US congressional races should take precedence over the presidential election, according to several executives at blockchain and cryptocurrency companies.
Some cryptocurrency events appear to be centered around politics and regulation, as the American people will be choosing their representatives in the Senate, House of Representatives, and the Presidency in less than a month.
While attending the Permissionless III conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Ripple Swell in Miami, Florida, in October, we observed that numerous panels featured opinions from senior executives regarding their forecasts for the November US presidential election between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris, as well as the potential consequences of the outcome for the industry in 2025.
Regardless of whether the subject matter was initially centered on regulation, stablecoins, or Bitcoin BTC tickers down $68.602 mining, a number of participants indicated that digital assets had gained unprecedented traction in US politics in 2024.
“Every panel is discussing regulations,” Lauren Belive, the head of US public policy at Ripple, told us at Swell on October 16. She also added:
Policymakers are now much more interested in the subtleties of this technology.
Compared to the 2020 elections or the US midterms in 2022, the cryptocurrency industry has achieved a number of advancements in 2024. Trump described Bitcoin as being founded on “thin air” during his 2017–2021 presidency and labeled it a “scam” after he left office. Since then, the candidates from both main parties have indicated that, should they be elected, they plan to assist the industry.
Jason Allegrante, head of legal and compliance at Fireblocks, told us, “I do think there is a frustration and a sense that this is technology, and technology shouldn’t be a political issue — it’s become one in the United States.” “I believe this is the reason why people are speaking out more about the possible effects of this election.”
Regardless of the result, does cryptocurrency win?
At the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Tennessee, Trump delivered the keynote address. The North American Blockchain Summit in 2023, which will resume following the US Election on November 5, also featured speeches from a number of parliamentarians and presidential contenders.
At a Permissionless discussion on October 9, Kristin Smith, CEO of the Blockchain Association, stated, “We’re going to start [in 2025] with the most educated Congress we’ve ever had because we have so many first-time candidates coming in with positions on crypto.”
“We will have a very advanced debate around the crypto issues and a very large cohort of members of the House and the Senate […] who will now come in with brand new pro-crypto voices, regardless of what happens in the elections.”
At the time of writing, the prediction website Polymarket gave Trump a 60% chance of defeating Vice President Harris to win the US presidency.
At the time of publication, the Kalshi marketplace, which started accepting wagers on US elections after winning a legal battle against the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, estimated the Republicans had a 42% chance of taking control of the House, Senate, and the presidency.
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