The Biden-Harris Administration's Anti-Crypto Stances May Come Back to Haunt Vice President Kamala Harris' Presidential Bid

Over the course of President Biden's reign, his administration has waged an all-out war on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential bid could be hindered by the Biden administration's anti-cryptocurrency stance.

Top politicians and business figures attended the 2024 Bitcoin conference in Nashville, including Donald Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Vivek Ramaswamy. However, Harris declined an invitation despite being on the presumptive Democratic ticket.

David Bailey, the conference organizer, criticized Harris' decision on Twitter, writing, "No surprise. What can she say to us when she's actively imprisoning developers, forcing our industry overseas, attacking PoW ... it would have been a disaster for her."

The Biden administration's anti-crypto stance may hurt Harris' presidential bid.

President Biden's administration has launched an all-out assault on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, sharply contrasting Trump's embrace of Bitcoin and the RNC's pro-crypto platform.

Attacking miners

President Biden signed an executive order in March 2022 on "Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets" to regulate Bitcoin and crypto. The order increases oversight to protect against risks, "responsible development," and "equitable economic growth" in regulating Bitcoin.

The White House attacked Bitcoin and crypto-assets in a press release following his executive order, citing their "substantial electricity usage, which can generate greenhouse gas emissions."

In response to Biden's climate alarmism, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy urged him to "limit or eliminate the use of high energy intensity consensus mechanisms for crypto-asset mining," which he later did.

President Biden's 2025 budget proposal includes a 30% excise tax on Bitcoin mining, which is crucial for the cryptocurrency's stability and security. Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), a strong crypto supporter, believes the tax "endangers America's hard-won leadership position and the future of Bitcoin mining in America."

Vetoing pro-Bitcoin legislation

In May 2024, President Biden vetoed H.J. Res. 109, Congress's bipartisan effort to overturn the SEC's crypto accounting guideline, Staff Accounting Bulletin 121. The Biden administration claims the SEC's guidelines protect consumers and investors.

SAB 121 mandates that banks and businesses penalize banks for protecting and holding on to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for clients by requiring them to be reported as liabilities on balance sheets, jeopardizing consumers' assets during a bankruptcy.

The American Bankers Association wrote to President Biden that SAB 121 "threatens the [banking] industry's ability to provide its customers with safe and sound custody of digital assets."

Crypto advocacy organizations like the Blockchain Association also criticized the Biden administration's "punitive, anti-crypto" accounting guidelines for stifling innovation.

“The Biden administration is swimming against the ... growing consensus in Congress that digital asset innovation should be supported — not punished,” wrote Kristin Smith, CEO of the Blockchain Association, in a post on X.

Appointing anti-Bitcoin staff

President Biden's handpicked SEC chair, Gary Gensler, is also leading the Biden administration's war on Bitcoin by attempting to crack down on Binance and Coinbase, two of the largest crypto exchanges, and potentially shut them down.

Gensler argued on CNBC that Coinbase should be "permanently restrained and enjoined" from "operating its crypto asset trading platform as an unregistered national securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency." Last year, the Gensler-led SEC filed two lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase, causing several cryptocurrencies to lose over 15% in value.

And in a post on X, Gensler claims Coinbase "deprives investors of critical protections, including rulebooks that prevent fraud and manipulation, proper disclosure, safeguards against conflicts of interest, and routine inspection by the SEC." But ionically, X added a community note that implicitly accuses Gensler of manipulating information.

“Coinbase has repeatedly attempted to get guidance and include the SEC. Recently, Coinbase has had to sue the SEC to attempt to get simple clarity over the issues that this tweet alleges Coinbase is guilty of,” it says.

Increasing taxes

拜登總統也威脅要將資本利得稅提高至44%，接近目前最高稅率的兩倍。因此，如果一個富有的人以 60,000 美元的價格購買 1 個比特幣，然後以 90,000 美元的價格出售，那麼投資者可能只能賺取不到 17,000 美元。換句話說，加密貨幣投資者將因加密貨幣投資面臨大幅更高的稅率而受到懲罰，從而削弱加密貨幣市場。

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