What the 2020 US presidential candidates think of Bitcoin

The US presidential election of 2020 will still take place in two years, but the election campaign is already in full swing. In a short time, voters will know which Democrats support the Green New Deal and which mantra will replace the staple food of the Trump Rally, "Block it!" (Assuming that Hillary Clinton will not stand for rehearsal then). The opinions of candidates on bitcoin are however less obvious, positions that are not always decided by parties.

Will the 2020 US presidential election bring us the first crypto-chief investor or will voters elect someone who will not hesitate to use the long arm of executive power to enforce heavy regulations to the new clbad of badets? Read below to find out.

Note: While this list is not exhaustive – more than two dozen Democrats have officially started their campaigns or are considering running for office – it includes all major candidates, as well as others who have taken noteworthy positions on the issue. bitcoin or blockchain technology. We will update this list regularly as candidates enter the race and / or update their cryptocurrency opinions.

Democratic candidates

Cory Booker

• Renown Claim: Seated Senator (New Jersey)
• Campaign Status: In Progress
• Crypto position: ???

Cory Booker sits on the Senate Subcommittee on Commerce on Communication Technologies, Innovation and the Internet, but the young senator from New Jersey has not revealed his opinion on at least one innovative communication technology of the year. 39 Internet origin: the bitcoin.

Tulsi Gabbard

• Claim of Fame: Seated Representative (Hawaii)
• Campaign Status: In Progress
• Crypto position: Invested

Although Tulsi Gabbard did not disclose his official position on cryptocurrency, his public financial revelations show that the Hawaii representative has invested in the litecoin (LTC) and Ethereum (ETC) at the height of the cryptographic bubble. It is not known if she continues to hold these funds.

Kirsten Gillibrand

• Renown Claim: Seated Senator (New York)
• Campaign Status: In Progress
• Crypto position: ???

Kirsten Gillibrand has not taken a public stance on Bitcoin, not that it would necessarily have a lot of importance. Formerly a representative of a conservative district of New York, her opinion has – to put it mildly – "evolved" since her Senate appointment in 2009 and the subsequent development of a national profile.

Kamala Harris

• Claim of fame: Senator sitting (California)
• Campaign Status: In Progress
• Crypto position: ???

If Senator Kamala Harris has a firm stance on cryptocurrency, she has not yet shared it with the public.

Elizabeth Warren

• Claim of fame: Senator sitting (Mbadachusetts)
• Campaign Status: In Progress
• Position of the crypto: critical

Senator Warren strongly criticized the cryptocurrency industry and reiterated at several congressional hearings that she believed US regulators needed to do more to monitor the new badet clbad and the harm it could cause to the US. retail investors.

"I'm afraid consumers will be hurt," she told Yahoo in 2017 when she was asked for her opinion on bitcoin, saying that when regulators take a back seat, American families pay the price. the price.

She has been particularly skeptical about the initial offers of coins, which are often used to defraud ordinary investors. "The challenge is to integrate the productive aspects of cryptography with consumer protection," she said last October.

Andrew Yang

• Renown Claim: Entrepreneur
• Campaign Status: In Progress
• Crypto position: bullish

Andrew Yang's presidential campaign is a long struggle, but it has a particular interest for crypto-currency fanatics as he announced he would accept campaign donations in bitcoin and ethereal (as well as tokens ERC-20 based on ethereum).

Republican candidates

Donald Trump

• Claim to Fame: Former Reality TV Star, US President in Office
• Campaign Status: In Progress
• Crypto position: ???

President Trump has not shared his thoughts on cryptocurrency. However, his administration includes several current and former senior members who are pro-bitcoin.

Mick Mulvaney, the White House's interim chief of staff, praised Bitcoin in 2016. He stated that cryptocurrency was "not manipulable by any government," he said. compared favorably with the US dollar, which was "effectively devalued" by the federal government. Reserve.

The former White House advisor, Steve Bannon, is also a crypto bull. Last year he revealed that he owned bitcoins and that he wanted to launch one or more utility tokens. "I am currently working on utility tokens – potentially – for the populist movement on a global scale," he said, "but they must be of quality."

Peter Thiel, the billionaire venture capitalist who has been part of Trump's transition team, has repeatedly stated that he believed that bitcoin was a "digital gold" and had invested in several other blockchain projects, including the creator of EOS, Block.one.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin praised Bitcoin less when he debated the issue last January, without going so far as to say that the government should impose more regulations on the industry. He added that the Treasury was "very focused" on cryptocurrency and hoped that this technology would not become the new "Swiss bank account". Similarly, the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said in 2017 that the cryptocurrency sector was "under surveillance" "By the executive branch and councilors discussed it with Trump during a meeting of the Oval Office.

Donald Trump was the first US president to sign a decree explicitly mentioning cryptocurrency. This ordinance of March 2018 prohibited the American citizens from buying the petro-sponsored cryptocurrency of the State created by Venezuela.

Republican primary challenger

In the latest update of this article, no Republican had announced his intention to challenge Donald Trump's candidacy for the GOP presidency in 2020. Nevertheless, Trump will likely face a major challenge, even unfortunate.

Independent / third party candidates

John McAfee

• Renowned Claim: Software Engineer, ICO Promoter
• Status of the campaign: Ongoing (both for the president and under the law)
• Crypto position: high as a kite

John McAfee is so optimistic about the cryptocurrency that he makes Tom Lee from Fundstrat the appearance of a bear. The septuagenarian has found a second career as a promoter of the supply of coins (ICO). He said he would "eat [his] "ck on national television" if the price of bitcoin does not reach $ 1 million by 2020.

Howard Schultz

• Complaint: former CEO of Starbucks
• Campaign Status: "Exploration" of an Execution
• Cryptographic position: Pro-blockchain, anti-Bitcoin

The former CEO of Starbucks think blockchain is an important technology and that digital currency could represent the future of payments. However, he does not think that bitcoin or any other decentralized cryptocurrency has any value.

"I do not believe that bitcoin will become a currency today or in the future," Schultz said in a call for results in January 2018. "I'm talking … about the possibility of what could happen – not short. term, but in a few years from now – with a mainstream application offering confidence and legitimacy with respect to a digital currency. "

Last updated on February 2, 2019

Featured image of AFP