Both former President Trump and Vice President Harris took steps this month to appeal to cryptocurrency voters, a constituency those in the industry are arguing could make a difference in elections.
The crypto industry has gained power and prominence in Washington as major digital currency firms pour millions of dollars into lobbying policymakers and mobilizing voters with crypto holdings.
“The crypto voter is real, bipartisan, and ready to engage this cycle,” Logan Dobson, Stand with Crypto’s executive director, told The Hill last week.
Dobson described crypto voters as a diverse group of people who invest in crypto, build companies or work with digital currencies, or those simply interested in the field.
At the same time, some political researchers are pouring cold water on the theory, suggesting cryptocurrency will not be a decisive issue in the general election even as crypto ownership increases.
“It’s not something that has historically, that in the past few elections has made a substantial difference,” said Justin Esarey, a politics and international affairs professor at Wake Forest University.
Harris and Trump’s embrace of cryptocurrency supporters is a notable difference from both President Biden and the GOP nominee’s previous term.
Harris, however, issued her strongest statement so far on digital currencies at a fundraiser on Wall Street this week, telling donors, “We will encourage innovative technologies like AI and digital assets, while protecting investors and consumers.”
Her remarks came less than a week after Trump, who also shifted his stances on cryptocurrency, and his sons launched a new cryptocurrency platform, World Liberty Financial.
Read more in a full report at TheHill.com.
