Jesse Powell has a lot on his plate. He is helping the crypto industry flex its newfound influence in Washington, DC, and Bitcoin advocate who likes to share political views on social media that many in this famously liberal city find abhorrent.
Powell and his fight with the co-op owners—who he is now suing—is a fitting symbol for the crypto industry as a whole right now. Despite their bulging fortunes and newfound political clout, crypto leaders are still struggling for the sort of respectability long enjoyed by bankers and other financial professionals. And even as he pushes to be part of the mainstream, Powell is also a bridge to crypto's past—one of a dwindling number of figures who came up in the industry's wild frontier days.
