After former United States president Donald Trump made cryptocurrencies one of the focal points of his campaign, it seems that his rival in the presidential race, Joe Biden, has made a surprising turn in tone toward the crypto industry as his team reached out to the community on policy formulation.
As it happens, President Biden’s re-election campaign team has started approaching key crypto industry participants in the last two weeks, apparently seeking insights and advice on “crypto community and policy moving forward,” according to the report by The Block on May 29.
Indeed, as several sources with direct knowledge on the matter told the media outlet on the condition of anonymity, the Biden team has been conducting key discussions with multiple crypto experts, including some that the incumbent president had previously dismissed.
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Why the sudden shift?
Explaining the motives behind such a massive shift in sentiment, the sources said that the administration has begun to recognize the impact that crypto-related issues could have on the presidential race that might be narrow, with one source in Trump’s camp pointing out that:
“They have very smart and capable people advising on that front, and you’ve seen some of the results of that and will see more in the coming months.”
And while there is optimism among many in the sector regarding this pro-crypto shift, some of the participants who have been involved in discussions with the Biden campaign have reportedly expressed skepticism, arguing that the team’s recent crypto-positive actions are “too little, too late.”
Notably, the current US president has earlier received heavy criticism from the crypto community due to his administration’s announcement that he would veto the legislation enabling highly regulated financial firms to act as custodians for crypto assets, claiming that:
“[It] would disrupt the [SEC’s] work to protect investors in crypto-asset markets and to safeguard the broader financial system [and] would invalidate SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin 121 (SAB 121), which reflects considered SEC staff views regarding the accounting obligations of certain firms that safeguard crypto-assets.”
Trump’s crypto stance
On the other hand, Trump has expressed support for the crypto sector, arguing his opponent didn’t understand it but that he himself was “fine with it,” and recently started accepting donations for his campaign in the form of crypto assets, sending the Biden campaign in panic mode.
Furthermore, the former US president also shared his views on the social media platform Truth Social, where he stated that America “must be the leader in the field, there is no second place,” once again voicing his support for the crypto industry and crypto companies in the country.
Additionally, Trump has also been trading crypto, with his holdings recently surpassing $10 million, largely due to the impressive performance of the MAGA memecoin, TRUMP, which the presidential hopeful currently owns about $7.3 million, as Finbold reported on May 27.
