MW What Kamala Harris must do to win back crypto voters
By Chris Matthews
The Biden administration's crypto stance has 'done damage' to Democrats' reputation in tech circles, says a former adviser
The crypto community was briefly surprised and elated by reports that the organizers of Bitcoin2024 were "in talks" with Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign for her to appear at the conference to be held in Nashville, Tenn., this coming weekend.
David Bailey, CEO of BTC Inc., said late Tuesday that his company had been in contact with the campaign about attending the conference, arguing that it would be a "savvy" means of resetting perceptions of the Democratic Party among crypto boosters.
But Wednesday morning, Bailey said that Harris would not be attending the conference, while criticizing the Biden-Harris administration for its track record on crypto.
"No surprise," that Harris won't attend, Bailey wrote in an X post.
"What can she say to us when she's actively imprisoning developers, forcing our industry overseas, attacking [proof of work], it would have been a disaster for her," he wrote. "All eyes on Trump now."
Both former President Donald Trump and Robert Kennedy, Jr., an independent candidate for president, are scheduled to speak at the conference.
The Harris campaign didn't respond to a request for comment.
Crypto advocates have long been critical of the Biden-Harris administration's approach to crypto, including the Securities and Exchange Commission's efforts to force crypto issuers to register with the agency in the same fashion that public company issuers of stock do, a demand the industry says is impossible to meet.
Other complaints include a Biden proposal to institute a 30% tax on cryptocurrency miners' energy usage, allegations that Biden administration regulators encouraged banks to get out of the crypto business, and sanctions imposed on cryptocurrency-mixing protocols that enable users to transfer bitcoin (BTCUSD) and other tokens anonymously.
Nevertheless, some in the industry think there is still time for Harris to turn around the perception that Democrats are broadly anti-crypto.
"It's imperative that the Democratic Party and the Harris campaign more warmly embrace the crypto community," said Moe Vella, former senior advisor to then-Vice President Joe Biden and a regulatory consultant to crypto projects, including the asset-backed cryptocurrency Unicoin.
He said there's no doubt that the Biden administration had "done damage" to the Democratic Party's reputation in the crypto community, but that it's not "irreparable damage."
He argued that Harris should convene a meeting with leaders of the crypto industry to hear their concerns, and signal her support of recent legislative efforts to create a new regulatory framework for the crypto industry, including the Republican-led Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act.
"The bill was a step in the right direction," Vella said. "Was it the end-all-be all from the perspective of industry and regulators? No, but you've got to take steps and play the long game."
Vela said that taking steps to reassure the crypto industry that a Harris administration would be amenable to their concerns would also help signal to the broader business community that Harris will represent their interests as well as the interests of consumers and workers.
"Harris is a pragmatic, brilliant and rational woman, and she understands this balance," he said, adding that he doubts she'll be as influenced by the business-skeptical wing of the party represented by independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont - who caucuses with Democrats - and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
"They are still a minority within the Democratic Party," Vella said.
The assertion is backed up by recent moves by Democrats that signal more openness to the industry's concerns, including broad Democratic support for the FIT-21 bill in the House of Representatives, and a statement by Biden that he'd be open to working with Congress on passing a reformed version of the law.
"I'm highly optimistic, and I think she's going to win, so it behooves the crypto industry to be open-minded to her candidacy," Vella said.
Those in the industry with experience in Washington agree that it's not too late to write off the Democratic Party, despite an enthusiastic embrace of the Trump campaign in some corners of the crypto world.
"Crypto is nonpartisan," wrote Jake Chervinsky, a former policy head at the Blockchain Association and chief legal officer at Variant Fund, in a Wednesday post on X.
He said that while Republicans have shown more support for the industry of late, "there's still a chance for bipartisanship to win out in Congress" and that "a younger generation of Democrats can and will support crypto when their time comes to lead."
-Chris Matthews
This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 24, 2024 16:59 ET (20:59 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Comments