As the 2024 US presidential election approaches, many executives and entrepreneurs from the cryptocurrency industry have announced their support for both candidates.

Republican candidate and former president Donald Trump has received significant support from the crypto community, while Democratic candidate and incumbent vice president Kamala Harris has also gained significant supporters.

Trump, who changed his thoughts about Bitcoin over time, received much more crypto support than Harris. One reason for this may be Harris’ late entry into the race; Trump announced his candidacy against Harris, who won the Democratic nomination in July, in November 2022, approximately two years before the election.

The first crypto support for Trump came in May 2024 from Jeremy Kauffman, founder of blockchain-based file-sharing network LBRY. On the other hand, Harris received her first crypto-related endorsement in August 2024, with support from former Uphold CEO JP Thieriot.

That same month, John O’Farrell, general partner at crypto-friendly venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), also backed Harris. Trump also received support from executives of major exchanges such as Kraken and Gemini.

In June, Gemini founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss donated $2 million worth of Bitcoin to Trump’s re-election, highlighting his “crypto-friendly” stance.

Kraken co-founder Jesse Powell donated $1 million to Trump in June, calling him “the only crypto-friendly major party candidate.” Cathie Wood, founder of ARK Invest and a leading Bitcoin supporter, also announced her support for Trump.

While Tesla CEO Elon Musk attracted attention with his company investing more than $ 700 million in Bitcoin, he supported Trump and took part in the former president’s rallies. Names such as Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson, BitGo CEO Mike Belshe, Tron founder Justin Sun and Bitcoin Foundation founder Charlie Shrem were also among Trump supporters.

On the other hand, Harris also received support from some prominent crypto executives. In September, Harris publicly shared her views on crypto policy, emphasizing consumer protection.

Ripple CEO Chris Larsen signed a letter supporting Harris in September. Cleve Mesidor, executive director of the Blockchain Foundation, launched a $100,000 fundraising campaign for Harris in September. Laura Shin, an influential figure in the crypto space, also stated that she supports Harris in an article she wrote in Time magazine.

One of Harris’ biggest supporters was billionaire investor Mark Cuban. Although Cuban has not yet donated to Harris’ campaign, he said Trump’s second term would be “worse” than his first.

In September, SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci stated that Harris’ campaign was “on the right track” on crypto policies.

Some crypto managers chose to remain neutral. For example, famous investor Tim Draper announced in October that he donated to both Harris and Trump’s campaigns. In August, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong stated that the new US administration would take a “constructive” approach to crypto regardless of which party wins.

Industry enthusiasts such as Quantum Economics founder Mati Greenspan supported this approach, expressing the opinion that “Bitcoin cannot be stopped.” In a poll conducted by MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor on Twitter on October 27, 90% of 100,000 people supported Trump for Bitcoin.