Amid the fierce race for the White House, Americans who own cryptocurrency are receiving unprecedented attention from both presidential candidates.
Former President Trump and Vice President Harris took steps this month to appeal to cryptocurrency supporters, who industry insiders say could make a difference in the election.
The crypto industry is growing in power and presence in Washington as major digital currency companies pour millions of dollars into lobbying policymakers and mobilizing voters with their cryptocurrency holdings.
Stand With Crypto, a nonprofit founded with funding from major cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, began a tour of battleground states this month to promote voter registration among so-called “crypto voters.”
“Crypto voters are real, they’re bipartisan, and they’re ready to get involved this election cycle,” Logan Dobson, executive director of Stand With Crypto, told The Hill after the nonprofit’s event in Washington, D.C. last week.
Dobson described crypto advocates as a diverse group that includes people who invest in cryptocurrencies, start companies, work with digital currencies or are simply curious about the space. This demographic is looking for more direction from the government, he said.
However, some political researchers have poured cold water on this theory, suggesting that despite rising cryptocurrency holdings, cryptocurrencies will not become a deciding issue in the general election.
“Historically, it hasn't been a game-changer in the last few elections,” said Justin Esary, a politics and international affairs professor at Wake Forest University. “I don't recall a majority of voters expressing that this was going to affect their vote, that's my opinion.”
Harris and Trump's embrace of cryptocurrency advocates is a notable difference from Biden's previous terms as president and his Republican opponent.
Biden has appointed a number of regulators critical of cryptocurrencies, and his administration has faced constant backlash over the policies of Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler.
But Harris delivered her strongest statement yet on digital currencies at a Wall Street fundraiser this week, telling donors she will “encourage innovative technologies like AI and digital assets while protecting investors and consumers.”
Mark Cuban, a business investor and staunch supporter of Harris and a critic of the Biden administration's cryptocurrency policies, called Harris' recent comments on cryptocurrency “positive.”
“I think Harris has been very clear that she's in favor of developing new technologies in this country. And, you know, she wants our country to remain a tech leader in areas like AI and cryptography. And I think that's a very important plus,” Cuban said at a Harris campaign press conference on Tuesday.
Her comments come less than a week after President Trump changed his stance on cryptocurrencies and his sons launched a new cryptocurrency platform, World Liberty Financial.
Trump offered few details about the new venture during the press conference, but called cryptocurrency a “huge business” with the potential to “be something really special.” The announcement follows Trump's pledge to make the United States the “cryptocurrency capital of the earth” if elected in November, a stark contrast to his longtime skepticism of cryptocurrencies.
Coinbase is As long as you insist on that He said the presidential election “could be decided by young crypto voters,” and urged candidates, especially in battleground states, to take this base into consideration.
“The real demand from all of them is pretty much the same, they all feel they need clarity from the federal government on what the rules are around cryptocurrency, how they're allowed to build products and companies, and what those guidelines are from the government,” Dobson said.
“I think the crypto industry is craving rules to follow. We want clear guidelines to be laid out by the federal government, by regulators, by Congress, and right now we feel like that's not there, which makes it very difficult to build.”
Currently, over 52 million Americans own cryptocurrency, nearly a fifth of the population.
Coinbase chief policy officer Faryal Shirzad told The Hill that there is “significant dissatisfaction” among crypto advocates with the current financial system.
“This is not a partisan issue. It's an issue that touches all sides of the country: Democrats, Republicans, urban, rural,” Shrizad said.
Dobson argued that crypto voters are not necessarily spoken to directly by either of the major political parties and are less likely to reach a bipartisan audience.
“Cryptocurrency is a cross-party cause, and we think it's really important to have a message that encourages voting based on issues, to really mobilize people who care about the issues, rather than supporting one party or the other,” he said.
The campaign is part of a broader effort by the crypto industry to mobilize supporters to defeat skeptics, with the industry spending more than $119 million on the 2024 federal election, according to a Public Citizen report released last month.
Other researchers question whether cryptocurrency alone will motivate voters to turn out to the polls.
Esarry, who studies voter behavior, said that in recent Fairleigh Dickinson University Poll,this is It spread in conversation Regarding President Trump's approach to cryptocurrency, the survey found that roughly 15% of registered voters said they own or have previously owned cryptocurrencies, NFTs, or similar digital products.
“And among them [15 percent]”I have to believe that cryptocurrency, or the regulation of cryptocurrencies, takes precedence over all the other issues I mentioned, like the economy and immigration,” he told The Hill.
“And for a significant portion of that 15%, I find it hard to imagine that cryptocurrency regulation outweighs other issues.”
Esary acknowledged that people who sell or hold large amounts of cryptocurrency have an economic interest in such regulation, but he still believes it is an “outlandish claim” to say that cryptocurrencies will be decisive in this election.
But her Wake Forest colleague Raina Haq, a law professor with an expertise in emerging technologies, argued that the 15% representation of past and current cryptocurrency holders could be crucial given the “close” election, with Harris leading Trump by 3.9 percentage points in a Decision Desk HQ/The Hill poll.
“I doubt that 15 percent feel strongly about it. If they do, then maybe appealing to that kind of group could have some impact on the election, assuming they're a monolith, which they're not,” she said.
“Is it decisive? No. I think it would be hard to argue that this is a decisive issue that would change the outcome of the election otherwise. But certainly, you can see both parties trying to appeal to what they see as this electorate because anything can sway the outcome of the election.”
This could also be a way to appeal to a wider audience across party lines, Haq said.
“Cryptocurrency has made inroads among many ethnic groups and outside of traditional voting bloc, such as the Republican Party,” she said, adding that “appealing to crypto-interested voters could help political parties win over voters that would be difficult to reach otherwise.”
Written by Taylor Giorno.
