Kamala Harris Will Likely Share Her Bitcoin Stance in the Coming Weeks: Industry Optimists Note Her Husband Is a ‘Crypto Guy’

A rumor spread like wildfire across cryptocurrency social media accounts this week: New Democratic Party spokeswoman Kamala Harris was “in talks” with Bitcoin 2024 organizers to speak at the industry’s annual conference, where her rival Donald Trump is scheduled to speak. “They’re making a decision today,” organizer David Bailey said. tweeted Tuesday afternoon.

Harris had been the Democratic presidential nominee for just a few days, and her team had just begun putting together a campaign agenda, so the chances of her attending a Bitcoin meeting in Nashville on short notice seemed unlikely. However, when the campaign confirmed she would not be able to attend, the conference treated the news with outrage. “No surprise… it would have been a disaster for her,” Bailey wrote on X.

Sources familiar with the matter, however, told Fortune that Harris’s team had indeed seriously considered the invitation. That in itself is news. The fact that the Democratic Party nominee, whose leadership has been relentlessly hostile to cryptocurrencies, was “in talks” about reaching out to 30,000 Bitcoiners reflects how much politics could change under Harris.

“She doesn’t have much time to redefine herself”

The industry now waits to see whether Harris, who has a relatively Tabula Rasa when it comes to cryptocurrencies, he could win back some of the cryptocurrency voters who are pledging support for Donald Trump in light of his pledge to be a “crypto president.” Meanwhile, some in his own party are already pressing it to adopt a more favorable position. So when can we expect to hear?

“She doesn’t have a lot of time to redefine herself. She has a very short window to definitively say she’s her own person,” says a cryptocurrency lobbyist and former White House adviser who spoke to Fortune on condition of anonymity. He estimates Harris will clarify her views on cryptocurrency in the coming weeks. Cryptocurrency “isn’t a bad topic to throw around and say, ‘Hey, that was the Biden administration, my vision is going to be different. I’m more pro-tech and pro-innovation,’” he adds.

Gary DeWaal, a former senior counsel at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), told Fortune that he doesn’t expect Harris to comment on cryptocurrencies before Aug. 7, when she announces her vice presidential pick. “That’s her priority now,” he said.

What position might Harris take on cryptocurrencies?

The mere act of Harris’ team mulling over Bitcoin 2024 is itself a wordless statement on cryptocurrency; President Joe Biden’s campaign would have offered an automatic refusal. His administration has been dogged in pushing regulation through Congress, and the Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement actions against cryptocurrency firms have shot high under the leadership of President Gary Gensler.

To begin with, when Biden became president, many of his economic consultants were former colleagues of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a staunch cryptocurrency critic. Harris doesn’t have the same connections. The cryptocurrency lobbyist shares that Harris’s tech adviser is believed to be pro-cryptocurrency and that her husband, Douglas Emhoff, is a “crypto guy.” He adds, “I expect her to change her mind.”

In a potentially promising sign, entrepreneur and Bitcoin enthusiast Mark Cuban this week Decrypt said of receiving numerous questions from Harris’ group on cryptocurrencies.

And Harris advocating a more open stance on crypto and blockchain technology than Biden would be consistent with her career representing California in the U.S. Senate, where she has regularly supported Silicon Valley. In public office, “[she] has developed good relationships with technology industry leaders,” DeWaal adds. Among them are executives like former Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg, with whom he cultivated a close relationship that earned her a reputation as a pro-business politician.

All of which may lead the crypto industry to hope that Harris will turn the corner on her predecessor’s hard line. But for now, at least, all they have is just that: hope.

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