- The US elections landscape has shown increased interest in crypto-related campaigns in the past months.
- Several political based digital assets have also debuted within the crypto market.
Since its origin, cryptocurrency has been closely intertwined with politics. The nature of the sector, with its open threat to centralized finance, has rendered politics to be its constant watchdog. Moreover, the need for regulations within digital assets, though contrary to crypto’s goals, still requires the involvement of political and governmental organizations in the industry.
Secondly, the cryptocurrency sector is emerging to play a role in the global economy as more and more of the population turns towards digital assets. This factor also contributes to political interest in Bitcoin and surprisingly has also resulted in institutional and governmental adoptions of the digital assets.
This year, central to political crypto endeavors is the 2024 US Elections and the digital asset’s role in it. Over the past few months, this landscape has been thriving with excitement, new announcements, and other initiatives. This article delves into cryptocurrency’s role in the US political landscape.
Crypto – Donations, Laws & Promises
This year has seen a surge in crypto-related political activities in the US. Shortly before the advent of the US election campaigns, the US House of Representatives including President Joe Biden vetoed an SEC-related bill that would allow the SEC to pass regulations. This regulation stated that centralized banks must list cryptocurrencies as liabilities on their balance sheets.
At this point, Donald Trump entered the scene proclaiming his pro-crypto stance and immense interest in DeFi. The former president stepped up his game by initiating the acceptance of crypto donations for his campaigns. Additionally, Trump made several promises to ensure the reorganizing of crypto regulations and facilitating its productive growth if elected president.
Firstly, the presidential candidate showed increased interactions with the crypto community – his speaking at the Bitcoin 2024 conference, meetings with leading community members in May and June, and interactions with Bitcoin mining institutions in June to name a few of his pro-crypto movements.
Secondly, Trump also went ahead to call himself the “Crypto President” and showed personal interests in the sector. The politician began investing in cryptocurrency and discussed his plans to establish the US as the leading nation within the sector. In several interviews, he discussed how the USA needs to take the upper hand in Bitcoin mining to ensure its supremacy on the global level.
Thirdly, Donald Trump also referred to several imprisoned convicts – Silk Road Founder Ross Ulbricht who is currently serving a double prison sentence. Trump has promised to free the Silk Road founder if elected president.
Meanwhile, Trump’s initiatives and the community’s response caused the Democrats in turn to reevaluate their approach towards cryptocurrency. Joe Biden began traversing towards a pro-crypto stance by initiating a debate on accepting crypto donations for his own campaigns. The current president then proceeded to state that he would advocate for cryptocurrency upon being elected.
Democrats Vs. Republicans – A Walk through on their Crypto Journey
On comparing the two largest US parties competing for the majority, their current stance on crypto was achieved in very different ways. In that light, the Republican party has continued to express clarity on its attitude toward the industry.
However, it is worth noting that the renewed interest in crypto is novel to their present campaign. Donald Trump, during his term as president, had expressed skepticism towards Bitcoin and digital assets. On the other hand, the former president has reformed his approach and has presently initiated his own DeFi project.
Despite that, during his campaigns the “crypto president” had failed to mention cryptocurrency in certain key events. During the first presidential debate held between Biden and Trump and secondly, Elon Musk and Trump’s X space were two of the key events.
Meanwhile, the Democrats have presented a rather shaky attitude towards digital assets raising skepticism among both community members and citizens alike. While Biden’s crypto approach was highly unconvincing, the recent presidential nominee switch following Joe Biden’s stepping down and Kamala Harris becoming the new nominee, has rendered newer horizons.
Kamala Harris stated outwardly that if elected the US government plans to support the growth of digital assets including cryptocurrency saying that it is the future of cryptocurrency. Additionally, the running vice-president also began a campaign called the Crypto4Harris enhancing her crypto stance to the nation. However, she has not yet stated a clear crypto policy which causes speculations in the community.
PolitiFi Memecoins, NFT Collections – New Assets that Debuted
The past few months have seen multiple new assets debuted in the crypto market. Several of them were inspired by or resulted from the US political landscape. Some of them are discussed below.
PolitiFi Memecoins
This category of digital assets has seen widespread adoption and interest from the crypto community. Several memecoins inspired by Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris cropped up in the market. Additionally, initial buyers and smart traders found a window of opportunity in these assets as prices were fluctuating based on the political landscape.
