Building a statewide technology advocacy movement

The challenge

Wisconsin’s caution here isn’t really partisan — it’s practical. Legislators face a flood of issues, and they hesitate to write rules for something they don’t yet understand. If AI is candy, blockchain is vitamins: less flashy, easy to put off — but foundational. The state’s financial industry already knows it needs clarity around digital-asset law and regulation; the gap is legislative understanding, not industry will.

As Wisconsin’s blockchain and crypto ecosystem operators, the job across these organizations is to close that gap — to move the needle toward fair, clear regulation for an industry that will soon sit under the hood of nearly everything online (web3).

The movement

This work spans two distinct organizations, and two different hats. As President of the Wisconsin Blockchain Business Council (WBBC), I lead the brand, the messaging, the Wisconsin Digital Policy Forum, public education, membership, and legislative advocacy. Separately — through my studio Awen, under contract — I ran operations for the Wisconsin chapter of Stand With Crypto (SWC): its Get Out The Vote concert series, debate watch parties, and meetups. We also took part in the Stand With Crypto fly-in to D.C. that helped pass the GENIUS Act. WBBC and SWC are separate organizations; together the work carried Wisconsin’s blockchain community from grassroots energy (B2C) into a credible, policy-focused presence (B2B) — among the most visible in the state.

• WBBC (as President) — brand & creative direction, the Wisconsin Digital Policy Forum and the Digital Asset Policy Forum (Wausau), public education, membership, and making a misunderstood industry feel credible to legislators and the public.
• Stand With Crypto WI (operations via Awen, contract) — a Get Out The Vote concert series, debate watch parties, and meetups that filled rooms; plus taking part in the Stand With Crypto fly-in to D.C. that helped pass the GENIUS Act.
• Advocacy — testimony before the Wisconsin Assembly on digital-asset legislation (including staking), and collaboration with policymakers, industry leaders, and national organizations.

How something looks — and how clearly it speaks — tells people how seriously to take it. For a young industry, that’s not vanity; it’s strategy.