Biden team in talks to accept crypto donations through Coinbase Commerce

Author: Elizabeth Napolitano, The Block; Compiler: Deng Tong, Golden Finance

Summary:

• Sources indicate that President Biden's re-election team is in talks to accept cryptocurrency donations.

• A few weeks ago, Donald Trump began accepting cryptocurrency donations to his campaign through Coinbase Commerce.

According to people familiar with the matter, US President Joe Biden's campaign is in discussions with cryptocurrency industry players to accept cryptocurrency donations through Coinbase Commerce.

Coinbase Commerce, a payment service that allows merchants to accept dozens of cryptocurrencies, has provided cryptocurrency donations to Republican candidate Donald Trump's campaign, which began accepting digital currency donations last month.

According to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the discussion is the latest effort by the Biden campaign to explore how to woo cryptocurrency voters ahead of an election that some Capitol Hill experts believe will be decided by a narrow margin. One source noted that Biden’s team may be looking to fill its coffers with money from well-funded pro-cryptocurrency donors.

“They are looking at crypto and trying to find quick wins to show they support the industry,” said a source who works with politicians and crypto industry leaders. “[They want] to show they are not the enemy.”

As first reported last month, Biden’s campaign has begun to increase its outreach to the crypto community in recent weeks, shortly after his political rival Trump made headlines for switching sides and supporting cryptocurrency.

The campaign has since stepped up its crypto messaging efforts, according to multiple sources. That’s especially true after President Biden faced backlash for rolling back a bipartisan push to repeal SAB 121, a controversial legislative measure that cryptocurrency supporters criticized as hampering the industry’s growth in the U.S.

“People in Biden’s outer circle are now telling the Biden team explicitly, ‘If you stay quiet about this crypto thing and don’t get on board, you might lose the election,’ ” one person familiar with the matter said, stressing that negotiations for the Biden camp to accept cryptocurrency donations are still in the “exploratory” stage.

Pro-cryptocurrency donors are also mobilizing, grabbing the attention of political candidates on both sides of the aisle. Consumer advocacy group Public Citizen reported in May, citing Open Secrets data, that cryptocurrency-backed super PACs have raised $100 million. To be sure, how that money is distributed — and to whom — will be important, sources noted, because vote flows often align with money flows from wealthy donors.

“People are looking for money … and [they’re] looking for every vote,” one source said.