Coinbase CFO Alesia Haas revealed that vice president Kamala Harris‘s campaign used Coin base The trade will accept crypto donations, Fortune reported on September 4.
Haas made the revelation during a conversation with Citigroup payments director Peter Christiansen at the lender’s Global TMT Conference 2024 in New York.
According to Haas:
“[Kamala] accepts crypto donations. She is now using Coinbase Commerce to accept crypto for her own campaign.”
Notably, this development follows reports in August that Coinbase was in talks with the Harris campaign, which were confirmed by the company’s Chief Policy Officer, Fariar Shyrzad.
However, despite the claims of both Coinbase executives, the Harris campaign has not yet responded to requests for comment, while its official fundraising site does not mention crypto or list the Coinbase integration.
Fairshake PAC influences the US elections
Coinbase is one of the donors to the Political Action Committee (PAC) Fairshake, donating $25 million to the PAC in support of pro-crypto US politicians. In June, the crypto company made another $25 million donation to the PAC.
Haas addressed the donations at Citi’s event, citing “increased policy spending” by Coinbase and citing a “unique cliff where we could get regulatory clarity in the US.”
With the Fairshake PAC winning 32 of the 34 elections it was involved in, Coinbase’s executive added:
“We see those dollars having an impact in those elections.”
Additionally, Haas claimed that Harris has already signed pieces of a more open framework that she would like to use to drive crypto legislation and bring regulatory clarity in the US. She added that the company is cautiously optimistic about its plans.
Despite donations to the Fairshake PAC, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said in March this year that the company was not donating directly to 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 change this position.
Tone change
While US attitudes toward the crypto industry have been tough under the Biden administration, the tone of Harris’ campaign has been changing since early August.
The crypto-friendly push started with the launch of the ‘Crypto for Harris’ campaign in response to former US President Donald Trump’s positive comments about the blockchain industry.
Since then, top Democrats have expressed public support for the sector under the banner of “Crypto for Harris,” along with several major industry players.
