Ethereum Co-Founder Warns Not to Just Vote ‘Pro-Crypto’

On Wednesday, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin warned against voting for political candidates based solely on whether they have a “pro-crypto” stance.

“The game of politics is much more complicated than ‘who wins the next election,’ and there are many levers that your words and actions impact,” Buterin wrote in a blog post This warns that even Putin and the Russian government have “expressed a desire to ‘open up to cryptocurrencies’”.

Buterin’s post comes as Donald Trump, who has positioned himself as a pro-crypto candidate for president, rallies members of his party at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, and one day later Venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz have told Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) employees that they plan to make significant donations to political action committees supporting by Donald Trump campaign.

In an episode of “The Ben & Marc Show”, Featuring a16z co-founders, Horowitz said the Joe Biden administration, in the form of the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, has “opposed” them at every step with “very despicable measures.”

“I think they’ve sued over 30 of our companies,” Horowitz added. “They’re losing most of those lawsuits, but the problem is when you’re a startup, you don’t have the money to fight the US government, and so they’re destroying the industry that way.”

Fairshake, a super PAC backed by leading cryptocurrency companies, is now one of the biggest spenders this election cycle. Of the $160 million in contributions it has raised, 94% traceable with just four companies: Ripple, Andreesen Horowitz, Cryptocurrency and Jump Crypto.

“There is a particular style of ‘crypto-friendly’ that is common in authoritarian governments, which is worth being wary of. The best example of this, predictably, is modern Russia,” Buterin added, a programmer born in Russia who built Ethereum in his late teens.

Tesla boss Elon Musk and venture capitalist Peter Thiel, as well as cryptocurrency leaders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, have also endorsed Trump.

In early June in San Francisco, technologists, cryptocurrency executives and venture capitalists pay up to $300,000 per ticket to attend a Trump fundraiser that eventually raised over $12 million.

Buterin, who is known for regularly posting longer essays outlining his views on existential threats to the ecosystem, added: “In particular, by publicly giving the impression that you support ‘pro-crypto’ candidates simply because they are ‘pro-crypto,’ you are contributing to a dynamic that makes politicians understand that all they need to get your support is to be pro-crypto.”

Buterin did not name any specific candidates in his post, including political candidates or those who choose to support them.

Trump — who launched his latest collection of non-fungible tokens on the solana blockchain in April — has created increasing price Cryptocurrency Commentary.

He is accept digital currency donations and has pledged to protect the rights of people who choose to self-custody their coins, meaning they don’t rely on a centralized entity like Coinbase to hold their tokens and instead do so in personal cryptocurrency wallets, sometimes beyond the reach of the Internal Revenue Service. Trump also pledged at the National Liberty Congress in Washington in May to keep Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and “thugs” stay away from bitcoin holders.

Meanwhile, after a meeting with bitcoin users at Mar-a-Lago with about a dozen mining executives pledging cash and votes for him, Trump declared that all future bitcoins will be minted in the United States, if he returns to the White House.

On Monday, the Republican presidential candidate added Ohio Senator JD Vance to his vice presidential running mate — a move widely seen as a net win for the crypto sector. Vance has advocated for deregulation of cryptocurrencies and revealed in 2022 that he personally holds bitcoin.

This is in stark contrast to the Joe Biden White House, which is seen as being tough on crypto. Under President Biden, the SEC has stepped up its actions against the sector, and even without tough and fast rules from Congress, the United States has proven to be one of the most aggressive in enforcing penalties and regulatory action against crypto companies.

The more the crypto industry gets angry at the SEC for arresting and prosecuting them, the more people like Vance see an opportunity to take the opposite side of the crypto-skeptical Biden administration.

However, the perception that Biden opposes crypto and Trump supports crypto has some Biden allies concerned enough to directly presented his case to senior White House officials.

Trump is scheduled to host the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Tennessee on July 27.