First US presidential debate scheduled for June 27 — will cryptocurrencies be on the agenda?

Joe Biden and Donald Trump, the leading candidates for the 2024 U.S. presidential election, will face each other for the first time in four years at a debate in June.

In a May 15 X post, President Biden said: said He received and accepted an invitation to a presidential debate from CNN on June 27, challenging Trump to respond. The former US president reportedly accepted the date for the event, saying in a statement to Fox News that he was ready and willing to debate President Biden in a previous post on his social media platform, Truth Social.

Trump was due to appear in a New York court as a defendant in a criminal trial on charges of paying hush money to an adult film star and manipulating his business in connection with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, but the judge will hear other matters on Wednesday. It’s unclear whether other pending criminal cases in the District of Columbia, Florida and Georgia could conflict with the June arguments.

If confirmed, a debate will be held before President Trump or Biden officially accepts their party’s nomination for U.S. president. The Democratic National Convention and Republican National Convention are scheduled to be held in August and July, respectively. Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is trailing President Biden and President Trump in opinion polls. assert He was “excluded” from the discussion.

While running to become the Republican presidential nominee, candidates Vivek Ramaswamy and Ron DeSantis frequently discussed cryptocurrency-related issues and central bank digital currencies. As recently as May 8, at a dinner for supporters who had purchased non-fungible tokens, Trump said he was “well aware” of cryptocurrencies in the United States. However, the former president has previously called cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) a scam.

Related: Neither Joe Biden nor Donald Trump are cryptocurrency champions

Many lawmakers and industry leaders who appear to support President Biden have urged him to consider how those focused on cryptocurrencies will vote in 2024. Some have pointed out that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has taken several enforcement actions against cryptocurrency companies under the Biden administration. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren has been attacking digital assets through legislation and public statements.

Although President Biden rarely speaks about digital assets personally, he has used his position to oppose legislation and policies that many in the industry reject. On May 8, as the House of Representatives was considering passing a joint resolution to overturn SEC policy on banks holding cryptocurrencies, President Biden said he would veto the bill. This resolution passes the House of Representatives with the support of 21 Democratic lawmakers and then heads to the Senate.

The last time President Biden and President Trump faced each other directly was at the first U.S. presidential debate held at Case Western Reserve University in September 2020. Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, later claimed in his book that the former president was diagnosed with COVID-19 days before the debate but hid the results.

Neither then-candidates Biden nor Trump discussed cryptocurrency or blockchain in either debate. At the time of reporting, President Biden’s campaign website did not have an ‘issues’ page for his policy positions, while President Trump’s website did include his positions on the economy. Neither website specifically mentioned digital assets.

“Many cryptocurrency holders are single-issue voters and we risk losing them in this presidential election.” said Democratic Rep. Wiley Nickel in the May 11 X post.

Neither of the major U.S. presidential candidates have an exact position on cryptocurrencies at any given moment, so it’s unclear whether the technology will be a topic in the June 27 debate or the second debate scheduled for September 10. Election Day in the United States is November 5th. .

magazine: OPINION: GOP Cryptocurrency Maxis Is Just as Bad as Democrats’ ‘Anti-Crypto Army’