On Aug. 21, reports broke that an aide to Kamala Harris’ campaign said the Democratic nominee would “support policies that ensure that emerging technologies and that sort of industry can continue to grow,” referring to the crypto industry.
Though seemingly light on substantive policy, the reported move could signal a shift from the Harris campaign, which has previously stayed silent on digital assets. The aide who spoke to Bloomberg at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) was Brian Nelson, who left his position as the Department of the Treasury’s Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence to join the campaign.
Though the comments did not come directly from Vice President Harris, many advocates took to social media to speculate whether the statement could suggest her campaign — 31 days old as of Aug. 21 — would be more proactive in addressing concerns related to crypto and blockchain before the November election. Though Republican nominee Donald Trump previously called Bitcoin (BTC) a “scam” and “based on thin air,” in 2024, he moved to personally claim he would defend BTC miners, denounce central bank digital currencies, and spoke at the Bitcoin 2024 conference.
“[Nelson] saying Harris wants a positive relationship with crypto is *big*,” Adam Cochran of Cinneamhain Ventures said in an Aug. 21 X post. “This is the exact kind of person who could be cryptos worst enemy, the person who can justify chokepoint policy under KYC/aml and financial crimes. So when he is saying Harris is open to positive policy, it has weight.”
Source: Paul Grewal
Democrats on crypto
Since launching her campaign on July 21 after US President Joe Biden announced he would not seek reelection, Harris has held many rallies but not press conferences or one-on-one interviews, leaving voters in a gray area regarding her policy platform for 2025. Her campaign released some of the pillars of its planned economic agenda, and there is the possibility that the Vice President could speak about technology when accepting her nomination at the DNC on Aug. 22.
Many lawmakers and crypto industry leaders seem to see an opportunity for Harris to potentially distance herself from a crackdown on crypto firms with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler and legislation from Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren during the Biden administration. On Aug. 14, several members of Congress, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, spoke at a virtual town hall to address public perception of the Democratic Party on crypto and how it might affect Harris’ presidential run.
Related: US Democrats are ‘increasingly gravitating towards crypto’ — Poll
Veronica McGregor, the chief legal officer at Exodus, told Cointelegraph on Aug. 15 that compared with Trump, the constraints of being in office during her presidential campaign made Harris less likely to openly contradict President Biden’s policies or call for firing Gensler as Trump did. However, her campaign might have a message calling for fostering innovation with clear rules of the road for the industry and announcing appointments suggesting she would follow a different path as US President.
“When you’re a sitting Vice President, it’s very difficult to come out and […] basically throw the sitting President under the bus,” said McGregor. “Someone who’s not in office at the moment has the luxury of being able to make really not just bold statements like the stuff Trump has said. That’s just a campaign thing he can say, but nobody knows where that’s really going to go.”
She added:
“I believe it would be great for [Harris] to say ‘I want to support technological innovation and not regulate it out of existence and there’s going to be an attitude change in Washington, DC under my leadership.’”
Speaking at DNC
Some in the industry have argued that Harris’ campaign’s absence of an anti-crypto message was still a strong indication that her presidency would depart from the path taken under Biden. According to Cochran, the Democratic platform contained “nothing” to suggest a crackdown, empowering the SEC to go after digital assets, furthering Operation Choke Point 2.0, or outright banning the technology.
“Not mentioning crypto *IS* the pivot,” said Cochran on the Democratic agenda under Harris.
Vice President Harris will publicly accept the Democratic nomination at the DNC on Aug. 22. Crypto Council for Innovation CEO Sheila Warren told Cointelegraph on Aug. 16 that she expected Harris’ speech to generally touch on “general tech and innovation,” but it was unlikely that the nominee would directly comment on crypto.
“I would be shocked if we saw anything [on crypto] until after the convention, and that includes at the convention,” said Warren. “[Harris has] got so many other things she has to wrestle with that are party-wide […] I understand that crypto likes to be the number one topic of importance at all times, but there is a lot of other stuff going on.”
Warren added:
“We want both candidates to be pro [crypto]. The goal is to get Harris as on side as Trump.”
With 75 days until the US presidential election, Trump and Harris may have additional opportunities to court single-issue crypto voters. The two nominees are scheduled to face off in a televised debate on Sept. 10, after which they may announce additional policies as part of their plans for the presidency.
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