Crypto Executives Plan Kamala Harris Fundraiser

Cryptocurrency investors and industry executives are planning a 13 September Washington D.C. fundraiser for US vice president Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, as rival Donald Trump continues to court endorsements and donations from the crypto industry.

The grassroots fundraiser, is to be held between the Congressional Black Caucus and Congressional Hispanic Caucus conferences, and aims to bring together a diverse group of donors, Reuters reported.

Organisers include Cleve Mesidor, executive director of the Blockchain Foundation, Tiffany Smith, co-chair of the Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Working Group at law firm WilmerHale and Rahilla Zafar, a crypto founder who has also worked in artificial intelligence.

Mesidor said she hoped the event would encourage Harris to “make a statement about what crypto is for Democrats as a potentially new administration contemplates how do they look at this”.

Crypto policy

Smith said the event, which aims to raise at least $100,000 (£76,000), aimed to show support for Harris and to “help her understand the importance of this industry“.

The event shows that some in the crypto industry are supporting Harris and are hoping a potential Harris administration would take a more moderate stance on crypto.

Under Joe Biden regulators have cracked down on crypto firms, saying they are flouting securities laws, something disputed by the companies.

Harris has not yet made public comments on crypto, but her campaign staff have reportedly met with firms in the industry including Coinbase and Ripple.

Meanwhile Trump last Thursday announced on X that he would lay out “my plan to ensure that the United States will be the crypto capital of the planet” that afternoon, but the day passed without a plan being announced.

“They want to choke you. They want to choke you out of business. We’re not going to let that happen,” Trump said in the voiceover of a video of himself posted on the social media platform, formerly Twitter, which is owned by supporter Elon Musk.

Decentralised finance

On the same day Trump publicised a crypto platform that was recently rebranded World Liberty Financial, and involves his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.

“A new era in finance is here,” Eric said in a post on X.

It was not immediately clear what World Liberty Financial would do, but Donald Trump Jr. had made remarks indicating the family was developing a crypto platform that would provide alternative ways of accessing financing via decentralised finance, or DeFi.

Also last week Trump launched a new round of his NFT digital trading cards, the first round of which sold out in less than a day in December 2022, including images showing Trump as a sheriff or an astronaut.

The Trump campaign estimates it has received about $25m in crypto-related funding.