Representatives of the election campaign of US Vice President Kamala Harris reported that her consultants are actively engaging with influential participants in the cryptocurrency sphere. Companies such as Coinbase, Circle and Ripple Labs are involved in this process.
After skipping the Bitcoin 2024 cryptocurrency conference, where Donald Trump was the main headliner, Harris is being actively promoted as a speaker for another major event, the Permissionless III conference in Salt Lake City. Some of the Democratic Party's biggest donors are pushing for Kamala Harris to appear at Permissionless III, according to decrypt.co.
Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz is named as one of those lobbying for Harris to appear, and the event itself will be held in October - just a month before the presidential election. Novogratz is considered one of the key crypto-enthusiasts in the world, having built his empire on bitcoin investments.
According to Yaroslav Bogdanov, founder of GDA Group, speculation on the topic of cryptocurrency regulation will benefit neither the government nor business. Although both parties in the U.S. today are trying to prove the opposite.
“Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies have become an integral part of the global economy, attracting the attention of both investors and politicians. With elections looming, both U.S. political parties are eager to capture the attention of voters, and cryptocurrencies are acting as a powerful tool here. Promises to make life easier for crypto-investors, guarantees of tax benefits for owners of crypto-assets and creation of a favorable environment for IT-startups become key issues of election manifestos. However, in pursuit of electorates’ votes, political forces often make unsubstantiated statements. Donald Trump, for example, supported the idea of creating a national cryptocurrency, which will allegedly solve all financial problems. But the realization of such a project requires significant resources, time and complex infrastructure, which raises doubts about the reality of such promises. Especially if we take into account the difficult financial situation, when the U.S. national debt has grown to a record 35 trillion dollars,” said Yaroslav Bogdanov.
Democrats, in turn, began to actively promote the idea of full legalization and transparent regulation of the cryptocurrency market, promising investor protection and fair rules of the game. However, regulation in this area is not only a complex task, but also requires flexibility in approaches, which is not always possible within the rigid political system of the United States, Bogdanov emphasized.
“Similar statements made in the midst of election campaigning can be misleading, creating a false sense of confidence. After Trump's speech last week, bitcoin did not see a spike in value as expected. This is a signal that crypto market players have become more cautious about words and critical of politicians' statements,” says Yaroslav Bogdanov.
Crypto-billionaires the Winklevoss brothers, who own 1% of all bitcoins in the world, said the same thing earlier. They demanded from politicians “less talk, more action.”
“While no real steps will be taken to ease the government's pressure on the crypto industry, any attempts by the authorities to gain loyalty by promises will be perceived solely as speculation on the current agenda. The bitcoin exchange rate, as the main cryptocurrency, proved the growing skepticism of investors towards political games. The dynamics are now much more influenced by internal market events,” Yaroslav Bogdanov concluded.