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Kamala and Cryptocurrencies? What Biden’s Potential Replacements Think About Bitcoin
With key members of his own party relaunch a push to keep President Joe Biden out of the 2024 election, attention has now shifted to the handful of prominent Democrats who could take his place atop the ticket.
As the prospect of this major shift looms, many in the cryptocurrency industry are wondering: How might these substitutions rule the cryptocurrency industry?
Many key cryptocurrency policy makers have recently said Decipher that a Biden replacement would be a welcome change, as the cryptocurrency regulatory landscape is unlikely to become more hostile than it has been under the Biden administration.
That said, there are still key differences between the leading contenders for the Democratic nomination when it comes to cryptocurrency. Here’s a look at the leading candidates to replace Biden and how they might lead.
My life is nice
By a wide margin, the current top choice to replace the president is his vice president, Kamala Harris.
Harris began her political career by winning a 2010 race to become district attorney of tech-friendly San Francisco. When she was elected vice president in 2020, her support was widely seen as a boon to tech companies and Silicon Valley.
But the former prosecutor has remained remarkably silent when it comes to cryptocurrencies. Harris has apparently never made a public statement on the subject.
When it comes to artificial intelligence, another polarizing new technology, the vice president was quite critical— often stressing the threat that innovation poses to human rights and democratic principles.
But AI is not cryptocurrency, even if the sectors sometimes overlap. And there also seems to be little lost love between Harris and Elizabeth Warren, the outspoken Democratic senator it is rumored to be the driving force behind Biden’s anti-cryptocurrency agenda.
So, Harris’s presidency could easily be a roll of the dice when it comes to cryptocurrencies, with plenty of room for policymakers to follow in her predecessor’s footsteps or chart their own path.
Gretchen Whitmer
One of the Democratic Party’s rising stars, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, has built a reputation as a swing-state political agitator who has achieved great success by unabashedly embracing progressive causes.
However, Whitmer has been very vocal about her stance on cryptocurrencies, one way or another.
But she is a product of Michigan politics, and Democrats in the Midwestern state have proven more open than others to working toward a cryptocurrency regulatory framework.
Both of Michigan’s Democratic senators, for example, have supported pro-industry legislation. Sen. Gary Peters broke up with Biden in May to repeal an SEC rule that prohibited banks from holding cryptocurrencies, while Senator Debbie Stabenow expressed interest in the development of digital asset regulation.
And Rep. Elissa Slotkin, the leading Democratic candidate to replace Stabenow once the senator retires in January, currently boasts an “A” rating from Support Cryptoa non-profit industry organization.
Gavin Newsom
California Governor Gavin Newsom has the most well-known cryptocurrency track record of any potential Biden replacement, and for good reason: Many of America’s top cryptocurrency companies are headquartered in his state.
Newsom has wobbled a bit on cryptocurrencies over the years, as he has with others burning issuesIn 2022, the veteran California politician vetoed a bill that would have required cryptocurrency firms in the state to acquire a state-approved license to operate, despite calling for such a system months before.
Cryptocurrency advocates cheered the veto, but a year later, Newsom is back on the same track, signing a regulatory framework for business licensing in the cryptocurrency sector.
While some industry advocates fear that the legislation, which is due to come into force next year, could have negative consequences, others are “encouraged” by Newsom’s insistence on keeping cryptocurrency innovation in California.
The proof may be in the pudding: In the nine months since the legislation became law, cryptocurrency giants like Monetary base AND To block they remained in the state.
J.B. Pritzker
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a billionaire heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune, is one of the most vocally pro-crypto Democrats, rumored to be in the running to take over Biden’s waning campaign.
“The Future of Cryptocurrency Is in Illinois,” Pritzker Says She said in August 2021, long before many politicians had taken a stand on the issue.
But since then, the Midwestern governor has largely backed away from cryptocurrencies as a key component of his governing agenda, while also pushing to keep Illinois competitive. pro business environment and a hub for the development of emerging technologies such as quantum computing.