Will the Harris-Walz presidential campaign prioritize crypto policy?

Crypto users who support or are at least open to voting for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris have 88 days to make their case that the United States vice president will be better for crypto policy than Republican nominee Donald Trump.

Since announcing her presidential campaign on July 21, following President Joe Biden’s declaration that he would not run for reelection, Harris has been largely silent on economic issues, including those potentially affecting the crypto industry. As she prepares to hold events in battleground states, Trump’s campaign said the Republican nominee would not be holding major rallies until the conclusion of the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 22.

The relatively sudden “jump” into digital assets from the Republican ticket, coupled with the unknown of what the Harris-Walz campaign could mean for crypto, has many in the industry paying attention. Members of Harris’ team have already been discussing crypto policy with company executives, and White House staff with crypto industry experience are reportedly moving to her campaign or political action committees supporting her election.

“Digital assets and crypto are not top of her campaign’s mind at the moment,” Crypto Council for Innovation CEO Sheila Warren told Cointelegraph shortly after President Biden’s announcement in July. “[She understands areas] where crypto and digital assets play a critical role, an increasingly important role if permitted to do so by the regulatory regime within the United States.”

Rallying behind crypto

North Carolina Representative Wiley Nickel said Democrats were “not giving this issue to Trump.” Representative Nickel, entrepreneur Mark Cuban and other industry leaders are scheduled to speak at an Aug. 14 virtual town hall organized by the “Crypto Advocates for Harris” group to encourage the Democratic nominee to develop a clear policy platform.

In the 19 days since the Harris campaign launched, her poll numbers have put her in a dead heat with Trump in battleground states, and many in the crypto space seem to be hedging their bets on the outcome of the presidential election. Market prediction platform Polymarket, which initially had Trump leading Biden, recently rated the race between Harris and the Republican nominee as a “tossup.”

Some crypto companies seem to have noticed. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said in an Aug. 1 earnings call that the exchange was “increasingly optimistic that the next administration, whether Democrat or Republican, will be constructive on crypto,” adding, “The rhetoric has shifted.”

Lawmakers caution Harris

Though Harris did not speak at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville — her campaign was less than a week old at the time — Democratic supporters including Representative Nickel, California Representative Ro Khanna, and SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci all spoke about the dangers of making crypto a partisan issue this election season. Trump claimed during a speech at the event that Harris was “against crypto,” offering her connection to the Biden administration and its policies as evidence.

In a July letter to Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison, House lawmakers led by Representative Nickel and candidates running in various congressional districts urged the party’s leadership to take a “forward-looking approach” to digital assets and blockchain technology. According to the policymakers, Vice President Harris presented an opportunity to change the public perception that the Democratic Party held a “negative viewpoint on digital assets.” 

“We’ve got a fresh new perspective on digital assets and regulation with the Democratic Party,” Representative Nickel told Cointelegraph on Aug. 1. “We’re very encouraged by what we’ve heard from the Harris campaign so far. I think it’s important that we get a reset on this issue.”

At the time of publication, neither Vice President Harris nor her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, has suggested the campaign plans to introduce a crypto policy platform before the November election. The ticket will appear at events in Arizona on Aug. 9 and Nevada on Aug. 10.

Related: Industry responds to Kamala Harris’ VP pick despite no clear crypto platform

“I think [Harris] needs to come out very clearly and very, very publicly on her perspective, her stance and her plan for cryptocurrency,” former Biden adviser Moe Vela told Cointelegraph. “I think they need to put together an absolute cryptocurrency platform. We need to understand what her perspective is, and we need to know how she feels about it.”

Vela added:

“We as Democrats need to have a crypto awakening [...] We need to revisit the advantages of crypto and how crypto can actually help us meet some of our objectives.”

Harris is scheduled to face off with Trump in a Sept. 10 televised debate on ABC, though reports suggest there may be additional debates on Sept. 4 and Sept. 25. Pennsylvania residents will have the opportunity to vote as early as Sept. 16 for the presidential election.

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