Kamala Harris said Wednesday that she planned to ensure the U.S. remained “dominant” in emerging technologies such as blockchain, AI, and quantum computing, noting that these sectors “will define the next century.” The Democratic presidential candidate made the comments in a much-anticipated speech about her economic priorities at an event hosted by The Economic Club of Pittsburgh on Wednesday afternoon.
“From our earliest days, America’s economic strength has been tied to our industrial strength and the same is true today,” Harris said, emphasizing that she wanted to make sure that “American, not China, wins the competition for the 21st century.”
In the past few days, Harris has made her first public remarks about crypto and blockchain since entering the presidential race in July.
At a donor event in Manhattan on Sunday, Harris said that her administration would “encourage innovative technologies like AI and digital assets, while protecting our consumers and investors.” In an 80-page document detailing her economic plans entitled “A New Way Forward for the Middle Class” that was released on Wednesday, Harris referred to digital assets just once, with the same exact statement that she made in her remarks on Sunday.
Although Harris had not previously addressed crypto before this week, the Biden-Harris administration has been perceived to be hostile to crypto, particularly given the numerous enforcement actions carried out against crypto firms in recent years by the Securities and Exchange Commission helmed by Gary Gensler.
The crypto community’s reaction to Harris’ comments on Sunday was mixed, with some writing on X that they were at least a start, while others said they didn’t seem to be that different from the vague support of the industry offered by the Biden-Harris administration in the past.
In sharp contrast to Harris, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has firmly positioned himself as a champion of the crypto industry, despite having been skeptical of the industry several years ago.
In his own economic policy speech earlier this month, Trump said he wanted to make the U.S. the world capital for crypto and bitcoin,” although he did not give any specific details as to how he would accomplish this. In July, Trump gave the keynote address at the 2024 Blockchain conference in Nashville, floating the idea of creating a national bitcoin reserve and saying he would fire Gensler as the chair of the SEC on day one of his presidency. Trump has also issued a series of NFTs, and most recently has been promoting a DeFi lending project called World Financial Liberty helmed by his sons.
The latest Polymarket betting market shows bettors giving a slight edge to Harris’s chances of winning the presidential election over Trump, 50% to 49%.
