According to a Fox Business report on Aug. 7, a new advocacy group called “Crypto for Harris” has been launched to battle rival Donald Trump’s industry appeal.
The group is planning a virtual town hall meeting next week to support the Harris campaign and promote fundraising initiatives.
Fox’s Eleanor Terrett reported that those speaking will include crypto advocate Mark Cuban, SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci, and a handful of Democratic members of the House of Representatives.
NEW from me: Democrats launch 'Crypto for Harris' campaign to counter Trump’s industry appeal
The Democratic arm of the cryptocurrency industry is determined not to let Donald Trump run away with the crypto vote this fall.https://t.co/YOSGpv1AWt
— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) August 7, 2024
Democrats Angling for Crypto Votes
The conservative and Republican-leaning media outlet added that the Crypto for Harris group currently has around 50 members, with industry participants and policy experts as its main organizers.
CEO of Web3 marketing firm Snickerdoodle and one of the organizers of the advocacy group, Jonathan Padilla, said:
“The United States must continue to be a leader in blockchain and crypto and groups like Crypto for Harris are working hard to ensure the right policies and conversations take place to ensure that outcome.”
North Carolina Congressman Wiley Nickel, who will be speaking at the conference, said, “We’re not giving this issue to Trump,” before adding, “We want to encourage innovation and protect consumers, but allowing crypto to become a political football is only going to set the U.S. further behind.”
Harris has also added two former crypto advisers to her campaign in the past week. These are David Plouffe, who served on the Binance advisory board, and Gene Sperling, a former Ripple board member.
Former Biden adviser and now a senior adviser to crypto firm Unicoin, Moe Vela, told the outlet that Harris and her recently picked running mate Tim Walz “bring the opportunity of a fresh start for our industry.”
Trump made waves and garnered major support from crypto advocates and investors at the Bitcoin 2024 Conference late last month when he vowed not to sell any U.S. government holdings and fire SEC chair Gary Gensler. Harris did not attend the event.
Meanwhile, Senator Cynthia Lummis introduced legislation to create a national cryptocurrency reserve.
Crypto Flipflop?
Until now, the Democrats under Joe Biden have been largely anti-crypto. Regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission have been waging war on the industry through lawsuits and enforcement, while Senators such as Elizabeth Warren have actively derided the crypto sector at every opportunity, even calling for an outright ban.
Harris currently has a slender lead in the polls at 45.3% over Trump at 43.4%, while pro-crypto Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has just 5.3%.