Crypto4Harris looks to 'do a formal reset' in engaging with VP's team, starting with Wednesday's town hall

Quick Take
- Crypto4Harris is hosting a town hall on Wednesday including speakers such as Reps. Ritchie Torres, Wiley Nickel and billionaire Mark Cuban.
- That event is a “starting point,” said Jonathan Padilla, one of the organizers for Crypto4Harris.


Crypto pundits and lawmakers are set to speak at an event called "Crypto4Harris," in a push to revamp the industry's ties to presidential candidate and current Vice President Kamala Harris.
The group began organizing the effort about two weeks ago, said Jonathan Padilla, one of the organizers for Crypto4Harris, founder of Snickerdoodle Labs and formerly the head of blockchain strategy at PayPal. Padilla is also a delegate in California for the Democratic National Convention.
The group, which has a page on X, describes itself as a "grassroots network of crypto advocates organizing, fundraising and developing a nuanced crypto-policy approach for the Harris For President campaign." They will host a town hall on Wednesday night with an array of speakers including Reps. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., Wiley Nickel, D-N.C., Adam Schiff, D-Calif., along with Crypto Council for Innovation CEO Sheila Warren, billionaire Mark Cuban and former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci.
"This event on Wednesday, tomorrow, is really a starting point," Padilla said in an interview with The Block. "Our bigger goal is to really engage with the Harris campaign in a meaningful way and kind of do a formal reset."
Crypto has asserted itself into the upcoming election season with millions of dollars flooding into super political action committees and presidential candidate Donald Trump telling voters he would end an "unlawful and un-American crackdown" on the U.S. crypto industry. The former president has also made inroads with the industry by selecting crypto-friendly J.D. Vance as his running mate and promised in June to advocate for bitcoin miners.
On the other side, candidate Harris has begun reaching out to the crypto industry and says they want to learn more about crypto, a source who spoke with a member of her campaign team has said. Harris has not yet taken a public position on crypto.
The crypto-friendly Nickel said he was looking forward to speaking at Wednesday's town hall.
"I’m excited to join a great group of Democrats engaged on digital assets who are all excited to elect Kamala Harris as President," Nickel said in an email. "As Democrats, it’s important that we encourage digital innovation while protecting American consumers. We're thrilled about Kamala Harris and the opportunity her administration brings for a renewed approach to innovative technology in America."
Rep. Yadira Caraveo, D-Colo., will also speak at the event. She voted for a crypto market structure bill in May and said the legislation would allow for digital asset markets to innovate while also protecting consumers.
"As Ranking Member of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Commodity Markets, Digital Assets, and Rural Development, she will speak about crypto as a bipartisan issue," a spokesperson for Rep. Caraveo said in an email.
Harris' team and crypto
The Crypto4Harris effort is working to prepare a potential Harris administration to have crypto "at the forefront," including policy, fundraising and working on who could be appointed to top spots at the U.S. Treasury Department or the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Padilla said.
"Those are the types of things we're aiming for to have an organized approach to how to influence government and influence policy that'll be beneficial for the industry," Padilla said.
Padilla also said Crypto4Harris is engaging with the vice president's campaign.
"We're engaging with various elements of the campaign and early indications point towards a willingness to sit down and figure out a path forward," Padilla said.
Harris' top advisers
Harris has reportedly hired Brian Nelson, the Treasury's under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence as an adviser and brought on former deputy National Security Advisor Mike Pyle as well as President Joe Biden's former economic aides, Brian Deese and Bharat Ramamurti, according to sources who spoke with Bloomberg.
Some in the crypto industry criticized the move to add Ramamurti and Deese onto Harris' team on X on Wednesday. Some argued the two were behind the Biden administration's anti-crypto stance.
There are lots of moving parts in presidential campaigns, Padilla said, when asked about Harris' campaign team.
"I think you're going to see a number of people in the campaign, both crypto and non crypto," Padilla said. "It's really incumbent upon the space to let the campaign know that some people are more preferential than others, but shaping policy is going to have give and take and that's how policy is made."
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