As a seasoned analyst with a decade of experience in the cryptocurrency market, I find the recent events surrounding Kamala Harris and her ranking by Stand With Crypto to be both intriguing and slightly comical. It’s clear that the crypto community is eager for clear-cut support from political figures, but the nuances of political language can sometimes blur the lines.


The advocacy group for digital assets supported by Coinbase, named “Stand With Crypto,” was compelled to revise its favorable assessment of Democratic presidential contender Kamala Harris’s stance on cryptocurrencies.

The team operating the site that assesses American politicians’ backing for cryptocurrencies labeled Harris as “Pro-Crypto” and awarded her a “B” grade.

Group Deemed Harris’ New York Remarks Supportive of Crypto

The order (ranking) reflects the comments made by the Vice President on September 22 at a New York fundraiser. In her remarks, she expressed support for pioneering technologies, such as artificial intelligence and digital assets. Furthermore, she pledged to reduce excessive red tape, a concern often expressed about crypto regulation within the United States.

Stand With Crypto concluded that the statement expressed a level of support for the crypto industry, and as a result, they upgraded Harris’ rating on their platform to one of the highest grades possible.

On a related note, the same platform awarded Donald Trump an “A” rating, indicating his firm backing for digital currencies. Notably, Trump has made around 21 declarations about cryptocurrency, while his rival in the U.S. election campaign has only issued one such statement.

Although Stand With Crypto viewed the candidates discussing cryptocurrency as a positive development, many within the community believed Kamala Harris should not have received such a high evaluation.

Bitcoin supporter Wayne Vaughan described the Democratic candidate’s one statement on cryptocurrency as “neutral.” He also criticized what he called the Biden-Harris administration’s long-standing hostile attitude towards crypto, stating that it deserved a failing grade at most.

Michael Cairo, a lawyer at the specialized crypto firm Horizons Law and Consulting, claimed that Stand With Crypto was exaggerating its financial position and giving the impression of supporting the crypto industry, despite her only having a general comment about technological advancements in her background.

Criticism didn’t end with just that. Venture capitalist @HelpedHope alleged that the pro-crypto advocacy group was attempting to appease both political parties to gain negotiating leverage if Harris won the November elections. He suggested that the Vice President’s ambiguous use of “digital assets” could encompass various things, ranging from offline airline points to Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs).

Vice President’s Crypto Rating Retracted

After the debate, Stand With Crypto modified their stance by no longer labeling Senator Harris as a full-fledged cryptocurrency advocate and adjusting their grading system for political figures instead.

On September 25th, the group’s executive director, Logan Dobson, expressed via X that they had garnered substantial feedback regarding their scorecard and had implemented modifications accordingly. He emphasized that in the future, assigning comprehensive grades to politicians on their cryptocurrency stance would necessitate significantly more details.

If a candidate hasn’t provided sufficient statements to be assigned a grade, their statements will be displayed publicly for all to see. However, we’ll label the candidate as “Requires more information.” This way is simpler and easier to understand.

On Harris’s webpage profile, you’ll notice a shift in its content that now suggests a lack of clear position she holds concerning cryptocurrencies.

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2024-09-29 00:22