According to Gemini’s Cameron Winklevoss, the youth vote saved the American Democratic party from defeat in 2020. Alienating them now with anti-crypto policies, he said, will result in “lost votes” in the subsequent election cycle.
Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini’s co-founder tweeted that the Democrats’ anti-crypto stance would “alienate an entire generation” of important young voters. Senator Elizabeth Warren and President Biden’s nominee for Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler, were explicitly singled out by Cameron.
“Senator Warren and Gary Gensler’s war on crypto is going to alienate an entire generation of would-be Democrats,” he tweeted.
Why such comments?
Senator Elizabeth Warren and President Biden’s nominee for Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler, were explicitly singled out by Cameron.
The following day, on June 11, Cameron Winklevoss’ twin brother Tyler Winklevoss, another co-founder of Gemini, tweeted a response of his own, asserting that Gensler and Warren’s “war” would result in the Democrats losing the 2024 election.
The number of enforcement proceedings against the crypto-industry has increased during Gensler’s time at the SEC. And, Senator Warren has hinted at the formation of an “anti-crypto army.”
On November 5, 2024, there will be elections for the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the Presidency of the United States. Both 34 of the 100 Senate seats and all 435 of the House seats are up for election.
Young people (18 to 29) comprise a sizeable portion of the Democratic base. According to midterm election results in the United States in 2022, 63% of the youth who were polled chose Democrats over Republicans by a margin of 35%.
The Winklevoss twins have long been investors in Bitcoin and have called for a price objective of $500,000 per Bitcoin. Cameron has backed Republican politicians in the past, even though he has no official party position.
According to research released in April by Pew , 28% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 reported having used or invested in cryptocurrencies at some point. This age group is also the largest demographic of crypto-users or investors.
Importance of crypto-policy to the youth
A vocal opponent of cryptocurrencies, Gensler is also in the news this week when the SEC accused Coinbase and Binance of violating American securities laws. Democrats do not all oppose cryptocurrency though. Pro-Bitcoin Robert Kennedy Jr. delivered the opening keynote address at the recent Bitcoin 2023 conference.
The significance of crypto-policy to young voters about other concerns, however, is uncertain. Before the banking crisis in March, a Pew survey on policy priorities found that the top concern for people between the ages of 18 and 29 was boosting education, with the economy being ranked second.
The Pew Research Center’s list of the top 21 policy priorities didn’t include cryptocurrency legislation.
