US President Joe Biden faces growing domestic and international pressure over Rafah
The Biden administration has largely been supportive of the SEC's enforcement approach toward regulating the crypto industry. AFP

KEY POINTS

  • The campaign reportedly started reaching out to industry players about two weeks ago
  • Trump has already been significantly leaning toward the crypto sector in recent months
  • A March poll showed that more crypto owners are planning to vote for Trump in November

The re-election campaign team of U.S. President Joe Biden has started reaching out to key figures and entities in the cryptocurrency industry, a new report revealed, signaling an apparent shifting tone toward the fast-evolving fintech subsector.

The team has been seeking recommendations from digital asset players on "crypto community and crypto policy moving forward," The Block reported Wednesday, citing sources with direct knowledge of the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity. Several sources said the latest development, which started about two weeks ago, signals a significant "shift" from the Biden administration's previous dealings with the industry.

International Business Times has reached out to the Biden 2024 campaign for comment.

The report said that the Biden camp has increasingly begun to recognize the impact of crypto-related issues on a presidential race, which led the team to call up several digital assets experts. These included industry players whom the incumbent president previously rebuffed in the past, one source revealed.

While many in the industry welcomed the Biden campaign's outreach, some players were skeptical and believed that the move was "too little, too late," as per one source.

News of the supposed crypto sector outreach by the Biden camp comes just days after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump vocally expressed support for the industry while speaking to libertarians. He said he will "make sure that the future of crypto and the future of Bitcoin will be made in the USA."

On the contrary, the Biden administration continues to support the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) regulatory approach toward cryptocurrencies. The White House said last week that it opposes the passage of a House resolution that sought to establish a regulatory framework for digital assets.

Earlier this month, the Biden government also said the Democratic leader will veto a proposed legislation that repeals the SEC's controversial crypto custody staff bulletin – the said resolution has passed both the House and Senate.

Hayden Adams, the founder and CEO of decentralized crypto exchange Uniswap, said the Biden campaign and his strategists were miscalculating the relevance of crypto in the November elections.

He argued that on the contrary, the Trump campaign and other Republicans "smell blood in the water" and are already "turning hard towards crypto."

It remains to be seen whether the Biden election 2024 campaign will continue embracing the crypto sector. However, it appears that Trump has the upper hand at this time, at least based on a March poll that states more crypto owners are planning to vote for him over the incumbent president.

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