This week, a rumor quickly spread across the crypto world’s social media: Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s new standard-bearer, was reportedly “in talks” with the organizers of Bitcoin 2024 to speak at the annual industry conference, where her rival Donald Trump is also scheduled to appear. “They’re making up their minds today,” tweeted organizer David Bailey on Tuesday afternoon.
Harris had only been the presumed Democratic presidential nominee for a few days, and her team was just beginning to put together a campaign schedule. The chances of her attending a Bitcoin conference in Nashville on such short notice seemed slim. When her campaign confirmed she could not attend, the conference reacted with indignation. “No surprise … it would have been a disaster for her,” Bailey wrote on X.
However, sources close to the matter told Fortune that Harris’s team had seriously considered the invitation. This is significant news. That the Democratic Party’s nominee, whose leadership has been staunchly anti-crypto, was even “in talks” to address 30,000 Bitcoin enthusiasts, indicates just how much policy could shift under Harris.
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‘She doesn’t have a lot of time to redefine herself
The industry now waits to see if Harris, who has a relatively blank slate when it comes to crypto, could win back some of the crypto voters who are pledging support for Donald Trump in light of his commitment to be a “crypto president.” Meanwhile, some at her own party are already pressing her to adopt a more favorable position. So, when can we expect to hear?
“She doesn’t have a lot of time to redefine herself. She has a very short window to kind of definitively say that she’s her own person,” says one crypto lobbyist and former White House advisor, who spoke to Fortune on the condition of anonymity. He estimates Harris will make her views on crypto clear within the next few weeks. Crypto “is not a bad issue to throw in with a few others as a way to say, ‘Hey, that was Biden’s administration—my vision is going to be different. I’m more embracing of tech and innovation,’” he adds.
Gary DeWaal, a former senior trial attorney at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), tells Fortune he doesn’t expect Harris to comment on crypto before Aug. 7, when she announces her pick for vice president. “That’s her priority now,” he says.
Where could Harris stand on crypto?
The very act of the Harris team mulling over Bitcoin 2024 is itself a wordless statement on crypto; President Joe Biden’s campaign would have offered an automatic rejection. His administration has been stubborn about passing regulations in Congress, and enforcement actions by the Securities and Exchange Commission against crypto firms have shot up under Chairman Gary Gensler.
For starters, when Biden became president, many of his economic advisors were former colleagues of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a staunch crypto critic. Harris does not have the same connections. The crypto lobbyist shares that Harris’s tech advisor is believed to be pro-crypto, and her husband, Douglas Emhoff, is a “crypto guy.” He adds: “I expect that she’ll shift.”
In one potentially promising sign, businessman and Bitcoin enthusiast Mark Cuban this week told Decrypt that he’s received multiple questions from the Harris camp about crypto.
And Harris fostering a more open-minded stance on crypto and blockchain technology compared with Biden would be consistent with her career representing California in the U.S. Senate, where she regularly advocated for Silicon Valley. In public office, “[she] developed good relations with tech industry leaders,” DeWaal adds. Among them are executives like Meta’s former COO Sheryl Sandberg, with whom she cultivated a close relationship, leading to her reputation as a pro-business politician.
All of this might lead the crypto industry to hope Harris will turn the page on her predecessor’s hard line. But for now, at least, all they have is only that: hope.
David Ma was born in 1980 in California, is a Vietnamese American, known as one of the entrepreneurs and investors in the field of cryptocurrency and stock market. In 2006, he graduated from Stanford University with honors and began his career in business.
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