Coinbase CFO Alesia Haas revealed that Vice President Kamala Harris‘s campaign is using Coinbase Commerce to accept crypto donations, Fortune reported Sept. 4.
Haas made the revelation during a conversation with Citigroup‘s director of payments, Peter Christiansen, at the lender’s 2024 Global TMT Conference in New York.
According to Haas:
“[Kamala] is accepting crypto donations. She’s using Coinbase Commerce now to accept crypto for her own campaign.”
Notably, this development follows reports from August that Coinbase was in talks with the Harris campaign, which were confirmed by the firm’s Chief Policy Officer, Fariar Shyrzad.
However, despite both Coinbase executives’ claims, the Harris campaign has yet to respond to requests for comment, while her official fundraising site does not mention crypto or display the Coinbase integration.
Fairshake PAC impacting the US elections
Coinbase is among the donors of the Political Action Committee (PAC) Fairshake, directing $25 million to the PAC supporting pro-crypto US politicians. In June, the crypto firm made another $25 million donation to the PAC.
Haas addressed the donations during Citi’s event, mentioning “elevated policy spend” by Coinbase and citing a “unique precipice where we might get regulatory clarity in the US.”
As the Fairshake PAC won 32 out of 34 elections it was involved in, the Coinbase executive added:
“We are seeing those dollars have impact in those elections.”
Furthermore, Haas claimed that Harris has already drawn pieces of a more open framework she would like to use to drive crypto legislation and bring regulatory clarity to the US. She added that the firm is cautiously optimistic about her plans.
Despite donating to the Fairshake PAC, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said in March this year that the company didn’t donate directly to any US presidential candidates.
The Democratic Party has generally been less supportive of crypto than Republicans under President Joe Biden’s administration. However, recent lobbying efforts could potentially shift this stance.
Tone change
Although the US stance towards the crypto industry has been strict under Biden’s administration, Harris’ campaign has been shifting its tone since early August.
The crypto-friendly push started with the launch of the “Crypto for Harris” campaign to counter former US President Donald Trump’s positive remarks regarding the blockchain industry.
Since then, top Democrats have voiced public support for the industry under the “Crypto for Harris” banner, along with several major industry players.
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