just do crypto or something." Davidson turned to Hammond and asked if he knew anything about crypto. Hammond's answer: "I may have bought an Avicii T-shirt on the Silk Road in college, but that's pretty much all I know." He became the crypto guy. That was 2017, when the entire crypto lobbying presence in DC was maybe three to five people. Now it's roughly 200, and the industry has beaten incumbent banks, casinos, and other entrenched interests in successive policy fights.

How the Game Actually Works

Hammond describes DC as "a gossip high school town" where the same social skills that let you navigate a cafeteria let you navigate Capitol Hill. The crypto industry's advantage has been that it doesn't play by the old rules. Bank lobbyists show up in suits with the congressman's chief of staff, rehashing the same credit card arguments they've made for 50 years. Crypto lobbyists show up with a different pitch: this is brand new territory, there's a lane for you to make a name for yourself, and the staffers who handle it are 25-year-olds who are more tech-savvy than the 80-year-old senators they work for.

Continue reading the full summary in the app — free to try.

Read Full Summary →

Free • No credit card required

Listen to Audio Summary Open in App

What you'll learn

  • 1 (00:54) **Ron Hammond’s Origin Story** - How a 24-year-old staffer became "Captain Crypto" after his boss was told to "just do crypto"
  • 2 (04:18) **The Evolution of Crypto in DC** - From nobody caring to a serious political force
  • 3 (06:39) **The SBF Era: Money, Altruism, and Red Flags** - How FTX bought influence and nearly derailed the industry
  • 4 (13:12) **The FTX Aftermath: Cleanup and Stigma** - How the industry dealt with the fallout
  • 5 (16:02) **The Elizabeth Warren Proxy War** - How anti-crypto attacks are manufactured through third parties
  • 6 (20:34) **The Marc Cohodes / SVB Example** - A case study in how the game works
  • 7 (24:52) **The Crypto Lobby's Power and Unity** - How a small industry punches above its weight

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Ron Hammond

Show Notes

Crypto policy in Washington has gone from punchline to power center. David sits down with Ron Hammond, Head of Policy and Advocacy at Wintermute, for a rare inside look at how crypto actually moves through DC: the SBF era, Elizabeth Warren’s anti-crypto army, Gary Gensler’s SEC, bank lobby pressure, Trump’s crypto conflicts, the Clarity Act fight, and why privacy and self-custody may be the next major battleground.

---

📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24
https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium

---
BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:

🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET
https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast

🧭OKX | TRADE, EARN, PAY to OKX | 120M+ USERS WORLDWIDE
https://app.okx.com/join/USBANKLESS

🦊 METAMASK | DOWNLOAD NOW
https://go.metamask.io/BL-Pod-Download

🌐BRIX | EMERGING MARKET YIELD
https://bankless.cc/brix

🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS
https://thedefireport.io/bankless

---
TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Becoming “Captain Crypto” in DC
4:03 From Joke to Serious Political Force
6:19 Why Crypto Punches Above Its Weight
10:28 How SBF Captured Washington
13:26 The FTX Fallout in Capitol Hill
16:25 Elizabeth Warren and Crypto’s Proxy Wars
19:04 How DC Letters Actually Get Written
25:33 How Powerful Is the Crypto Lobby?
27:28 Who Is Playing on Crypto’s Side?
31:01 Democrats, Gensler, and the 2024 Lesson
35:07 The Gensler Era and Prometheum
41:21 Will Warren Ever Pivot?
43:20 Trump, the Crypto Ball, and World Liberty
49:30 Will the Clarity Act Pass?
53:30 Privacy, Self-Custody, and the Next Front
56:23 The Social Side of Crypto in DC

---
RESOURCES

Ron Hammond
https://x.com/RonwHammond

---
Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Bankless

More from this podcast

Bankless →