Coinbase to host town hall in Montgomery as state begins to study cryptocurrency

This Wednesday, August 14, Coinbase will partner with Prevail Coffee and Stand with Crypto to host their first-ever gathering in Alabama, featuring a reception and town hall with state policymakers and industry leaders in the cryptocurrency marketplace.

The panel of speakers include State Reps. Mike Shaw (R-Hoover) and Phillip Ensler (D-Montgomery) Coinbase’s Senior Manager of U.S. Policy, Ashley Gunn, Founder of Impact Research and member of the Coinbase Global Advisory Council, John Anzalone, as well as co-founder of Prevail Coffee, Wade Preston.

The town hall will be hosted at Prevail Coffee in downtown Montgomery. Coinbase Global Inc., branded as Coinbase, is an American publicly traded company that operates as a cryptocurrency exchange platform. Coinbase is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States in terms of trading volume.

Coinbase seeks to create economic freedom by ensuring people can participate in a fair economy, with the goal of achieving economic freedom for 1 billion people. Stand with Crypto, a partner in the upcoming town hall in Montgomery, is a nonprofit organization with the goal of mobilizing the 52 million crypto owners in America.

During the town hall, attendees will learn how crypto is impacting local businesses and what the future of crypto looks like. The Stand with Crypto Alliance believes U.S. policymakers are not doing enough to ensure proper regulations for cryptocurrency, tracking U.S. politicians’ legislative scores as they relate to cryptocurrency policy.

The Alabama Blockchain Study Commission held its inaugural meeting last month, where industry leaders and regulatory officials urged a cautious, proactive approach to blockchain technology. The commission was established to explore Alabama’s potential role in regulating and utilizing blockchain, which underpins cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

The commission, which includes lawmakers, state agency leaders, and industry stakeholders, will continue to meet and is expected to issue an initial report by February 2024.

Chairman of the commission, State Sen. Greg Albritton (R-Atmore) encouraged the committee members to take a broad view as they begin to explore Alabama’s role in cryptocurrency and organized three subcommittees for the 18 members of the commission. The subcommittees will study how to regulate technology and cryptocurrencies, how to protect the public from fraud within crypto, and the best applications of blockchain technology for the public and private sectors.

You can register online to attend the town hall event where these topics will be covered in more depth.

Among those on the panel include Wade Preston, the co-founder and owner of Prevail Coffee, located in downtown Montgomery. He recently spoke to Cryptonews about the seismic shift that his business is benefitting from crypto-based innovation.

“At Prevail, we love coffee. We are absolutely fanatically committed to quality in our products, but more than anything, we are in the business of creating space for authentic and diverse community to thrive. One of our core values is to always value and strive for transcendent experiences over transactional experiences,” Preston told the outlet.

Grant Burdette is a contributing writer for Yellowhammer News.