Democrats Make Pitch For Crypto Voters. Will Crypto Listen?

When Donald Trump gave his landmark speech at the recent Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, it seemed like the Republican presidential nominee might have a lock on the crypto vote going into November’s election. But, with President Biden deciding not to run and Kamala Harris taking his place at the top of the ticket, parts of the crypto community seem inclined to give Democrats another chance on crypto policymaking.

Possibly. Tonight, Crypto4Harris, a group of Democrat-leaning crypto advocates, is organizing an online “townhall” to discuss the way forward. “Come meet the crypto industry leaders, policy professionals, and enthusiasts who are organizing on behalf of the Harris for President campaign,” the invite reads.

The confirmed speaker list features some well-known names from Congress and the crypto industry, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), businessman Mark Cuban, Anthony Scaramucci, a former White House communications director under President Trump and now CEO of Skybridge Capital, and high profile crypto lobbyists such as Sheila Warren, CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation, and Justin Slaughter, VP of Regulatory Affairs at Paradigm.

Custodia Bank CEO Caitlin Long, who has many reasons to distrust the Biden Administration given the regulatory troubles of her own project, said she would attend tonight’s town hall with an open mind. “I’ll join @Crypto4Harris event tomorrow & hope …. that moderate Dems have ended Biden/Warren crackdown on law-abiding #crypto cos,” she wrote on X/Twitter.

The people behind the efforts to organize on behalf of the vice president say the goal is to encourage Harris to signal “an openness and a willingness to have a reset” with the sector, according to reporting from CoinDesk’s Jesse Hamilton. Scaramucci, who now campaigns against his former boss, has told Democrats that they have made a “horrific mistake” in not being more willing to set clear rules-of-the-road for the crypto industry during the Biden Administration. Many of the Harris-aligned group speak badly of SEC Chair Gary Gensler, a close ally of Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the standard bearer for anti-crypto sentiment in Congress.

Critics say the industry should pay more attention to Harris’ actions than her words. They point to how two advisers on her team – Brian Deese and Bharat Ramamurti – were part of Biden’s National Economic Council and associated with anti-crypto policy initiatives, including, these critics claim, efforts to de-bank crypto companies under an unofficial policy known as “Operation Chokepoint 2.0.”

Others, however, note that Harris’ campaign includes other advisers who have worked with crypto companies before, including David Plouffe (Binance) and Gene Sperling (Ripple).

Brian Krassenstein, a podcaster with more than 850K followers on X, is organizing a pro-Harris pro-crypto Spaces right after the Crypto4Harris main event.

“Personally, I think she will hire new people once her new administration starts. I don’t see her keeping Gensler, and I also don’t see her keeping the same advisors that Biden had,” Krassenstein said over X DMs. “I know that [Harris] has been very open about listening to those within the crypto space.”

Edited by Jesse Hamilton.

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Ben Schiller is CoinDesk’s managing editor for features and opinion. Previously, he was editor-in-chief at BREAKER Magazine and a staff writer at Fast Company. He holds some ETH, BTC and LINK.

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