What we know about Kamala Harris’ views on crypto

With Joe Biden out of the race, all bets are off.

United States Vice President Kamala Harris is a bit of an anomaly among Capitol Hill politicians: She’s never had strong words for or against digital currencies, tokenization, blockchain or non-fungible tokens. 

None of that has mattered for the past four years, as US President Joe Biden has had plenty to say about crypto during his time in the White House.

Candidate Harris?

But that’s all changed since Biden announced he is dropping out of the upcoming presidential election. While there’s no guarantee that his vice president will get the democratic nomination, he’s already given Harris his endorsement.

Trump’s plans for the space may become a bit clearer in the coming weeks, as he’s slated to speak at the Bitcoin Conference on July 27 in Nashville, Tennessee. But, in the meantime, it’s likely safe to think he is not anti-Bitcoin (BTC).

The question now becomes: What happens to crypto if Harris wins?

President Harris?

Just because we don’t know her official stance doesn’t mean we can’t glean details about what it might look like.

For starters, there’s plenty of reason to believe Harris could stay the course already set. Since her political wagon has been hitched to Biden, her donors and supporters come from his camp. It could be much easier for “President Harris” to change the status quo than “candidate Harris.”

This stands out because, based on the disclosure, the donors aren’t even a little curious about digital assets despite being connected to Silicon Valley. Harris is a California native who has been seen as one of the more tech-friendly democrats to become prominent in recent years, notwithstanding her somewhat cautious stance on artificial intelligence.

Her shunning of cryptocurrency may have been exactly that: an outright dismissal of the technology itself. If that’s the case, she may drum up anti-crypto support as her campaign unfolds.

Finally, it’s worth considering the razor-thin margins between support for Trump and Biden before the latter ended his reelection bid. Imagine a scenario where Harris needs to hurry up and find a few percentage points to justify her candidacy. Then, the real question is whether coming out pro-crypto would help or hurt her against Trump.

Related: Trump’s VP pick, JD Vance, could mean a new era for crypto