Blockchain Association CEO Christine Smith and her crypto cheerleaders have a roadmap for advancing crypto support in Congress ahead of the U.S. presidential election.
This comes despite the digital asset industry facing a bumpy road to winning the support of lawmakers, including the next US president. This week, Vice President Kamala Harris was seen as the leading Democratic presidential candidate, shortly after incumbent President Joe Biden announced he was dropping out of the race on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Republican candidate Donald Trump was shot at a political rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, about two weeks ago. The former president is now scheduled to speak at a Bitcoin conference in Nashville, and Smith shared his thoughts in an exclusive interview with Decrypto on Thursday.
But these “interesting times” in American politics aren’t an obstacle to the Blockchain Association’s pro-crypto roadmap, Smith said.
“[Kamala’s nomination] “This is another opportunity for the Democratic Party leadership to reset their position on crypto,” she told Decrypto. “The hope is that they will field a younger candidate who understands crypto in California. [tech-driven] The economy provides an opportunity for new policies.”
Smith said the Blockchain Association recently reached out to Harris’ team “through various channels.” As of press time, the group has not received any response to its inquiries.
Still, Smith said he and his colleagues are optimistic that partnering with a candidate like Harris could make more headway soon.
take the lead in negotiations with Harris’ team
The Blockchain Association is one of several cryptocurrency advocacy groups that have reached out to Harris and her team since Biden dropped out of the presidential race last Sunday.
The Chamber of Digital Commerce on Monday called on Harris to have crypto leaders engage in an “open dialogue” with her team and urged her to include pro-crypto language in the party’s official platform, reminding the nominee that this is an opportunity to change the perception among some crypto supporters that the Democratic Party has historically acted hostilely toward the digital asset industry.
Distrust for Harris, and the Democratic Party in general, came to the fore this week, with several prominent members of the crypto community expressing doubts that a Harris-led administration would take a different tack than the Biden administration on crypto regulation and policy.
“What can you do? [Harris] “What are you telling us when she’s actively jailing developers and driving our industry overseas?” BTC Inc. founder David Bailey said in an X post on Wednesday, shortly after it was reported that Harris had declined to speak at the company’s major crypto conference this week.
However, Smith said he expects the Harris campaign is still gaining momentum and will soon be engaging with crypto industry leaders.
“I don’t expect Harris to have the exact same policy platform as Biden,” Smith said. “I think she can differentiate herself.”
Editor: Ryan Ozawa.
