Joe Biden and Donald Trump, the presumed candidates for the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election, are set to engage in their first debate in four years in June.
On May 15th, President Biden announced that he had accepted an invitation from CNN for a presidential debate on June 27th and called on Trump to respond. Trump, in a statement to Fox News, reportedly accepted the date for the event, stating that he was “ready and willing” to debate Biden, as expressed on his social media platform Truth Social.
However, Trump’s attendance at the debate may be affected by his ongoing legal issues. He is required to appear in a New York courtroom for a criminal trial involving hush money payments to an adult film star and falsification of business records related to the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election. It is uncertain whether his other pending criminal cases in the District of Columbia, Florida, and Georgia could conflict with the June debate.
If confirmed, the debate would take place before either Trump or Biden officially accept their party’s nomination for U.S. President. The Democratic National Convention is expected to occur in August, while the Republican National Convention will take place in July. Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., trailing behind Biden and Trump in the polls, claimed that he was excluded from the debate.
During the Republican Party nomination race, candidates Vivek Ramaswamy and Ron DeSantis frequently discussed crypto-related issues and central bank digital currencies. Trump, during a dinner for supporters who purchased his nonfungible tokens, expressed his support for crypto in the United States. However, he has previously referred to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) as a scam.
Many lawmakers and industry leaders who seemingly support President Biden have urged him to consider the voting preferences of crypto-focused individuals in 2024. Some have pointed out the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement actions against crypto firms under the Biden administration and Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren’s legislative and public attacks on digital assets.
Although President Biden rarely speaks about digital assets personally, he has used his position to oppose legislation and policies that many in the crypto space reject. When the House of Representatives was considering overturning an SEC policy on banks holding crypto, President Biden stated that he would veto the measure. The resolution passed the House with support from 21 Democratic lawmakers and is now headed to the Senate.
The last time Biden and Trump faced off in person was during the first U.S. Presidential debate in September 2020. Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, claimed in his book that the former president had been diagnosed with COVID-19 days before the debate but concealed the results.
Neither Biden nor Trump discussed cryptocurrency or blockchain during the previous debates. At the time of publication, Biden’s campaign website did not have an ‘issues’ page outlining his policy positions, while Trump’s website mentioned his stance on the economy but did not specifically address digital assets.
Democratic Representative Wiley Nickel expressed concern in a May 11th post that many crypto owners are single-issue voters and could be lost in the upcoming presidential election.
Given the lack of precise positions on crypto from both major candidates, it remains uncertain whether the technology will be a topic of discussion in the June 27th debate or the second one scheduled for September 10th. The U.S. Election Day is on November 5th.