Crypto is emerging as a hot topic in the U.S. presidential election this year, with many voters looking forward to hearing their candidates takes on the asset class.
- Per a Digital Currency Group (DCG) survey of 1201 registered voters conducted last month, about one in five voters view crypto as a major issue in the 2024 election.
- Roughly 40% of voters said they want their candidates to talk more about crypto, with most respondents agreeing that crypto regulation needed an “overhaul.”
- The interest is even though only 14% of voters said they have crypto exposure, and 69% said they don’t yet feel knowledgeable about the asset class.
- “Most voters do not trust elected officials to understand innovative technology like crypto, and more than half are concerned about policymakers stifling innovation via overregulation,” DCG’s report stated.
- Policymakers are currently in a partisan political deadlock over crypto. Democrats want strict industry rules to protect consumers like those in the existing banking system. By contrast, Republicans seek tailor-made regulations with a lighter touch to avoid driving the industry offshore.
- Republican candidate Donald Trump has recently come out in support of the crypto industry, despite taking a hard-line stance against Bitcoin in the past.
- Republicans passed a resolution in Congress this week to nullify SAB 121, a piece of accounting guidance backed by the Democrat-led White House preventing banks from providing crypto asset custody services.
- DCG’s survey mentioned that 50% of respondents said they’d be more likely to buy crypto if it was offered by an established, regulated firm.
- The survey’s respondents included voters in swing states, including n Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Montana, Pennsylvania, and Arizona