Government and cryptocurrency are two words that would usually go against each other. The technology behind cryptocurrency aims to decentralize and disrupt traditional industry while the government looks to regulate and centralize it, even going as far to completely ban it. Though the two have clashed with each other in the past few years, there has been a recent wave of acceptance coming from traditional financial institutions with the coming of the ETFs and governments utilizing bitcoin as a form of currency and an asset.

While the world has been leaning towards the acceptance of cryptocurrency, government officials start to rally behind cryptocurrency, such as the case of both US presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald J. Trump. Both candidates clarified their stance on cryptocurrency, even going to lengths to integrate it into the economy. Kamala Harris issued a “clean slate” on cryptocurrency while Donald J. Trump seeks to make the US as the global hub for cryptocurrency.

These two candidates look to win the favor of cryptocurrency enthusiasts, which takes up to 40% of Americans, for their votes. However, leaders in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry warn voters to think twice before voting for a candidate just because they’re ‘pro-crypto’.

Edward Snowden’s warning

Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor and US whistleblower, appeared via video at the Bitcoin Conference 2024. He urged attendees to carefully select their political candidates, emphasizing that their cryptocurrency views should not be the primary reason for winning votes. Snowden also warned that politicians will most likely align themselves with pro-cryptocurrency positions to attract votes. During his speech, multiple political candidates were present at the event, including Donald J. Trump.

Snowden stresses voters to vote for the candidates that they truly align with their values, not to act cultish just because they are pro-crypto

Vitalik Buterin’s blog about ‘pro-crypto’ candidates

In a blog post made by Vitalik on July 14 on X, he expressed how he is against voting for political candidates merely because they are ‘pro-crypto’. While the EU had its rampant overregulation of cryptocurrency in Europe, other countries began to be accepting of cryptocurrency whilst in prospects to become a political candidate. Vitalik stressed that there is a high risk of going against the values that brought people into the crypto space in the first place if they vote for candidates just because they are pro-crypto.

Vitalik noted that you can spot whether a politician has a loose alignment with crypto based on their previous stances. Similarly, he encouraged people to check up politician’s views on related topics such as encrypted messaging five years ago. These can be used as a guide on what kind of changes to politician’s views might happen five years in the future.

While voting for candidates who are pro-crypto may make sense if one looks to increase the value of their crypto holdings, there’s much more things to consider when it comes to voting for an individual into a position of power. It is important to select your candidate whether or not their policy-making in healthcare, foreign relations, education, and many other factors that heavily affect the people’s way of life is aligned with your values.