The inaugural basic debate for the 2024 U.S. presidential election, held Thursday in Atlanta, Georgia, didn’t handle cryptocurrency points, disappointing {industry} observers.
CNN anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash moderated the 90-minute face-off between incumbent President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. Whereas the talk coated varied matters together with the economic system, abortion, immigration, and overseas coverage, it barely touched on know-how coverage and fully neglected digital belongings.
As pointed out in a CoinDesk report, this omission got here regardless of crypto’s current prominence in marketing campaign discussions, notably following Trump’s statements about regulation and his promise to commute Ross Ulbricht’s sentence. The Biden marketing campaign has remained largely silent on crypto issues, although his administration not too long ago expressed curiosity in collaborating with Congress on crypto laws.
Economics not a spotlight
The talk’s financial phase was transient, with questions specializing in inflation, residing prices, and nationwide debt. Observers famous Biden’s subdued demeanor, attributed to a chilly, whereas Trump appeared extra animated however confronted extra scrutiny from fact-checkers.
The crypto {industry} continues to hunt favorable laws, repeating its substantial marketing campaign spending from 2022. Main gamers like Coinbase, Ripple, and Andreessen Horowitz have every donated practically $50 million to political motion committees supporting crypto-friendly candidates.
These efforts have yielded some success in major elections, with industry-backed PACs funding advertisements in opposition to candidates perceived as much less favorable to crypto pursuits. In the course of the debate, a prediction market on Polymarket gave Trump a 68% likelihood of profitable the November election, in comparison with Biden’s 29%.
The absence of crypto dialogue on this high-profile debate highlights the continued problem for the {industry} to safe a spot in mainstream political discourse, regardless of its rising financial and technological significance.
Crypto’s partisan nature
Cryptocurrency regulation has turn into a largely partisan difficulty in the USA, with Republicans being extra favorable to the crypto {industry} than Democrats. Nonetheless, because the presidential race heats up Biden barely modified course.
After vetoing a bipartisan-crypto move that sought to repeal the Securities and Change Fee’s (SEC) Workers Accounting Bulletin 121 (SAB 121). Following that transfer, Biden’s marketing campaign’s increased engagement with the crypto community and is rumored to be in talks to potentially accept cryptocurrency donations by way of Coinbase Commerce.