The last month of the New York Times DealBook Conferencepolitical analyst and media personality Van Jones admitted that Democrats made a fatal mistake in not only largely ignoring the crypto voter but working against them in the election cycle last and more widely during President Biden's time in office.
“50 million people bought some crypto — that's a bet on (the) future,” Jones said.
“They're trying to get to a better future. Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren weren't beating the hell out of crypto wise,” he said.
CNN host @VanJones68 saying, “Democrats kicked people out of the party on crypto. 50 million people bought crypto. It's a promise of a better future” pic.twitter.com/Ee8NlutNK1
— Documenting ₿itcoin 📄 (@DocumentingBTC) January 6, 2025
Jones is one of the first prominent Democrats to publicly admit after the election that Democrats should invite those with bitcoin and crypto into the party instead of pushing them away.
The questions now are Will other prominent Democrats follow Jones' lead? and What would their policy proposals look like if they did?
The last question is especially important because while Democrats may start saying they are “pro-crypto,” the devil is in the details.
For example, when I interviews with former Congressman Wiley Nickel (D-NC)one of the few proponents of bitcoin and crypto in the Democratic party last year, I asked him if he would support the right for bitcoin and crypto owners to keep their private keys.
His answer was this:
“In Congress, we've really focused on getting a few things done before we get into the next level of stuff. It's about regulating the industry, FIT21, digital asset market structure bill and stable. We are overwhelmed by SAB 121 for reserved banking.
Those are the things that I think we need to address first, and then we'll get into the next layer of stuff, and hopefully we're going to do the things that of this Congress.
The right to hold one's private keys is the “first level of stuff” in my book, and the lack of a straight answer to my question bothered me, especially when I was put together . with what Trump said on the matter at the Libertarian National Convention in May 2024:
“I will support the right to self-preservation (for) the country's 50 million crypto holders. ” -Donald J. Trump
So, if the Democrats are going to start shifting their rhetoric when it comes to Bitcoin and crypto, they also need to get right when it comes to policy proposals if they hope to win over the voters they lost in the previous election cycle. come mid-term elections.
This article is a Take. The views expressed are entirely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
