Is the Kamala Harris crypto ‘reset’ coming? Give it time, exec says

As crypto industry watchers await more clarity on Kamala Harris’s stance on the segment, Exodus Chief Legal Officer Veronica McGregor told Blockworks that patience could be key.

While the crypto executive has downplayed criticism aimed at the vice president for her lack of a crypto agenda thus far, she too seeks a signal that Harris would help put an end to regulation by enforcement. 

Advocacy group Crypto4Harris held a virtual event last week, during which Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said he believes the Senate can pass “sensible” crypto legislation by the end of the year. Other politicians, alongside Anthony Scaramucci and billionaire Mark Cuban, also spoke. 

The Democratic gathering came as industry watchers await to see whether Harris offers a “reset” of sorts on crypto policy — a move expected to attract a portion of what many deem to be a key voting bloc. 

Read more: Galaxy’s Novogratz ‘hopeful’ VP Harris will be pro-crypto

But declarations during the event appeared to ring hollow for some, given that neither VP Kamala Harris nor a member of her team spoke. 

McGregor said some of the expectations for this group’s “introductory” event may have been a bit “unreasonable.”

While Crypto4Harris has members in contact with people close to Harris, she added, her presidential campaign is young. Biden dropped out (and endorsed Harris) just 24 days before the gathering. 

“Expecting on short notice to be able to get either the vice president or her folks on such a call right now, I think would be a pretty heavy lift,” McGregor told Blockworks.

Still, eyes remain on how the presumed Democratic nominee positions herself on this issue. Nic Carter, a general partner at Castle Island Ventures, said in an X post last week — alluding to the Crypto4Harris event — that there is no evidence of a crypto “reset” from Harris. 

“For now, lacking any policy agenda…we have to assume she is defaulting to Biden’s agenda, which is hostile to crypto,” he added. 

Despite more Democrats showing support for crypto in recent months, Joe Biden vetoed a resolution set to invalidate the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) 121.

“While people want to saddle her with ownership of everything the Biden administration has done or not done with crypto, I don’t think that’s fair,” McGregor argued. 

On the other side, Trump said he would back the bitcoin mining industry and floated a number of other crypto-related promises at last month’s Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville. 

“It’s going to be difficult for a sitting vice president to sort of throw grenades the same way her opposition can,” McGregor said. “There are people calling for her to announce she’s going to fire Gary Gensler. You can say that as a campaign promise. As a practical matter, it’s a very different thing.”

The Exodus executive has also engaged with the Trump campaign this summer. She noted her company — whose public listing was delayed by the SEC in May — is willing to throw support behind candidates of either party in favor of “sensible, practical and appropriate regulation” of the industry.

Harris revealed economic plan details during a Friday speech in North Carolina — focusing on the need to cut housing and grocery costs. 

The Democratic National Convention began Monday in Chicago. Prior to the event, the party released its platform, which did not mention digital assets, blockchain or crypto. It repeatedly notes what Biden would do in a “second term,” however, highlighting just how young Harris’s campaign is.

As Blockworks senior reporter Casey Wagner noted in Monday’s On the Margin newsletter, some argue the lack of crypto-related details in the platform could be a sign Democrats are viewing the industry more favorably. 

McGregor said she was unsure if crypto would be a “plank in the platform” going forward, but noted she is watching for anything about “fostering innovation and technology in a responsible and appropriate way.”  

The executive added: “What would be helpful is if we heard from her campaign that…we are going to recalibrate and not do regulation by enforcement, because that practice is very destructive.”

A modified version of this article first appeared in the daily On the Margin newsletter. Subscribe here so you don’t miss tomorrow’s edition.

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