Tech
Kamala Harris Wants to Get Close to the Crypto Bros, If They’ll Let Her
Last week, Kamala Harris signaled that she plans to hit the “reset” button on the cryptocurrency industry. There is currently bad blood between cryptocurrency advocates and the Biden-Harris White House, due to the perception that the administration has unfairly targeted their industry. Now, Harris, who has become the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, is trying to thaw things out.
For the Financial TimesHarris’ team members “have reached out to major cryptocurrency firms” in recent days, including Coinbase, Ripple Labs, and stablecoin firm Circle. The plan appears to be to drum up support in the tech sector as Harris makes her bid for the White House. Harris has also apparently contacted billionaire Mark Cuban to ask for input on “crypto policy.” But Harris may have a steep hill to climb, as her opponent, Donald Trump, already appears to be the de facto favorite of the web3 community.
To a Bitcoin conference last week, Trump received applause as he rambled on about how great it would be to make cryptocurrency. “If cryptocurrency is going to define the future, I want it to be mined, minted and produced in the USA,” Trump said, demonstrating a less than stellar grasp of the concept. he was babblingTrump made other promises, including that if elected, he would fire the current head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler (who has been labeled a threat because of his regulatory actions against cryptocurrency companies) and commute the sentences of Ross Ulbricht, the creator of Silk Road, the darknet drug market.
Trump is backed by some of the cryptocurrency industry’s bigwigs, most notably the Winklevoss twins, who are not Facebook founders. Both brothers have been vocal in their disdain for the Biden-Harris administration, as well as their support for Trump. Last week, in a melodramatic post about XTyler Winklevoss accused the Biden-Harris administration of demonstrating an “unwillingness to genuinely engage with our industry beyond lip service,” and called wealthy crypto tycoons like himself victims of the government.
“In recent years, the Biden administration has openly declared war on cryptocurrencies,” Winklevoss vented in a post. “He has weaponized multiple government agencies to intimidate, harass, and sue good actors in our industry in an effort to destroy it. This Administration’s actions have been nothing less than an unprecedented abuse of power, exercised entirely for perverted political gain at the complete expense of innovation, the American taxpayer, and the American economy,” the billionaire lamented.
Harris’s failure to attend the cryptocurrency conference where Trump appeared was also seen as an unforgivable offense. “She can’t even take the first step and show up to start healing,” Winklevoss said. in another post. “Our industry will not forget this. We will show no mercy in November.”
There are obviously a lot of negative things that can be said about Tyler Winklevoss, despite his feat of engaging in moderate regulatory scrutiny (which the cryptocurrency industry, plagued as it is by scams and scandals without enddesperately need) seems like the equivalent of some sort of civil rights struggle is actually pretty impressive. Nice work, Tyler.
Of course, one reason Winklevoss might be so troubled by the specter of government oversight is that his company has been the target of regulatory action multiple times in recent years. Last January, the SEC Loaded twins and its business partner, Genesis, by providing unregistered securities to investors through a program that advertised very high interest on deposits. The two companies were then sued by New York Attorney General Leticia Jameswho accused them of fraud hundreds of thousands of customers.
Presumably, in the Winklevosses’ minds, these government actions were instances of persecution and not simply the result of regulatory agencies doing their jobs and protecting consumers from corporate predatory practices.
After the Harris campaign announced it was looking to “reset” cryptocurrency, the Winklevosses returned to the chat, though their tone hadn’t changed much. Cameron Winklevoss wrote: “Beware the big bluff. Harris and her advisers are working on a ‘reset’ with the cryptocurrency industry. In honor of the Vice President’s time, let’s be clear: @KamalaHarris, please don’t bother unless you are prepared to take quick, bold and concrete measures. You can’t burn bridges for 4 years and expect to rebuild them with words alone.”
It’s worth asking how much Harris can really hope to get out of people like this. By June, the Winklevosses had already announced had donated $1 million in Bitcoin to Trump’s reelection effort and would have voted for him in November. Likewise, it’s worth asking what Harris can really hope to gain from being a friend to an industry that, despite much mystification, is little more than a less regulated mutation of an already remarkably deregulated AND depraved financial sector. Critics have tried to dissuade Harris from going along with what amounts to little more than a global scam populated by fraudsters and criminals.
However, by offering an olive branch to an industry that is now in her opponent’s pocket, Harris may hope to use the cryptocurrency issue to signal a broader open-mindedness to other parts of the tech sector, such as those currently engaged in a low frequency civil war focused on elections. Like people like Mark Andreessen AND Elon Musk By openly declaring her support for Donald Trump, Harris is likely trying to salvage relations with Silicon Valley moguls who have not yet been hit with the red pill.
Unfortunately, to do that, he will have to at least appear to be accommodating to their business interests, which may not be a great fit for the rest of us. Even seemingly moderate political figures, like billionaire LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, are trying to translate their influence in the high-stakes election into favors that can be cashed in after November (Hoffman Harris recently asked to fire Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Lina Khan, who has investigated several companies in which Hoffman has interests).