Democratic Congressman Has 'Good Indications' Kamala Harris Will Be Better on Crypto Than Biden

Rep. Wiley Nickel (D-NC), one of a handful of vocally pro-crypto House Democrats, said that he has already heard and seen enough to lead him to believe that Kamala Harris will govern in a manner more favorable to the crypto industry than current U.S. President Joe Biden should she take the White House in November. 

“We’ve gotten some good indications that she's going to take a balanced approach on this issue,” Nickel told Decrypt on Tuesday. 

On Saturday, Nickel, along with fourteen other House Democrats and Democratic candidates for House seats, sent a letter to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) imploring the Harris campaign to implement a number of pro-crypto measures in the near-term. 

Those wish-list asks included Harris choosing a pro-crypto running mate, her campaign engaging in dialogues with crypto industry leaders, and the DNC adding language about crypto to its party platform.

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Nickel said that in addition to those requests, he and pro-crypto House Democrats have also privately asked the Harris campaign to commit to “a lot of other stuff” related to crypto and digital assets policy. 

While Nickel wouldn’t elaborate on those private conversations, he said that in the nine days since the Vice President launched her campaign, he has already heard and seen enough to be enthusiastic about the prospect of a Harris Administration’s crypto policy. 

“I'm very hopeful we'll get good policy positions,” he said of the Harris campaign.

Nickel added that he also has reason to be optimistic that crypto might end up in the Democratic Party’s national platform by its convention in Chicago next month. At this point, the congressman said, crypto has become such a prominent political issue that—wherever the DNC’s views fall on the subject—the matter can no longer be avoided. 

“Candidates running for president need to put forward good positions about digital innovations so they can keep those jobs here in the U.S.,” Nickel said. “I think we're going to see that from the Harris campaign.”

The moderate Democrat attended the Bitcoin Nashville conference this weekend, where prominent politicians including Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and former president Donald Trump made appearances.

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While many Bitcoin maximalists responded positively to Trump’s speech on Saturday, Nickel says he was thoroughly unconvinced by the showing, due in part to the fact that Trump was once a vocal crypto skeptic who failed to support the industry during his first term in office. 

“I don’t believe he's going to do much of anything that he says he's going to do,” Nickel said. “He's trying to stay out of jail, and he's going to say anything to get votes.”

Trump’s speech reached a crescendo on Saturday when the former president pledged to fire U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair Gary Gensler, if re-elected. Trump then repeated the line after it received thunderous applause. 

“I'm very skeptical that Trump is someone who understands the issues,” Nickel said. “I don't think that when he said that, he even knew who Gary Gensler was.”

“But he did realize he got a good applause line,” Nickel continued. “So he said it again.”

Edited by Andrew Hayward