Today, we formally announce the launch of HODLpac, a political action committee (PAC) to support crypto-friendly congressional candidates in the United States.
HODLpac is registered with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) but, unlike most PACs, it is community-governed: those who donate will decide who we support.
“The future is here, it’s just not evenly distributed yet”
We are in the early stages of a technological revolution - one that started when the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamato published the Bitcoin white paper on October 31, 2008 and continues today with a Cambrian explosion of innovation based on public, permissionless cryptonetworks.
The vision is grand: to build a future in which the most foundational aspects of society - finance, technology, governance to name a few - are decentralized, along with the power associated with them.
… it’s just not evenly distributed yet.
The mega-trend that has defined the last few decades has been that of humanity coming online, using the internet to do what humans do: connect with one another socially, commercially, and politically.
Cryptonetworks are the next frontier. Digital commons built for the people, by the people.
Like the internet protocol itself, these cryptonetworks are open and permissionless. Anyone - regardless of citizenship, race, religion, location, or affiliation - is able to use them, contribute to them, and benefit from them.
However, also like the internet, they are coming to life not in a vacuum, but in a world with existing power structures, rules, and mental frameworks that create friction between the old and the new.
Indeed, those of us based in the United States who want to build and participate in this vision of a decentralized future are faced with a regulatory environment that prevents us from doing so to our full potential.
This is the problem we founded HODLpac to help solve.
Congress is the people’s branch of government. And, despite its frequent dysfunction, it holds a powerful role in the policymaking process.
Congress has the power to write laws that re-imagine our regulatory structure so that cryptonetworks can grow and thrive. It also has the power to direct the priorities of regulators like the SEC, CFTC, the Federal Reserve, and more.
Grassroots political organization on behalf of the decentralized economy means coming together to force our representatives in Congress to recognize the strength of our community and to use their power on our behalf.
However, the harsh reality of Washington, DC is that money talks. In order to influence Congress, our community needs to write checks to support the right candidates for office.
The time is now to set policy that allows the decentralized economy to thrive and enables Americans to lead this revolution.
We want to support the candidates that support that vision of the future.
HODLpac is not a decentralized autonomous organization (yet) but we are inspired by them.
Thus, we are committed to being a community governed PAC.
HODLpac will hold periodic Community Ballots, during which donors can vote to decide which candidates receive donations. Each dollar donated is converted into HODLvotes that are spent quadratically in support of a candidate.
We are activating our community because we believe that it is in our national interest that the United States embrace the decentralized economy.
Our founding donors are crypto leaders such as Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase; Cameron & Tyler Winklevoss, co-founders of Gemini; Olaf Carlson-Wee, chief investment officer at Polychain Capital; Nathan McCauley, CEO of Anchorage; and Don Wilson, CEO of DRW.
But these famous names are not who will convince Congress that the time is now to act in support of our vision of the future.
Instead, it is the everyday people across the country that are already building, participating in, and benefiting from the decentralized future that will convince our representatives to act.
HODLpac is a venue for those people to come together and make sure that this future has a chance to become evenly distributed.
