Kamala Harris made her first public statement amid the US presidential campaign — pledging to boost investment in artificial intelligence and digital assets at a fundraiser on Wall Street.

“We will work together to invest in America’s competitiveness, to invest in America’s future. We will encourage innovative technologies like AI and digital assets while protecting consumers and investors,” Harris said at a fundraiser in Manhattan, Bloomberg reported on September 22.

“We will create a safe business environment with consistent and transparent rules,” Harris said. “We will invest in semiconductors, clean energy, and the industries of the future, while cutting unnecessary red tape.”

This is the first time Harris has spoken publicly about cryptocurrencies since becoming the Democratic frontrunner. Her Republican opponent Donald Trump has also made efforts to woo the industry.

The crypto industry has been waiting for this moment to see if the Vice President would go in a different direction from the approach of President Joe Biden, who is considered unfriendly to the sector.

Last month, senior adviser to Harris’ campaign Brian Nelson hinted that she would support cryptocurrency policies if she wins the November election, but also said the industry needs “rules” due to several companies going bankrupt.

“This is an important and constructive statement from Kamala Harris,” Coinbase policy director Faryar Shirzad said in a post on X on September 22.

“It’s not as pioneering as Donald Trump’s specific stances and vision, but it’s still notable because she recognizes the importance of digital asset innovation and puts it on par with AI,” Shirzad added.

Alexander Grieve, vice president of government relations at investment firm Paradigm, called Harris’ remarks “encouraging” on X, stressing that regardless of who wins the November election, “this should be the last administration that stands against crypto.”

“This is progress and progress is good,” Jake Chervinsky, chief legal officer at crypto investment firm Variant, wrote on X. “But ‘while protecting consumers and investors’ can mean a lot of different things.”

“The anti-crypto army uses ‘consumer protection’ as a smokescreen to hide its efforts to destroy our industry,” he said. “I, for my part, want to see policy details.”

Cryptocurrency has become a campaign issue as U.S. crypto companies, including Coinbase, Ripple and Gemini, spent nearly $120 million to influence the November elections, advocacy group Public Citizen reported last month.

Trump has promoted four lines of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), endorsed his family's cryptocurrency foundation, and is deeply involved in the cryptocurrency industry.

He promised to be a “crypto president” and would fire Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler, whose agency has initiated numerous actions against the nation’s most prominent crypto industry players.

Harris and Trump are neck and neck in national polls — Harris leads Trump by just 2.9 percentage points, according to data from FiveThirtyEight as of September 22.

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