KEY POINTS
- People are reportedly saying Biden could lose the election if he remains “quiet” on crypto
- Trump’s campaign started allowing crypto donations last month
- Biden’s team reportedly reached out to key crypto players last month for “policy” talks
The re-election strategists of U.S. President Joe Biden are in talks to potentially accept cryptocurrency donations for his campaign, a new report revealed, signaling the incumbent president’s continuing shift toward wooing the digital assets community.
In particular, the Biden team is in talks with several crypto industry players to accept digital asset donations through crypto payments leader Coinbase Commerce, The Block reported Wednesday, citing sources with knowledge of the matter.
“They’re paying attention to issues around crypto and are trying to find quick wins to show that they’re supportive of the industry. [They want] to show that they’re not the enemy,” one source said.
People outside the president’s outer circle are specifically telling the Biden team, “‘if you’re quite on this crypto thing and you don’t get up to speed, you could lose the election,” one source close to the matter added.
President Biden’s campaign did not immediately respond to International Business Times’ request for comment on the report.
Coinbase Commerce facilitates crypto donations to ex-President Donald Trump’s campaign after the Republican presidential candidate’s election team allowed his supporters to make crypto donations last month. At the time, Trump’s team said the development “marks the first time a major party Presidential nominee has embraced cryptocurrency donations.”
As reported late in May, the Democratic leader’s campaign has reportedly been reaching out to key players in the digital assets sector to discuss the “crypto community and crypto policy moving forward.” The latter has become a critical topic in the space in recent months following multiple legal challenges initiated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against some of the industry’s most prominent players.
Billionaire and crypto investor Mark Cuban has said Biden has to “choose between [SEC Chair Gary] Gensler or crypto voters or it could cost him the White House.”
Cuban is apparently referring to Gensler’s hostile approach toward regulating the emerging crypto industry. He has repeatedly said the sector is very vulnerable to fraud and scams, but the crypto community said regulation by enforcement was not the right path moving forward.
The apparent shift in the U.S. president’s approach toward the industry comes as the November elections draw near. The re-election team has reportedly begun recognizing the impact of crypto issues on the race.
In May, Joe Burnett of Unchained Capital said politicians will soon discover the relevance of the Bitcoin community and the broader digital assets space to their campaigns.
