Author: Nancy, PANews
The US presidential election is in the final stretch, and the race between Trump and Harris is intensifying. Compared to Trump's high-profile crypto moves, Harris has rarely made explicit statements about cryptocurrencies. Recently, Harris unveiled a series of economic security plans for Black male voters during a campaign rally, including a promise to support a crypto regulatory framework to protect Black men's crypto investments. After the plan was announced, Harris was accused by the crypto community of "lack of sincerity" and using cryptocurrencies merely as a tool to win the election.
New Policies to Attract Black Male Voters, but Crypto Regulation Framework Questioned
Pennsylvania is a key battleground in this year's US election, and the two evenly matched candidates, Trump and Harris, both visited this crucial swing state this week for campaign activities and to appeal to key voter groups.
For Harris, gaining the support of Black male voters is a major challenge she is currently facing. A recent poll by the Siena College Institute for The New York Times showed that about 15% of Black voters said they plan to vote for Trump in this election. Former President Obama also revealed that Black voters are hesitant in choosing between supporting Harris or Trump, and harshly criticized this group of voters for being unwilling to let a woman become US president.
To win over Black male voters, Harris has proposed a new plan to provide more economic opportunities and other development opportunities for Black men, including providing $1 million in fully forgivable loans for Black entrepreneurs, offering high-paying job opportunities, and protecting crypto investments to ensure that Black male investors know their funds are safe. "President Harris knows that over 20% of African Americans own or have owned crypto assets, which is why her plan will ensure that owners and investors of digital assets can benefit from a regulatory framework that protects Black men and other groups participating in this market."
However, Harris' new crypto policy has been mocked by the crypto community, as the crypto regulatory framework is only proposed for Black voters and does not provide more regulatory details or a clearer policy stance on cryptocurrencies.
Crypto KOL Ansem believes that Harris' team lacks due diligence on meaningful crypto regulation and has released some vague talking points, which is embarrassing and frankly shameful. If Harris is serious, she needs to address the irreversible damage her administrators have done to the industry, such as Chokepoint 2.0 and criminal actions against crypto-friendly banks like Silvergate, repeal the SAB 121 veto, the continued lack of meaningful regulation around stablecoins or crypto securities, and not taking any action to remove Gensler, who is clearly too aggressive and negatively biased against cryptocurrencies in SEC lawsuits. "We're not idiots, this won't make any of us vote for you."
"It's puzzling that the Harris campaign team chose not to meet with crypto industry leaders, but instead rolled out a crypto policy that will only be limited to Black men and proposed a regulatory framework that will restrict them to being consumers rather than producers," said FOX reporter Eleanor Terrett.
Galaxy Research analysis believes that Harris is more crypto-friendly than Biden, but less so than Trump. Harris has promised to improve the regulatory environment for the US crypto industry, but takes a more cautious stance on issues like taxation, Bitcoin mining, and self-custody, while Trump supports Bitcoin mining and promises to protect self-custody rights. Nevertheless, Harris' policies may be more constructive than Biden's.
Harris Urged to Take Concrete Crypto Actions, Gaining Open Support from Crypto Figures
The crypto community's criticism of Harris is not unfounded, as the candidate has not publicly expressed many views on the crypto market in the past few months, and insiders have even revealed that the Harris campaign team may not detail their crypto policy before the election.
It was not until September this year that Harris first mentioned cryptocurrencies, expressing caution, saying that the US will "re-commit" to maintaining global leadership in the fields that will define the next century, including in areas like artificial intelligence and quantum computing, blockchain and other emerging technologies. She sees artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies as part of her vision for an "opportunity economy". As a result, the bipartisan crypto advocacy group Stand With Crypto has downgraded its rating of Harris' campaign to "NA" due to the lack of crypto policy.
Galaxy Research analysis points out that Harris is more crypto-friendly than Biden, but less so than Trump. Harris has promised to improve the regulatory environment for the US crypto industry, but takes a more cautious stance on issues like taxation, Bitcoin mining, and self-custody, while Trump supports Bitcoin mining and promises to protect self-custody rights. Nevertheless, Harris' policies may be more constructive than Biden's. However, Chirp founder Tim Kravchunovsky urges that if Harris wants to attract crypto supporters with her own words, she needs to take some concrete actions, and hopes to see more details on the digital asset policies proposed by Harris, similar to the commitments made by former President Trump.
Earlier this month, several crypto industry leaders also sought to meet with Harris and her running mate Tim Walz's campaign policy team to discuss proposals for promoting innovative and inclusive policies. For example, Nat'l Policy Network WOC Blockchain founder Cleve Mesido, Black Women Blockchain Council founder Olayinka Odeniran, and Penn State Dickinson Law Professor Tonya Evans called for establishing a regulatory framework for Web3 and DeFi to encourage innovation in the US.
However, Harris has also gained the support of several well-known crypto figures. For example, Ripple founder Chris Larsen recently made the first recorded cryptocurrency donation to one of the major super PACs supporting Harris, Future Forward USA, donating $1 million worth of XRP; a16z co-founder Ben Horowitz announced that he would donate "a large sum of money" to Harris' presidential campaign, no longer supporting Trump.
In this fiercely contested US presidential election, if Harris wants to win the support and trust of crypto voters, she needs to demonstrate more "sincerity".
