Kamala Harris urged by democratic donors to speak at crypto conference: report

Prominent Democratic donors are said to be pressuring Kamala Harris to speak at a crypto conference in the US after her Republican rival voiced support for the crypto industry.

Presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is reportedly being pressured to attend a crypto conference in the United States this fall. The pressure comes in response to recent pro-crypto statements made by former President Donald Trump at the Bitcoin 2024 event held in Nashville, Texas last week.

According to a Decrypt report published today, July 30, major Democratic donors are pressuring crypto media firm Blockworks to invite Kamala Harris to speak at its upcoming crypto conference called Permissionless III, which will take place in Salt Lake City from October 9-11. Blockworks founder Jason Yanowitz told Decrypt that the company was “pressured by some of the largest Democratic donors to invite her.” [Kamala Harris] “Be there,” he said, but did not identify those advocating for his appearance.

Permissionless III will host a16z crypto founder Chris Dixon, Galaxy Digital boss Michael Novogratz, and Republican Tom Emmer, among others. Speaking to Decrypt, Yanowitz noted that Blockworks aims to create a more bipartisan atmosphere at this year’s conference, contrasting with the “Republican-heavy” tone of Bitcoin 2024.

In mid-July, a16z founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz endorsed former President Donald Trump and said they planned to donate to PACs supporting the former president. Democratic megadonor Novogratz appeared to support Harris, saying the Democratic presidential nominee would make the race “much harder” for Trump.

Sorry but you can’t destroy our industry for 4 years, force a bottleneck operation, use Gensler and Warren as your Champions and then pretend you’re all about Bitcoin. A major democrat donor told me that Kamala privately said “Bitcoin is money for criminals.”

— David Bailey🇵🇷 $0.65m/btc floor (@DavidFBailey) July 24, 2024

Harris’ stance on cryptocurrency has yet to be made public, but it has been a topic of discussion in the industry since President Biden announced he was dropping out of the race this fall. In a July 24 post on X, Bitcoin Magazine CEO David Bailey said Kamala Harris specifically referred to Bitcoin (BTC) as “money for criminals,” citing an undisclosed “major Democratic donor.”

This weekend, reports emerged that Harris’ campaign team had reached out to several prominent U.S. crypto companies, including Coinbase, Circle, and Ripple Labs, in an effort to “re-engage” with the industry.