Pro-crypto Democrats rally for Harris, push for ‘reset’ with industry

Crypto-friendly Democrats offered their full-throated support for Vice President Harris on Wednesday night while also encouraging the campaign to seek a “reset” with the industry amid frustrations with the Biden administration. 

More than a dozen Democratic lawmakers and candidates, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), spoke at the Crypto4Harris town hall. 

They were joined on the fundraising call by industry leaders, such as billionaire investor Mark Cuban and Sheila Warren, CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation. 

“There’s great enthusiasm for the Harris-Walz ticket from every corner of our country,” Schumer said Wednesday. “You can feel it, you can see it, you can smell it. It’s gotten Democrats and Americans as a whole who are worried about the advent of Donald Trump so excited.”  

“Why are we here today? Because we all support Vice President Kamala Harris to be our next president, and we all believe in the future of crypto,” said the Senate majority leader, who also announced his goal to pass crypto legislation by the end of the year. 

Since President Biden stepped aside and endorsed Harris, crypto advocates have been hopeful the vice president will shift course on digital assets.  

The Biden administration has had a rocky relationship with the industry, which has often expressed frustrations with Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler’s approach to enforcement. 

However, the White House has made overtures to the industry recently, with several senior officials joining a call last week with about a dozen crypto leaders. 

The Harris campaign has also engaged in talks with the industry as it gets off the ground, boosting hopes of a crypto “reset” — an idea underscored by several speakers at Wednesday’s town hall. 

“Today’s conversation marks the beginning of a reset for the Harris campaign and more broadly a reset on U.S. leadership when it comes to digital assets and crypto,” said Dante Disparte, chief strategy officer and head of global policy at the crypto firm Circle. 

“I’m continuing to make the case for an important reset with her campaign,” Rep. Wiley Nickel (D-N.C.) said, adding, “Vice President Harris’s fresh perspective and revitalizing leadership is already connecting in new ways with online communities and young voters, and I’m fired up.” 

The push for a Harris “reset” comes as Republicans, including former President Trump, have increasingly embraced crypto. Trump was a keynote speaker at a bitcoin conference last month, where he laid out an entire platform dedicated to digital assets. 

“I’m laying out my plan to ensure that the United States will be the crypto capital of the planet and the bitcoin superpower of the world,” the former president said at Bitcoin 2024 in Nashville. “If crypto is going to define the future, I want to be mined, minted and made in the USA.” 

However, Nickel questioned Trump’s commitment to crypto on Wednesday, noting the former president once called it a “scam.” 

“There’s only one candidate running for president who’s called crypto a scam, and that’s Donald Trump,” the North Carolina Democrat said. “He did absolutely nothing for four years as president and was openly hostile up until just recently.” 

“I said this very respectfully in Nashville from the main stage, but Donald Trump is just totally full of s‑‑‑,” Nickel added.