By Open Frontier Staff
What connects AI, crypto, and emerging financial technology?
What connects AI, crypto, and emerging financial technology is that AI and crypto both have the potential to fundamentally transform the financial system. Both carry promise and peril.
That is exactly why progressives need to be part of the debate. These technologies are not going to disappear because some policymakers are uncomfortable with them. The question is whether they will be developed and governed in ways that benefit everyone who uses the financial system, or whether the rules will be shaped only by the most powerful interests for their own gain.
Why is it not enough for progressives to simply oppose new technologies?
It’s not enough for progressives to simply oppose new technologies because reflexively saying no is not a strategy for winning elections or shaping policy.
If progressives sit out the debate, they lose the ability to influence the rules. They also risk being seen as anti-innovation at a moment when people want leaders who can solve problems, lower costs, protect workers, and prepare the country for the future.
The better approach is to be pro-innovation with guardrails. Let people experiment. Let useful technologies develop. But make sure laws and regulations protect people from harm.
What happens if Democrats are not involved while the rules are being written?
If Democrats are not involved while the rules are being written, they are likely to be written in ways that are highly favorable to industry while paying too little attention to everyday people.
That could mean weaker consumer protections, more inequality, fewer worker safeguards, and less attention to the real costs these technologies can impose. It is essential that someone in the room is asking who benefits, who is protected, and what happens when things go wrong.
What is the public interest case for AI?
The public interest case for AI is that it may be able to reduce costs, improve services, and take over some of the repetitive or frustrating parts of work.
At its best, AI could help people spend less time on low-value tasks and more time on judgment, creativity, service, and analysis. It could make some goods and services cheaper and more accessible. But that benefit is not automatic.
AI also raises real concerns about job loss, job quality, and economic stability. Policymakers should be honest about that. The uncertainty around labor disruption is precisely why people who care about workers need to be in the room.
How should Open Frontier talk about workers?
Open Frontier should talk about workers by acknowledging the anxiety workers feel and avoid pretending anyone has a perfect answer.
AI is moving quickly, and the labor impacts are hard to predict. Some jobs will change. Some tasks will disappear. Some new opportunities will emerge. The central question is whether workers have power and protection through that transition.
The benefits of AI should not flow only to a few companies or investors. These technologies are being built on society’s collective knowledge, data, labor, and infrastructure. The gains should benefit society too.
How should policymakers approach fintech more broadly?
Policymakers should approach fintech by making sure the systems are safe, reliable, competitive, and fair. For most people, fintech should just work. Normal people should not have to understand every technical layer behind payments, banking apps, crypto wallets, AI tools, or digital identity systems.
That means allowing innovation while keeping people protected. Let people tinker, let new ideas emerge, and make sure the law keeps up.
What is your advice to Democrats on AI, crypto, and innovation?
My advice to Democrats on AI, crypto and innovation is: get your hands dirty.
Policymakers should sit down, use the tools, test the products, and understand how they actually work. It is not enough to talk about blockchain or AI in the abstract. The only way to regulate these technologies well is to understand their real-world use, their risks, and their potential.