With Kamala Harris now the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, the crypto group is looking for to grasp the place the Vice President stands regarding the business.
There’s not a lot to go off. Harris hasn’t spoken in any respect about cryptocurrency, blockchain expertise or non-fungible tokens (NFTs) publicly, and the few oblique messages she’s sending don’t paint a transparent image both.
For one, billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban stated in an interview that Harris’s marketing campaign reached out to him with questions on cryptocurrency.
Though nothing is confirmed, Cuban sees this as a hopeful signal. He believes she may very well be extra open to tech improvements like crypto and synthetic intelligence.
“The feedback I’m getting, but certainly not confirmed by the VP, is that she will be far more open to business, [artificial intelligence], crypto and government as a service,” Cuban advised Politico. “Changing the policies changes the message and lets everyone know she is in charge and open, literally, for business.”
But in addition, David Bailey, CEO, Bitcoin Convention immediately confirmed Harris won’t be attending the Bitcoin Convention in Nashville this week, after hypothesis had mounted on Tuesday that her marketing campaign was in talks with occasion organizers about going.
Bailey tweeted, “I’m sorry, but you don’t get to just screw our industry over for 4 years, push operation choke point, enlist Gensler and Warren as your Champions, and then just pretend you’re hip with Bitcoin. Major democrat donor told me Kamala says privately “Bitcoin is money for criminals”
Harris’s Tech Background
Harris has deep ties to the tech world, which might form her views on cryptocurrency.
Earlier than turning into a senator in 2017, she was California’s Lawyer Normal, the place she centered on regulating the tech business. Throughout this time, she constructed robust connections in Silicon Valley, making pals with influential folks like Laurene Powell Jobs and having household ties to Uber’s Chief Authorized Officer, Tony West.
Former Meta govt Sheryl Sandberg on Monday known as her “the strongest candidate to lead our country forward.”
“Vice President Kamala Harris has already made history once — becoming the first Black and South Asian woman to hold her office, and she will do it again in November,” Sandberg posted on Instagram. “She is an accomplished leader, a fierce advocate of abortion rights, and the strongest candidate to lead our country forward. I’m thrilled to support her.”
Netflix executive chairman Reed Hastings in an X post on Tuesday congratulated Harris and said that “now it is time to win.”
Harris’s rise to vice president in 2020 was seen as a positive move for tech companies and Silicon Valley. However, she has kept mum on the topic of cryptocurrency.
State of Crypto Regulation
While Harris hasn’t made statements on crypto herself, the Biden administration’s stance was loud and clear. Regulatory agencies including the Securities and Exchange Commision (SEC) ramped up enforcement actions, while refusing to provide the industry with clear guidance.
In February 2023,the SEC reached a $30 million settlement with Kraken over its crypto staking program, underscoring the SEC’s commitment to enforcing securities laws on stalking services. The next month in March, the SEC issued a Wells Notice to Coinbase and by June the SEC filed a lawsuit against Binance.
Ethereum also emerged as a point of contention between the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in 2023. The CFTC views Ethereum futures products as commodity assets, whereas the SEC was determined to classify ETH as a security.
In April 2024, Consensys, a U.S.-based blockchain software company, sued the SEC to obtain a court ruling that ETH is a commodity.
Some Democrats supported the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century (FIT 21) bill, which gained bipartisan backing and led many to believe the Biden administration was warming up to cryptocurrencies.
However, this optimism was short-lived. Things took a surprising turn when President Joe Biden ultimately decided to veto legislation aimed at dismantling the SEC’s Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) No.121 rule, despite 11 Democrats joining 48 Republicans in favor of it.
SAB 121 mandated that financial institutions holding crypto assets must record them as liabilities, ensuring they keep a one-to-one reserve of different assets and maintain stringent internal records. This rule makes it challenging and expensive for banks to offer large-scale crypto custody services.
Opportunity to Change
The crypto community is eager to hear more from Harris. The Digital Chamber, a digital asset trade association, has urged her to support crypto-friendly policies if she becomes the Democratic nominee. They argue that cryptocurrency is a non-partisan issue and deserves support from both sides.
“There is a public perception that the party holds a negative viewpoint of digital assets, largely due to the Biden/Harris Administration’s notably cautious and at times hostile approach to these transformative technologies,” the group wrote in a letter to Harris on Monday. “Your expected candidacy for President represents an opportunity to change that perception.”
Meanwhile, others like Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss aren’t convinced that Harris would support Bitcoin and the crypto industry overall.
“Talk is cheap. She would need to start by immediately firing [SEC Chairman] Gary Gensler, withdrawing all SEC enforcement actions against good actors, and ending Operation Chokepoint 2.0,” he said. “She won’t do this so she won’t stand a chance in winning back the crypto voting block. Time for change.”
Meanwhile, Trump’s campaign is already accepting Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for donations, gaining increasing support from industry leaders like Cathie Wood, and Elon Musk.
Recently, at an event in Mar-A-Lago, he responded to concerns about the U.S. suffering a crypto brain drain. “We’re going to embrace them if we want them to stay,” he said.
His comments have fueled optimism among crypto investors. Additionally, Trump’s campaign moves, like naming J.D. Vance — a senator who holds Bitcoin — as his Vice Presidential candidate, further cements his pro-crypto stance.
Trump’s supportive public statements have set a high bar on what the crypto industry can now expect from a presidential candidate. All eyes are on Harris now to see if she can meet those expectations.
