US presidential candidate shows support for crypto

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Andrew Yang sees a “fun” future for the U.S. if he’s elected President next year. Yang is one of about 20 Democrats – so far- who have come forward to say that they would challenge Donald Trump to become the next President of the United States (POTUS). If elected, he sees a bright future that involves cryptocurrency and blockchains and would push for both to be integrated into society more completely.

Yang is an entrepreneur who has relative success with his endeavors and who founded Venture for America, an organization that “helps entrepreneurs create jobs in cities like Baltimore, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland,” according to his presidential candidacy website. At the recent Consensus 2019 conference in New York, which just wrapped up, Yang was one of the keynote speakers and he made sure to woo the crowd with a speech that included blockchains and crypto.

Yang told the audience, “I believe that blockchain needs to be a big part of our future. If I’m in the White House, oh boy are we going to have some fun in terms of the cryptocurrency community.”

The presidential candidate recognizes that the U.S. is already lagging in blockchain innovation, which is contributing to the country’s loss as a technological powerhouse. He has developed a generic framework for creating regulations for the space, which include clear definitions and tax rules, and is pushing for better understanding of which agencies are in control of digital assets.

In an interview during the conference, Yang added, “We just need to provide rules of the road. We need to figure out which agency is going to be interacting with individual currencies. It would be unfortunate if every time a new currency comes out we then have to decide which framework applies,”

Yang admits that he doesn’t own any crypto, but states that he has investment in a product that includes some crypto holdings. He adds that his campaign accepts donations in crypto.

A number of lawmakers and policymakers have been trying to get better clarity and input on the federal level to help define the Bitcoin ecosystem in the U.S. Other countries have already been able to implement policies without much difficulty, leading lawmakers to question why the U.S. is not able to pick up the pace and do the same.