Vitalik Buterin warns against “tendency” to favor pro-crypto candidates

As key figures and notable voices in the cryptocurrency industry increasingly call on voters to choose candidates who demonstrate their support for the sector, one well-known pioneer of the industry is bucking the trend.

Coinbase leads call to endorse ‘pro-crypto’ candidates

Last month, cryptocurrency exchange giant Coinbase led the industry in calling for support for “pro-crypto” candidates, reiterating that while it is an “apolitical” company, it will choose any avenue that allows it to “deeply engage in policy work.”

Coinbase has donated $25 million worth of its USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin to support the FairShake Super PAC, saying the best way for the industry to achieve regulatory clarity is to elect pro-crypto candidates on both sides of the aisle and exclude anti-crypto candidates.

Standing Up with Crypto – A Voice of Political Activism

Stand With Crypto, a nonprofit group calling for “clear, common-sense regulation” of the industry, continues to urge crypto users and other stakeholders to get involved in political action.

The company sponsored the Crypto RNC Blockchain Knowledge Base at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee and has engaged in discussions with a growing number of politicians about cryptocurrency policy and regulation.

Ethereum figures warn of ‘trends’

While some prominent crypto figures, such as the Winklevoss twins, have already made it clear which presidential candidate they will vote for, others are still weighing their options.

For Ethereum blockchain co-founder Vitalik Buterin, basing your decision on how “pro-crypto” a candidate is may not be the best move. “There has been a growing movement within the crypto industry to become more politically active and to favor parties and candidates almost entirely on how tolerant and friendly they are towards crypto. In this article, I argue against this trend, specifically arguing that making decisions in this way runs the risk of going against the values ​​that led me to get into the crypto industry in the first place,” he wrote in a blog post on Wednesday.

He explained that there is more to cryptocurrencies than just tokens and some of the known benefits they bring. He said the industry has broader aspects that often have non-technical implications, such as “the goal of encouraging people to build and participate in blockchain applications.” “Instead of fixating on cryptocurrencies per se, we should fixate on their underlying goals and all of the policy implications they imply,” he wrote.

How long can candidates remain crypto-friendly?

Midway through his lengthy post, Buterin briefly touched on an important aspect of crypto politics, noting that “just because someone is crypto-friendly today doesn’t mean they’ll be crypto-friendly five years from now.” The prominent computer programmer and co-founder of Bitcoin Magazine urged crypto users to look at candidates’ views on the industry and related topics from five years ago to see how they’ve changed since then.

It’s more complicated than crypto proponents think

Buterin, who plans to launch his own spot ETH exchange-traded fund (ETF) next week, argued that politics is more complicated than determining the winner of an election. He noted that publicly presenting the impression that crypto supporters are backing pro-crypto candidates helps create an “incentive gradient for politicians to understand that all they need to do to gain support is to support ‘crypto.’”

He further noted that it no longer matters whether the candidate supports a ban on encrypted messaging, is a “power-hungry narcissist,” or promotes legislation that would make it harder for others to attend upcoming crypto conferences.

Ask the right questions

Ultimately, Buterin said that the most important thing for crypto voters is asking the right questions, and a key question is whether pro-crypto candidates are “on the ballot for the right reasons,” i.e., whether they have a vision for the broader technologies that surround crypto.

Buterin’s assertion corroborates the results of a recent poll (2024 Elections: The Role of Cryptocurrencies), which showed that 79% of respondents believe that it is “essential for political leaders to work on creating frameworks and rules that enable financial inclusion and investor protection.”