During and post-presidential debates the assets showed much volatility causing investors to incur both profits and losses. Some of the memecoins include – MAGA (TRUMP), Donald Trump (TRUMP), Joe Biden (BIDEN), and Kamala (harris.cool) (HARRIS).
NFT Collections
Presidential candidate Donald Trump has launched several NFT collections over the past few months. These projects exclude the memecoins that the former president and his son have launched. Recently, towards the end of August, he launched his fourth NFT collection.
However, the projects have not seen much sales in the market after the initial boom. Additionally, Donald Trump in September launched the World Liberty Financial, a DeFi project initiative by the Trump family. On the other hand, the Democrat party had not taken any crypto-based initiatives.
The SEC & Gary Gensler
Amidst the aforementioned circumstances, there had been no pause for regulatory actions taken by the SEC against several crypto-based firms. The regulatory body filed cases on major firms such as Ripple and Coinbase while also combating Binance. It also filed cases against OpenSea over NFT sales.
Additionally, the SEC didn’t just file cases, the US regulator made several public opinions that faced much criticism from the crypto community. In particular, Gary Gensler’s comments on NFTs raised immense speculations and criticisms. Moreover, blockchain firm Consensys went ahead and filed a lawsuit against the SEC for its inaccurate approach to digital assets.
Meanwhile, in the month of July, the SEC approved Ethereum’s spot ETFs much to the surprise of the community. However, lawsuits continued to be filed and a recent report stated that the regulator has imposed a total of $4.68 billion in fines against crypto companies in 2024.
On the other hand, the SEC chair, Gary Gensler himself became a subject of judiciary investigation for suspecting charges of being politically biased in the hiring process. Relatedly, presidential candidate Donald Trump had promised the crypto community that he would fire Gary Gensler if elected president.
Republican & Democrat Advocates and Polymarket
With both parties leaning towards cryptocurrency, the community responded diversely. Several prominent members such as tech giant Elon Musk, crypto influencer Adin Ross, and others extended their support to Donald Trump.
Additionally, several members including the Winklevoss twins, and Kraken co-founder Jesse Powell raised $3 million in funds for Donald Trump. Meanwhile, other members such as SkyBridge Capital founder, Anthony Scaramucci pledged their support to the Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
Secondly, another crucial element that highlighted crypto’s role in the US elections was the decentralized prediction platform Polymarket. The prediction platform has been consistently posting bets on who would win the election. The shifting of proportions between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump can be seen correlating in certain points with the leaders’ crypto approach.
For instance, after the second presidential debate, when Trump failed to mention crypto, his odds of winning the elections took a hit. Similarly, Kamala Harris’s odds showed a surge after she modified the Democrats’ crypto stance.
Why are the US Elections Influencing Crypto Extensively?
The US is the leading nation in several fields and cryptocurrency is no different. Most of the influential origins occurred in the US including Bitcoin’s first mining and utility. The prominent Bitcoin Pizza day, when the cryptocurrency was first used in a real-world transaction is one of the origin incidents connected to the US. Moreover, the country is also the base for a wide range of crypto-based firms making it a crucial element in the sector.
Due to the aforementioned reasons the US becomes necessary for the sector’s operational needs. Subsequently, the country’s regulatory climate tends to have an influence on the overall crypto market. A positive regulatory landscape for crypto in the US can benefit the industry by fuelling advancements. This leads to elections having an extensive influence on market prices and actions.
Conclusion
As discussed earlier, with the Elections drawing closer, community members expect it to have a greater influence on the cryptocurrency market. Additionally, the influence can be observed both ways. With crypto becoming a tug-of-war between presidential candidates, the digital asset is developing into a cornerstone in determining election results.
Moreover, several prominent cryptocurrency market analysts have discussed the future of cryptocurrency on the basis of the potential 2024 Elections’ results. The leading pro-crypto candidate Donald Trump, on winning the elections might instigate a bullish price rally in Bitcoin state experts. Furthermore, several community members also show similar sentiments. They believe that Trump’s win will follow a pro-crypto government resulting in the aforementioned price rally.
While crypto-positive regulations can be expected in the future, the US elections have benefited the community in one important way. It has garnered attention immensely to digital assets and has aided the sector in its attempt to become mainstream.
