In late 2024, citizens of the United States will take to the voting booths to elect their next president โ a four-year term that could have a vast impact on the next crypto bull run.
Though polls are set to open on Nov. 5, 2024, dozens of U.S. politicians have already signaled an intention to contest President Joe Biden for the countryโs top position.
The current Biden administration appears to have been taking an increasingly anti-crypto stance. Meanwhile, former president Donald Trump is again bidding for the job โ setting the stage for a rematch. Others are seeking to carry the Democrat and Republican presidential nominations.
โNo fundamental valueโ: Joe Biden โ Democrat
The current president of the United States, Joe Biden, kicked off his re-election bid on April 25, and is at the moment, the likely favorite for the Democratโs presidential nominee.
Bidenโs attitude toward crypto is possibly best summarized by his 2023 Economic Report of the President which included a section on crypto for the first time since it began in 1950.
The section aimed to debunk the โPerceived Appeal of Crypto Assets.โ It argued crypto doesnโt deliver on โtoutedโ benefits and claimed โmany of them have no fundamental value.โ
Biden has rallied against perceived crypto โtax loopholesโ and even opposed a debt ceiling agreement with Republicans as he claimed it protected โwealthy tax cheats and crypto traders.โ
We donโt have to guess what MAGA House Republicans value. Theyโre telling us. pic.twitter.com/BM6JGMEFeq
โ President Biden (@POTUS) May 9, 2023
His March 2022 executive order culminated with the first framework for crypto. Heโs called for a 30% tax on crypto mining electricity usage, doubling capital gains taxes and cracking down on crypto wash sales.
โNot a fan of Bitcoinโ: Donald Trump โ Republican
The former president turned NFT salesman Trump threw in his non-consecutive re-election bid on Nov. 15, 2022. According to current polling, heโs the favored Republican nominee.
Trump has said crypto โmay be fakeโ and is โa disaster waiting to happen.โ Heโs also said Bitcoin (BTC) โjust seems like a scamโ and didnโt like it โbecause it is another currency competing against the dollar.โ
In July 2019 as president, Trump tweeted he was โnot a fan of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrenciesโ claiming their value was โbased on thin air.โ
I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air. Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity….
โ Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2019
During his presidency, Trump targeted crypto use in financial crimes and purportedly told his Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to โgo after Bitcoinโ in a conversation on trade sanctions against China. โCryptocurrenciesโ were mentioned in his 2021 budget proposal but only for explaining their use in crimes.
He did, however, mull a capital gains tax cut which could have been favorable to crypto users. Trump administration officials did once tout distributed ledger technology (DLT) as a tech that could benefit government operations and bolster the countryโs cybersecurity defenses.
โEvery right to do Bitcoinโ: Ron DeSantis โ Republican
Ron DeSantis said he would โprotectโ Bitcoin in his May 24 presidential bid announcement on Twitter. Polls taken before the Florida governor’s announcement have him second favorite to Trump.
During his Twitter Space campaign kick-off, DeSantis said โYou have every right to do Bitcoinโ and would โprotect the ability to do things like Bitcoin.โ
He called out Congress, claiming it โnever addressedโ crypto and said regulators had made it so โthat people can not operate in that space.โ
Will you require any presidential candidate to support your right to #Bitcoin before they can earn your vote?
โ Michael Saylorโก๏ธ (@saylor) May 27, 2023
His 2022โ2023 budget proposal for the state of Florida proposed the government allows businesses to pay state fees with cryptocurrencies.
DeSantis is probably better known as an anti-central bank digital currency (CBDC) figure.
He passed laws in Florida prohibiting the use of a federal CBDC as money and banned the use of foreign CBDCs. Heโs also rallied against the Federal Reserveโs FedNow 24/7 instant payments system, claiming it’s a CBDC precursor.
โBitcoin should not be regulated as a securityโ: Vivek Ramaswamy โ Republican
Pharmaceutical firm founder Vivek Ramaswamy has also signaled a pro-crypto stance but is considered a long shot for the Republican nomination.
In mid-May, Ramaswamy tweeted โBitcoin should not be regulated as a security.โ At the Bitcoin 2023 conference, he announced he would accept campaign donations in Bitcoin.
Competition breeds innovation. Bitcoin should not be regulated as a security. Will explain more at the @TheBitcoinConf on Saturday. @Bitcoin #Bitcoin #Bitcoin2023 pic.twitter.com/CtMPxIwsMR
โ Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) May 17, 2023
At the conference, Ramaswamy reaffirmed Bitcoin should not be considered a security, saying โWe need to keep it that way.โ
Related: New White House standards strategy could have implications for crypto industry KYC
โBitcoin is finite in its quantity, there is no issuer. It should never have been treated as a security under the current securities laws,โ he said.
โA major innovation engineโ: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. โ Democrat
Robert F. Kennedy Jr is seen as unlikely to be put forward by the Democrats for president โ but he has signaled pro-crypto stances.
Earlier in May he said โcrypto technologies are a major innovation engine” and called Bitcoin a โsymbol of democracy and freedomโ in a speech at the Bitcoin 2023 conference.
He is accepting BTC for campaign donations, the first presidential candidate to ever do so.
Cryptocurrencies, led by bitcoin, along with other crypto technologies are a major innovation engine. It is a mistake for the U.S. government to hobble the industry and drive innovation elsewhere. Bidenโs proposed 30% tax on cryptocurrency mining is a bad idea.
โ Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) May 3, 2023
Kennedy called Bidenโs proposed 30% crypto miner energy tax โa bad ideaโ and opposes CBDCs as they โvastly magnify the governmentโs power.โ He opposes the Fedโs FedNow system for a similar reason.
The others
The third favorite declared Republican candidate Nikki Haley hasnโt publicly addressed her views on crypto.
Democratic nominee Marianne Willamson hasnโt either but has implied disappointment at the Canadian government blocking crypto wallets during the trucker protests in 2022.
Canada, are you okayโฆ? https://t.co/6vi1B3qBbq
โ Marianne Williamson (@marwilliamson) February 18, 2022
Republican Senator Tim Scott is also a bidder and similarly has no stated crypto policies. He did, however, have plans to develop a crypto โbipartisan regulatory framework.โ
Heโs been critical of the securities regulatorโs handling of FTX and questioned if theyโve been โasleep at the wheel.โ
Cointelegraph contacted the campaigns of Haley, Williamson and Scott to clarify their positions on crypto but did not receive a response.
Magazine: Crypto regulation โ Does SEC Chair Gary Gensler have the final say?
