During the recent Republican presidential debate in Tuscaloosa, in Alabama, cryptocurrency was invited to the debate. Vivek Ramaswamy, one of the candidates, was asked about his cryptocurrency policy. Key industry topics such as Binance, FTXEthereum and Gary Gensler were discussed.
The candidates and their proposals
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who first tried his hand at the presidency as a Democrat before declaring himself an independent. The latter made bold proposals regarding cryptos.
His first proposal was fiscal, suggesting to exempt bitcoin from capital gains tax. Subsequently, he considered to use Bitcoin as support for the dollar. Indeed, he wants to support the dollar with assets such as gold and bitcoin.
Finally, he defended the right to own bitcoin yourself and operate blockchain nodes. In short, its objective is to strengthen the dollar and stimulate financial innovation and confidentiality.
Ramaswamy: the pro-crypto candidate?
For his part, the candidate Vivek Ramaswamy distinguished itself by making cryptocurrency a central element of its campaign.
During the debate, he was asked about his cryptocurrency policy, in a question that referred to the recent conviction of the former CEO of Binance.
As a reminder, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, accused of violating sanctions and money transfer laws. Ramaswamy responded by emphasizing the need to adapt regulations to the current times.
“The fact that SBF was able to do what it did to FTX shows that the current framework is not working. »
In addition, he announced his desire to create a plan aimed at Significantly reduce SEC staffing and to relax regulations on the cryptocurrency industry.
According to him, most cryptocurrencies should be treated as commodities, outside the jurisdiction of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
A position similar to that of Coinbase, which recently ruled that the SEC was operating outside its jurisdiction with respect to most products related to cryptocurrencies.
Through these debates, we can detect a change in position on the part of politicians towards cryptos. Indeed, such positions would have been unthinkable during the last electoral campaign. It is probably the fruit of lobbying work carried out by crypto companies in 2023.