If you’ve been following the 2020 presidential election cycle, you’ve likely heard the name Andrew Yang tossed about a few times. Yang is a businessman-turned-Democratic candidate who has managed to poll fourth and fifth in some polls, shocking the world as a political outsider.

One of the most interesting parts of his campaign has been his stance on crypto, having been the only candidate — on the side of the Democrats and Republicans — to make his stance on cryptocurrency into a proposed policy.

Unfortunately, Yang this week revealed that he would be ending his presidential bid, citing his poor performance in the primaries in New Hampshire and in Iowa, the latter of which saw a debacle in the counting of votes, accentuating blockchain.

During Yang’s last rally for his participation in the 2020 race, he said that per his calculations, it was clear that he would not win the presidency, no matter what he did:

While there is great work left to be done, you know I am the math guy, and it is clear tonight from the numbers that we are not going to win this race.

With Yang now gone, here are a few of his thoughts on cryptocurrency.

Yang’s Crypto Stance

Having been a businessman working with those from Silicon Valley and other tech hubs in the U.S., Yang has long known of Bitcoin and similar technologies, having in 2013 tweeted about price action in the asset.

Since this tweet, he has expanded his views on cryptocurrency, actually dedicating a number of proposals on his website to this industry; one, for instance, mentions the need for blockchain voting due to inefficiencies in the largely-analog system in place today.

Yang expanded on this in a January interview with Bloomberg, in which he stated that the inconsistent regulation around cryptocurrency from state-to-state is hurting this industry, which he claimed has “high potential”:

“It’s bad for innovators who want to invest in this space. So that would be my priority: clear and transparent rules so everyone knows where they can head in the future and so we can maintain competitiveness [in crypto].”

On a more casual note, Yang once tweeted a photo of him and Charlie Lee, creator of Litecoin, and on a podcast with a prominent Bitcoin proponent and a Youtuber said that he likes cryptocurrency and has some friends invested in it.

Are There Any Other Crypto-Friendly Presidential Candidates?

With the folding of Yang from the upcoming presidential election, readers may be left wondering if there are any other candidates with pro-crypto tendencies.

It seems there is only one: Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii.

Gabbard, who sits somewhere around the primacy of Yang (prior to his dropping out), revealed in his financial disclosures as a state representative that she owns Litecoin and Ethereum. As financial disclosures are lagging and don’t take place all the time, it isn’t clear if she still holds those digital assets.

Other than Gabbard, presidential candidates either seem to be neutral or vehemently against Bitcoin and its ilk.

In 2017, Senator Elizabeth Warren said that she is worried “consumers [are] getting hurt” by the Bitcoin bubble, presumably citing the volatility and the seeming hype around little substance.

And sitting President Donald Trump came out against cryptocurrency in 2019, saying in a surprise Twitter thread that he thinks digital assets like Bitcoin are enablers of crime and that these assets have no inherent value.

Interestingly, Tom Lee of Fundstrat Global Advisors says that a defocusing on cryptocurrency by the political world — which is likely to take place as the election draws nearer — may actually help Bitcoin.

In a recent interview with CNBC, the market researcher and former JP Morgan executive said that as the White House and the rest of Washington begin to focus on the impending election, the regulatory pressure will be alleviated from the proverbial back of Bitcoin, a trend that may help push prices higher.

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Source: https://blockonomi.com/andrew-yang-out-of-presidential-race/