You know the saying: first they ignore us, then they laugh at us, then they fight us, then we win.

This is the story of crypto policy over the last four presidential administrations. In the Obama years, barely anyone in Washington knew what crypto was. By the first Trump term, it was mostly considered a joke. Under Biden, it was seen as a threat to be destroyed. Now, at the start of Trump 2.0, crypto is ascendant. The United States has adopted a whole-of-government approach to upgrade the financial system with public blockchains. Institutions are working to integrate this technology into their businesses. Founders can feel safe building here at home. The floodgates have opened.

I joined Variant in January 2024 with one goal — to help founders develop strategies that would enable them to succeed in the U.S. market. Back then, the path forward meant complex structuring and soaring legal costs to develop products that could withstand scrutiny from hostile regulators. Today, it means syncing design decisions with policy developments in D.C. so that products can benefit from regulatory clarity and grow as big and fast as possible.

To win in this market, founders must understand the changing policy landscape before their competitors do. At Variant, our priority is to help founders make strategic decisions that give them an edge, and policy is the new edge. For that reason, we’re doubling down on our policy work and ramping up our ability to support portfolio companies with actionable insights and resources they won’t get anywhere else.

Meeting this moment requires talent and expertise. To that end, I’m thrilled to welcome Salah Ghazzal as Variant’s Policy Lead. Salah joins us after a brilliant tenure managing legislative efforts at the Blockchain Association, where he played a key role in shaping the GENIUS Act’s rules for stablecoin issuers. If you don’t know Salah yet, you will soon — he has been a quiet but decisive force in the crypto policy world for years. Now he’s primed to help founders compete on policy through sharper intelligence, faster clarity, and better strategy as the next wave of laws and regulations take shape.

This isn’t your typical VC lobbying operation. Our policy work is designed around one goal: help founders win. That means translating the often unintelligible language of Washington, D.C., into clear insights and strategies that can drive strong business outcomes. We’ll look around corners in Congress and the agencies to anticipate where policy is heading. We’ll help to advance legislation and rulemaking that allows crypto to thrive. We’ll collaborate with allies across the industry to move policy in the right direction. And we’ll work closely with founders to design products that turn regulatory clarity into competitive advantage.

For example, Congress created a huge opportunity with the GENIUS Act, which creates a regulatory framework for stablecoin issuers at the state and federal levels. But even reading all 134 pages of GENIUS — a feat I wouldn’t recommend — won’t clarify exactly when, how, or why founders would choose to issue their own stablecoins. We will help founders navigate the stablecoin opportunity by separating signal from noise, getting ahead of the rules, and designing products that maximize what GENIUS makes possible.

Stablecoins are just one area where policy will unlock innovation, but more are coming. The securities markets are poised for a seismic shift as the SEC updates its regulations to bring the financial system onchain. It’s clear that onchain prediction markets are growing rapidly, but not clear how they will be regulated under the CFTC. We believe good AI needs crypto, and AI x crypto founders will need support as AI policy matures.

We’ve entered an unprecedented era where policy will unlock innovation, define products, and drive outcomes for crypto startups. I’m excited for Variant to play its part in this extraordinary moment, and to help founders turn policy into a lasting advantage. If you’re building in crypto and want to understand how policy can provide an edge, we’d love to talk.

Jake Chervinsky is Chief Legal Officer at Variant, where he manages the firm’s legal and policy functions and helps portfolio founders navigate regulatory strategy.

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