Kamala Harris campaign looks for ‘reset’ with crypto companies

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Kamala Harris’s advisers have approached top crypto companies about meetings to “reset” relations between her Democratic party and a sector that has come out as an important backer of Donald Trump, her rival for the US presidency.

Members of the vice-president’s team have contacted people close to crypto companies about meeting in recent days, said four people with knowledge of the matter. Those include leading exchange Coinbase, stablecoin company Circle and blockchain payments group Ripple Labs, two of the people said.

The vice-president’s office and the Harris campaign declined to comment. Ripple and Coinbase declined to comment. Circle did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Harris’s overture to crypto companies comes as Trump is enjoying strong levels of support from the sector. The former president — once a vocal crypto sceptic — has thrown his weight behind the industry and is delivering the keynote speech at a Bitcoin conference in Nashville on Saturday.

Crypto groups are likely to be an important source of funding for candidates in the election: pro-crypto super Pac Fairshake has raised more than $200mn from backers including Coinbase, Ripple and Andreessen Horowitz, according to filings.

People advising the Harris campaign on business matters said the decision to reconnect with the crypto industry had little to do with attracting new electoral contributions. They said the objective was instead to build a constructive relationship that would ultimately set a smart regulatory framework that would help the growth of the entire asset class.

The outside advisers to the campaign said Harris wanted to change the perception among many top executives across corporate America that the Democrats are anti-business. One person said her campaign was using the change of leadership on the Democratic ticket as an opportunity to reset relations with the tech industry, which has felt targeted by the Biden administration, particularly on antitrust matters.

The underlying message Harris wants to strike is that the Democrats are “pro-business, responsible business”, said one person close to her campaign.

Harris is aiming to win back those in the tech community, many of them in her home state of California, who have turned away from the party in protest at the threat of new taxes or regulation of their industry.

Earlier this month, venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz announced they would be backing Trump in the election, having previously supported several Democratic candidates. Their firm, Andreessen Horowitz, claims to be the largest crypto investor in the world and raised about $8bn to invest in the sector.

When they announced their support for Trump, the two venture capitalists railed against President Joe Biden’s White House and Gary Gensler’s Securities and Exchange Commission. “They have just fought us every step of the way, and using very nefarious means,” Horowitz said at the time. “They are nuking the industry.”

Some crypto companies are hopeful Harris may be more sympathetic to them. “The fact that she’s willing to listen is a big deal. With Biden you couldn’t even get a meeting . . . It has left people with such a bad view of the Biden administration,” one crypto company executive said.