š» Is crypto a Republican vs. Democrat fight?
It may not be as partisan as you think
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The TL;DR
š£The big story. Is crypto a Republican vs Democrat fight? It might not be as partisan as you think.
š»Other news to bear in mind. The DOJ is going after crypto exchanges and mixers, Open AIās Worldcoin project is looking for $100 million in funding and Elon Musk pumps up the Milady meme NFT with a tweet.
š¾Resources to paw into. Top AI toolsĀ for business and get instant job notifications from your target companies.
š£The big story
Is crypto a Republican vs Democrat fight?
āThis is the most important election of our lifetime!ā
About every 4 years or so, we hear people everywhere saying that to encourage U.S. voter engagement, which, by the way, has been declining, but we wonāt talk about that today...
The upcoming 2024 U.S. presidential race is no different and is going to be theĀ most important election to date, just like all the previous elections once were.
But this time, crypto is noticeably playing a larger role in several candidatesā campaigns. The general assumption is that Republicans are for crypto and the Democrats are against it.
Last week, Sleepy Joe tweeted this image, essentially drawing a partisan line in the sand and taking a clear stance on whose side heās on.
We donāt have to guess what MAGA House Republicans value. Theyāre telling us.
— President Biden (@POTUS)
May 9, 2023
Meanwhile, new Democrat presidential candidate, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. provided his support for crypto.
Cryptocurrencies, led by bitcoin, along with other crypto technologies are a major innovation engine. It is a mistake for the U.S. government to hobble the industry and drive innovation elsewhere. Bidenās proposed 30% tax on cryptocurrency mining is a bad idea. š§µ
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr)
May 3, 2023
And then we have folks from the Republican side, like Vivek Ramaswamy. CBDCs = a big hell no for him.
Every GOP candidate needs a clear answer to CBDCs: hell no.
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy)
Mar 14, 2023
However, when it comes to the most controversial orange man, weāre not sure where Trump stands on the crypto issue today, but he has previously commented his lack of support for it.
I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air. Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
Jul 12, 2019
So is crypto really a Republican vs. Democrat fight?
A lot of crypto Twitter folks seem to think that crypto is a partisan issue and are encouraging others to side with the Republican party if they believe in Bitcoin.
Cumulative SEC enforcement actions during the Biden/Gensler Democrat administration. They made it clear: Crypto is not welcomed in America under Democrats. Itās now a partisan issue. Potentially a new voter and support base for Republicans.
— Gabor Gurbacs (@gaborgurbacs)
May 15, 2023
I would argue, however, that itās not that simple.
If you actually look at the individuals in the House and Senate, you would see that while support for crypto does slightly lean towards the Republican side, itās also not as drastic as you may think.
CT has turned crypto into a Republican vs. Democrat fight. As it turns out, this is false. I looked through Coinbase's Legislative Portal and found a much more nuanced situation, as expected. In the House, 32 Republicans support crypto vs. 27 Democrats.
coinbase.com/public-policy/ā¦
— polynya (@apolynya)
Apr 21, 2023
The problem is that the loudest voices are skewing the overall perception of the two parties. If they want this to change, pro-crypto Democrats need to speak up!
Itās Warren, Biden, Gensler, and Yellen. Theyāre wielding the most power right now.
On the pro crypto side Emmer, Peirce, DeSantis, McHenry are all Republican.
These are the leaders. Democratic leadership need to change their tune if they want to stay. We have to pressure hard.
— Yaniv Tal š” (@yanivgraph)
Apr 21, 2023
But then this Democrat memo leakedā¦
A memo meant to be circulated among Democrat Committee members was leaked earlier this week by a Fox news reporter. The letter suggests that Democrats should all stick to supporting the SECās anti-crypto stance. It also tries to paint the narrative that Republicans donāt care about protecting investors.
šØSCOOP: Prior to today's @FinancialCmte/@HouseAgGOP hearing on digital asset regulation, a memo was circulated among Democrat Committee members.
It contained "key messages" for the @FSCDems to stick to including supporting the @SECGov's total authority over crypto regulation,ā¦ twitter.com/i/web/status/1ā¦
— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett)
May 10, 2023
Ok, this is confusing. Whose side do we take then?!
As always, the answer isnāt so simple.
On an industry level, crypto companies have drastically increased their lobbying efforts in the past year. As regulatory threats from the SEC intensify, efforts to influence policy have also increased. My prediction is that the crypto industryās power over politics is only going to continue to rise, especially with the teardown of traditional banks and the US dollar.
However, on an individual level like you and me, the reality is, the amount of people that actually own crypto is such a small percentage of the population. Of those that do own Bitcoin, even less of them will actually care enough to vote for a candidate purely based on their crypto views.
7/ I would venture to guess that 90%(or more) of Americans that "own crypto" have zero clue what it is, how it works, why it is important & could give a rat's ass if it is stopped. For them it is a speculative asset they bought cause they might make some USD betting on it.
— Brad Nickel - Host: Mission DeFi & DeFi Lunch (@b05crypto)
Feb 14, 2023
The best thing you can do is to focus on your stateās representatives. Donāt let crypto Twitter tell you whose side to take and remember that there areĀ plenty of more important issues in society than crypto. Letās take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Where is our society headed?
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š»Ā Other news to bear in mind
šÆĀ The DOJ is going after crypto exchanges and mixers. In an interview with the Director of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, it was revealed that the US Department of Justice is eyeing crypto companies that are both committing crimes themselves and allowing crimes to be committed on their platforms.
šĀ Open AIās Worldcoin project is eyeing $100 million in funding. Worldcoin aims to create a global digital currency that is globally distributed in a fair and equitable manner. A part of the distribution is a biometric scan of your eyes to confirm your unique identity. Nothing could possibly go wrong here.
š Ā Elon Musk is back and pumps up the Milady meme NFT with a tweet. What is the Milady meme and NFT collection and why is it so significant? Not only did Elon tweet about it and pumped it from 3.5 ETH to 7.4 ETH, but it also has a pretty interesting origin and meaning to it. They also have a goal to target and take down Yuga Labs who have been dominating the NFT space.
š¾Resources to paw into
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Thatās all for this issue. See you next week!