CoinDesk Report:
Author: Thomas Carreras, DL News; Translation: Felix, PANews
On-chain prediction market Polymarket shows that the odds of Vice President Kamala Harris winning the Democratic nomination in 2024 have risen to 42%, while President Biden’s chances have declined to 37%.
Despite White House spokespersons previously denying considerations of Biden withdrawing from the race, predictions of his withdrawal have now escalated to 65%. Simultaneously, in forecasts for the presidential election winner, Vice President Harris’ odds have risen to 16%. Although trailing significantly behind Trump (61%), Harris surpasses Biden (12%), placing her second.
Vice President Harris’ sudden prominence has sparked speculation among cryptocurrency enthusiasts regarding her stance on digital assets. Has she previously engaged with or expressed opinions on the crypto sector? Here are the details gathered:
Following Biden’s poor performance in last week’s debate against Trump, Harris has emerged as the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination. Her stance on cryptocurrencies now appears more pressing.
While Biden has pledged to continue his campaign and Harris has not publicly announced a bid for the 47th presidency of the United States, recent Polymarket predictions suggest Harris’ chances in the presidential election have risen to 16%. Despite trailing Trump (61%), she surpasses Biden (12%), ranking second.
Meanwhile, a meme coin named Kamala Horris has emerged, skyrocketing approximately 600% in the past week and over 1500% in the last 30 days according to Coingecko data.
Given the cryptocurrency industry’s prominence in this year’s elections and Harris’ sudden rise, her stance on digital assets appears unusually significant.
While the Biden administration has maintained a hostile stance toward the crypto industry, Harris’ position remains more ambiguous.
Harris has never officially taken a stance on cryptocurrencies nor commented on the industry.
Financial disclosures indicate that neither Harris nor her husband Douglas Emhoff have been involved in the crypto sector, instead preferring investments in U.S. Treasury bonds and emerging markets.
Notably, during the 2020 elections, Harris did hire Ryan Montoya, former Chief Technology Officer of the Sacramento Kings NBA team, as her scheduling director.
According to Montoya’s LinkedIn profile, under his leadership, the Sacramento Kings became the world’s first team to accept Bitcoin. The team also mined Ethereum and launched an NFT series.
Montoya now serves as a presidential assistant at the White House, still managing his original scheduling duties, thus unlikely to influence policy.
However, according to a 2020 report from The New York Times, Harris has close ties to the tech industry from her time in San Francisco. Her nomination as Vice President was considered good news for Silicon Valley.
With lobbying efforts from the cryptocurrency industry intensifying and Wall Street banks joining in, Harris coming out in support of Bitcoin before the presidential election could be “plausible”. Of course, she may also adopt a stance similar to Biden’s, potentially implementing restrictive policies on cryptocurrencies.
