(Bloomberg) -- Crypto-industry supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris are working to set up at least eight fundraisers to benefit the Democratic nominee in the coming weeks.
The grassroots Crypto4Harris effort is planning events in the second half of September or early October in Miami, Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, Chicago, San Francisco and Philadelphia, co-organizer Amanda Wick said in an interview. Meanwhile, Harris supporter Cleve Mesidor, founder of the National Policy Network of Women of Color in Blockchain, has been working on a fundraiser in Washington for Sept. 13, she said in an interview.
Supporters see the fundraising events as an opportunity to raise the industry’s profile with the Harris campaign, and to push the candidate toward policies more favorable to crypto. Under President Joe Biden’s administration, agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission filed multiple actions against crypto companies, as legislation that would make crypto businesses easier to run languishes in Congress.
“Our system, sadly, is too often ‘pay to play,’ and many folks in the crypto industry know that, but they’ve been burned by four years of terrible policy under Biden and are reluctant to give until Harris shows signs of a pivot,” Wick said. “But there is a massive amount of money and votes in crypto just waiting for that sign. We are working with the campaign especially hard to get some indication of a pivot before it’s too late and that money and those votes are lost for good.”
While Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has vowed to promote the industry and fire SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, Harris hasn’t shared her views on crypto yet. Her campaign has been talking with the industry, and a campaign adviser recently said she will back measures to help grow digital assets.
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