On Dec. 8, top executives from six major crypto companies faced the United States House of Representatives’ Financial Services Committee during a special hearing on digital assets. While the tone of the conversation was largely proclaimatory, the industry reacted with an optimistic buzz — it seems that crypto is bound to become a hot topic on the Hill for years to come.

The meeting that took place in Congress also garnered much attention from mainstream media. What’s notable is the fact that this hearing is the first time that the industry’s senior leaders (aka “crypto moguls”) directly expressed the fears and hopes of the $2.2-trillion sector to U.S. legislators.

The industry representatives who were summoned to testify at the hearing included Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Circle; Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of FTX; Chad Cascarilla, CEO of Paxos; Denelle Dixon, CEO of the Stellar Development Foundation; Brian Brooks, CEO of Bitfury; and Alesia Haas, chief financial officer of Coinbase.

this is the first positive public hearing on crypto that I can remember

congress seems to have done their homework, industry seems prepared and synchronized

still not sure what stellar is doing there

very bullish – could be the start of a trend

— Vance Spencer (@pythianism) December 8, 2021

Some of the key legislators who actively engaged with the crypto industry captains were Representative Pete Sessions, a Republican from Texas; Rep. Maxine Waters, a Democrat from California; Rep. Gregory Meeks, a Democrat from New York; Rep. Brad Sherman, a Democrat from California; Rep. Patrick McHenry, a…