Why cryptocurrencies are becoming so important in the campaign

Donald Trump has long been a detractor, before changing his mind a few months ago and wanting to deregulate the sector. Will the Democrats follow suit? In any case, cryptocurrencies are financing both candidates with all their might.

The cryptocurrency sector has never weighed so much in the American presidential campaign. This industry, born in 2008 in the wake of the financial crisis, injected nearly 120 million dollars into the election. “In this campaign, the crypto industry is the largest private and corporate financier, all industries combined, ahead of historical financiers of American politics such as the big oil companies, everything that is the oil and gas industry or the tobacco lobby,” analysis for franceinfo Nastasia Hadjadji, independent journalist specializing in the digital economy.

The desire to play a political role

“This is the first time that crypto companies have expressed an explicit desire to play a political role,” adds this author of the book No Crypto. How Bitcoin Bewitched the Planet (Divergences editions). Today, the crypto industry has a desire to have a decisive financial influence on this campaign by raising hundreds of millions of dollars and allocating them to what are called PACs in the American electoral system.

These “political action committees” (PACs), “support committees” which have no equivalent in France, are used to finance the electoral campaigns of the Democratic and Republican parties. “The crypto lobby has targeted these investments in a cross-party manner, to the tune of around $120 million. This is a first, adds Nastasia Hadjadji. With a little more money for the Republicans”.

Donald Trump makes it a campaign theme

Since the beginning of the year, Donald Trump has made numerous statements in favor of this industry, even announcing the creation of his own cryptocurrency platform. A surprising turnaround, to say the least, given that the Republican presidential candidate had previously been critical of this technology. In 2021, when he was President of the United States, he described it as“scam” Bitcoin, one of the most famous cryptocurrencies.

Is Donald Trump’s U-turn Purely Ideological? “There are indications that this is also political opportunism, says the specialist. For several months, if not years, there has been a real ideological shift in Silicon Valley.an acceleration of the radicalization towards the right and the extreme right of some of its leading thinkers. I am thinking of certain big ‘venture capitalists’, those who provide the initial capital, big figures like Peter Thiel, Elon Musk. Or others more confidential, like David Sacks or the Winklevoss brothers. [les jumeaux rendus célèbres par The Social Network, le film de David Fincher qui retrace les débuts de Facebook]who are large holders of bitcoins in particular.”

Democrats urged to react

The Democratic camp has also made comments in favor of the development of this sector. An advisor to Kamala Harris, quoted by the media Bloombergassured on Wednesday that the candidate would “support policies that ensure that emerging technologies and this type of industry can continue to grow”. A statement to be taken with a pinch of salt, says Nastasia Hadjadji. President Joe Biden has always adopted a line “quite strong pro-regulation”. According to her, the strategy of the crypto lobby is to make “to shake up the status quo, and to move it away from a somewhat rigid and aggressive position in terms of regulating the cryptocurrency industry”.

And if Kamala Harris moderates her position with regard to Joe Biden, “This means that this lobbying effort has borne fruit.” “In this campaign, there is also a whole rhetorical arsenal to impose elements of language, to suggest that the Democrats might be changing sides, continues the author. But there is no really solid statement from Kamala Harris. Beyond the financial stakes, there is a stake of opinion. The fact that we are already asking ourselves the question of a possible U-turn on the part of the Democrats is a victory for the crypto lobby.”

In 2021, the global cryptocurrency market was worth more than $3 trillion, before experiencing a crisis the following year. According to the Fed, the American central bank, about 7% of Americans held cryptocurrencies in 2023.