Crypto missing from Democrats party platform as national convention kicks off

by RT Watson

U.S. Policymaking • August 19, 2024, 1:32PM EDT

Published 1 minute earlier on

The Block

Quick Take

Differing from the Republican party platform, mentions of crypto are missing from the Democrats’ party platform, which was released ahead of this week’s convention.
Published Sunday, the platform appears to have not been updated since Vice President Kamala Harris took over as the Democrats’ presumptive nominee for president.

The Democrats' newly released party platform may come as a bit of a disappointment for left-leaning voters who are considering voting their way come November but also seek a renewed vision for the U.S. government’s handling of cryptocurrency.

The Democrats' party platform fails to mention crypto once as the party's national convention kicks off Monday. How politicians view crypto could prove to be an important issue among many voters during this year's election.

This comes in stark contrast to the Republican platform, in which the party promised to both “end Democrats' unlawful and unAmerican Crypto crackdown” and “defend the right to mine Bitcoin.” Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has made multiple efforts to demonstrate he is the pro-crypto candidate, including speaking at the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville last month.

Trump has also been involved in crypto-related ventures. He recently declared he holds millions of dollars worth of Ethereum-based cryptocurrency assets and that he has earned more than $7 million from NFT collections.

Platform approved in July

It’s worth noting the Democrats party platform, which was released over the weekend, appears to have been written and approved by the committee in July, before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.

"The document was approved by the Platform Committee on July 16, just days before Biden bowed out of the race on July 21," NBC News reported. "Convention delegates will vote on the platform Monday night, a largely ceremonial procedure."

Since Biden stepped aside, both entrepreneurs and lawmakers have made efforts to bolster ties between the crypto industry and Harris. Last week, the self-proclaimed "grassroots network of crypto advocates” known as Crypto4Harris held a town hall to discuss the Democrats' vision for digital asset innovation and regulation.

Alongside billionaire Mark Cuban, who spoke at the gathering, people like Anthony Scaramucci and Congressman Adam Schiff have lobbied for the Democratic party to rethink their stance on the crypto industry ahead of the November election.

Also speaking at the event, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he intends to pass legislation to regulate crypto by the end of this year.

"We should strike a balance for crypto between promoting innovation and providing common sense guardrails," he said.

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About Author

RT Watson is a senior reporter at The Block who covers a wide array of topics including U.S.-based companies, blockchain gaming and NFTs. Formerly covered entertainment at The Wall Street Journal, where he wrote about Disney, Netflix, Warner Bros. and the creator economy while focusing primarily on technological disruption across media. Previous to that he covered corporate, economic and political news in Brazil while at Bloomberg. RT has interviewed a diverse cast of characters including CEOs, media moguls, top influencers, politicians, blue-collar workers, drug traffickers and convicted criminals. Holds a master's degree in Digital Sociology.