According to Fortune, Coinbase’s Chief Financial Officer, Alesia Haas, said that U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is using the company’s Commerce platform to accept cryptocurrency donations for her campaign.
The statement was made during a conversation with Citigroup’s Director of Payments, Peter Christiansen, at the Citi 2024 Global TMT Conference in New York, in which Fortune reviewed a recording of the conversation.
“She is accepting crypto donations,” reportedly said Haas. “She’s using Coinbase Commerce now to accept crypto for her own campaign.”
However, pro-Harris advocacy group Crypto4Harris said that they were unaware of this move. Additionally, Harris’s official fundraising site does not yet display crypto donation options. So far, Harris’s campaign and Coinbase were reached out to for comment, but Fortune has not heard back yet at the time of writing.
The “Crypto for Harris” initiative, launched last month, aims to garner support from crypto enthusiasts as Harris seeks to strengthen her presidential bid.
“She has a huge opportunity, we’re cautiously optimistic,” Haas reportedly continued. “She has not rolled out the details yet, but she has made overtures that she would like to drive crypto legislation.”
Harris’ decision to accept cryptocurrency donations marks a strategic move to rival her opponent Donald Trump, who earlier this year embraced Bitcoin Lightning Network donations for his campaign. Trump’s alignment with the Bitcoin community was further solidified when he spoke at The Bitcoin 2024 Conference in Nashville—an event Harris notably declined to attend.
