politics

Kamala Harris’ campaign isn’t directly accepting crypto — a Super PAC is

September 5, 2024 Coin Telegraph

A spokesperson for the Harris campaign confirmed with Cointelegraph that the Future Forward PAC was set up to receive crypto donations to support the Democratic candidate.

Coinbase’s chief financial officer suggested that United States Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign accepted crypto donations through the exchange’s Commerce platform.

On Sept. 4, Coinbase CFO Alesia Haas spoke at Citi’s 2024 Global TMT Conference in New York, saying Vice President Harris had a “huge opportunity” to court voters in the 2024 election by supporting legislation favoring the crypto industry. Haas added that the Democratic presidential candidate was “using Coinbase Commerce now to accept crypto for her own campaign,” leading to reports that the campaign was directly accepting contributions in digital assets.

However, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign said that at this time, the campaign was able to receive crypto contributions through the Future Forward political action committee (PAC). According to Open Secrets, the Super PAC has raised more than $163 million for Harris’ bid to defeat Republican nominee Donald Trump in the November election.

Trump’s crypto gambit in Bitcoin, NFTs and DeFi intensifies ahead of election

September 4, 2024 Coin Telegraph

Coinbase CLO says he’s ‘encouraged’ by Harris campaign reaching out

September 3, 2024 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

With 63 days until the US election and early voting starting in September, single-issue crypto voters have a limited window to decide between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

Paul Grewal, the chief legal officer at cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, said that despite the different approaches that major party candidates are taking in the United States 2024 presidential election, he was encouraged by the Democratic ticket.

In a Sept. 3 interview with Bloomberg, Grewal said Coinbase had been in touch with representatives from Democratic candidate Kamala Harris’ and Republican Donald Trump’s campaigns regarding their attempts to engage with the industry before the November election. The Coinbase CLO said Trump’s campaign had been “explicit” in its claims about embracing pro-crypto policies but hinted Harris officials also seemed to have an open-minded approach to digital assets.

“[W]e’ve been encouraged, even as the current administration under [Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair] Gary Gensler continues with its campaign of regulation by enforcement, the Harris campaign [...] has reached out, has expressed an interest, and has begun discussions about what a new approach to crypto and digital assets could look like,” said Grewal.