- Presumptive Democratic nominee Harris’s stance on crypto regulation has become a hot topic.
- Although Harris has no official stance on crypto regulation, her administration’s history is antagonistic at best.
Crypto Regulation Under President Harris: What to Expect
Vice President Kamala Harris is now the presumptive nominee for the Democrats in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
This sudden shift has crypto investors scrambling to figure out what a Harris presidency would mean for crypto regulation.
This issue has gained even more importance as the odds rise that President Biden will not be healthy enough to finish the remaining 4 months of his term.
Crypto regulation became an increasingly politicized issue under the Biden-Harris administration.
However, this can be attributed to the timing of crypto’s growing influence as much as the administration itself.
Republican nominee Donald Trump has recently pushed the issue of crypto regulation to the front of his campaign.
Trump’s crypto campaigning has been successful enough that the crypto market now rises alongside his chances of winning the election.
The youth vote is crucial to Harris’s bid for the presidency, so there is much speculation that there will be an official pro-crypto pivot by Harris.
Harris Whiffs on First Opportunity to Burnish Crypto Credentials
Harris’s first opportunity to burnish her crypto credentials is the Bitcoin 2024 conference, running from July 25th to 27th.
Presidential candidates Trump and Kennedy are already slated to speak at the event.
The event organizers confirmed that they were in talks with Harris’s team about having her speak at the event as well.
However, it was later confirmed that Harris will not be attending the Bitcoin 2024 conference.
Harris’s team cited that it will likely be a hostile environment given the history of the Biden-Harris administration’s stance on crypto regulation.
Reactions in the crypto community to the initial announcement were mixed and not uniformly hostile to the idea of Harris speaking at the event.
Mark Cuban commented on the topic, noting that the Harris administration reached out to him about crypto regulation, among other related issues in tech and business.
“I’m getting multiple questions from her camp about crypto. So I take that as a good sign. The feedback I’m getting, but certainly not confirmed by the VP, is that she will be far more open to business, [artificial intelligence], crypto and government as a service. Changing the policies changes the message and lets everyone know she is in charge and open, literally, for business.”
– Mark Cuban, entrepreneur and crypto proponent, stated.
Harris’s History of Crypto Regulation
Harris has never made any official statements on crypto regulation.
However, the Biden-Harris administration has an antagonistic history with crypto regulation.
- The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) grew increasingly hostile to crypto and refused to provide clear guidance to the industry.
- The SEC battled with Kraken, Coinbase and Binance over staking services.
- The SEC originally designated Ethereum (ETH) as a security, interfering with attempts to create Ethereum ETFs.
- President Biden vetoed the FIT21 bill, which would have provided much-needed clarity on U.S. crypto regulations.
With this history of crypto regulation associated with Harris, any pro-crypto pivot will need to be extremely strong.
Harris’s reliance on younger voters makes crypto regulation a key issue in this election.
Therefore, Harris will either ignore crypto altogether and hope other youth voter topics overshadow crypto, or she will make a strong pro-crypto pivot that nullifies Trump’s popular crypto regulation stance.
