Senator Chuck Schumer’s “Dear Colleague” letter left cryptocurrency off the latest bipartisan agenda, despite his earlier promise to prioritize it this year.
Fox News journalist Eleanor Terrett pointed out that in his latest letter to Senate colleagues, Schumer listed several legislative priorities like rail safety, insulin prices, and artificial intelligence, but left crypto off the table.
— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) September 8, 2024🚨NEW: @SenSchumer sent a letter to his Senate colleagues where he mentioned priorities for passing bipartisan legislation in the remaining months of Congress. Cryptocurrency legislation was not mentioned, but artificial intelligence was.
This, despite his adamance in the… pic.twitter.com/d0io7iWh75
This decision follows Schumer’s comments at the “Crypto4Harris” town hall, where he said that getting a bipartisan crypto regulation bill passed by year-end was within reach. Organized by Vice President Kamala Harris’s supporters, the event aimed to woo the crypto community ahead of the November elections.
During his speech, Schumer articulated that the United States cannot “sit on the sidelines” and risk “crypto going overseas,” adding:
“My goal is to get something passed out of the Senate and into law by the end of the year, and I believe we can make that happen. We should strike a balance for crypto between promoting innovation and providing common-sense guardrails.”
Chuck Schumer, Senate majority leader, speaking at Crypto4Harris virtual townhall
At the time, Florida Congressman Darren Soto also urged Harris to take decisive action on crypto policy.
The crypto deficient letter has drawn criticism from some members of the decentralized community, who have expressed frustration over what they perceive as a lack of genuine commitment to cryptocurrency issues from the Biden-Harris administration.
One user on X pointed out that the Vice President herself had not “said a word about” cryptocurrency, adding that the recent actions of her “colleagues” did not reflect a supportive attitude. Another user accused the Biden-Harris administration of using crypto-related events for political donations without any intention of meaningful engagement.
Even with crypto taking a backseat, Harris’s campaign is still accepting crypto donations via Coinbase, though there’s no mention of digital assets, cryptocurrency, or blockchain on her official website—keeping in line with the Biden administration’s generally cautious approach to the topic.
Harris has pulled in backing from some big-name pro-crypto Democrats, like billionaire Mark Cuban and Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, both key players in the “Crypto4Harris” campaign. Still, she’s been struggling to keep the energy going among Polymarket users, where the odds seem to favor her Republican rival, Donald Trump.