Author: Hannah Lang, Reuters; Translation: Wuzhu, Golden Finance

Cryptocurrency investors and industry executives are urging Vice President Kamala Harris to take a more moderate regulatory stance on the industry, planning to raise at least $0.1 million for Democratic candidates at a fundraising event in Washington on September 13th.

Organizers told Reuters that the grassroots event is planned to take place between the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus meetings, aiming to gather a diverse group of donors. One of the board members and organizers of the event, Cleve Mesidor from the Blockchain Foundation, stated that ticket prices for the fundraising event range from $500 to $5,000.

The fundraising goal of this event is insignificant compared to the hundreds of millions raised by Harris since becoming the Democratic presidential candidate in July (after Biden dropped out of the race). However, it is the latest sign that at least some industry professionals support her over Republican candidate Donald Trump, who has been seeking large crypto donations with friendly policy promises.

The organizers include WilmerHale's Co-Chair of the Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Practice Tiffany Smith and crypto founder Rahilla Zafar, who also has experience in artificial intelligence. They hope that if Harris is elected, she will relax regulations on cryptocurrencies after the SEC crackdown on the industry under a Biden administration.

The institution stated that cryptocurrency companies are flouting securities laws, despite the industry questioning the applicability of these laws to them.

"Why not seize the opportunity of the first fundraising event—there will be many others—to truly show what cryptocurrencies mean to Democrats, as the potential new government is considering how they view this issue?" Mesidor said.

She said she hopes this event will promote a dialogue on how a Harris administration can encourage cryptocurrency innovation and provide more capital channels for people of color.

"We hope to ensure that with the change of the Democratic presidential candidate, we can support her and work together to help her understand the importance of this industry," said Smith, a director at WilmerHale.

This month also saw the emergence of an independent organization called Crypto4Harris, which plans to hold a fundraising event for Harris. The organization held a city hall meeting where billionaires Mark Cuban and Wall Street financier Anthony Scaramucci spoke in support of Harris.

According to Reuters, despite Harris not publicly stating her position on cryptos, her campaign team has already met with well-known crypto companies such as Coinbase and Ripple.

Campaign finance records show that these companies and other major crypto firms are donating to candidates supportive of cryptos in the congressional races through super PACs, rather than aligning with any presidential candidate.

Brian Nelson, a senior advisor to Harris's campaign team, stated at an event during the Democratic National Convention this month that Harris will support the development of emerging technologies, which many in the crypto industry view as a positive signal.

"[Harris] has this golden opportunity to truly develop a plan to influence a large number of voters in the crypto industry," Zafar said.