A new report from Bernstein Research highlights the increasing significance of cryptocurrency in the upcoming 2024 U.S. presidential election and suggests that Kamala Harris' attempt to mend ties with the crypto industry may be coming "a tad late."

The report states that the Kamala Harris campaign has reached out to prominent crypto firms in an effort to reset relationships, following a series of regulatory actions against the industry under the current administration. However, Bernstein analysts believe that the industry would require concrete actions such as the reversal of previous policies before warming up to the Democrat campaign.

Bernstein's research cites Democratic communications revealing that approximately 20% of voters in crucial battleground states consider crypto to be a major issue for the 2024 elections. Furthermore, the report highlights that there are now over 50 million crypto holders in the U.S., a significant number that could impact the election outcome in a close race.

Additionally, the report underscores the growing influence of crypto-focused political action committees. One example is Fairshake, a crypto Super PAC supported by Coinbase, Ripple, and others, which has raised over $200 million to support candidates who are friendly towards cryptocurrencies.

From a market perspective, Bernstein suggests that political developments will have a substantial impact on crypto markets leading up to the election results in early November. Regardless of whether voters select Donald Trump or presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, Bernstein predicts that the crypto markets will trade mainly based on political developments.

Furthermore, the research indicates that an allocation to Bitcoin and Bitcoin-linked stocks should be considered as part of a "Trump trade" into the U.S. election, as Trump has signaled his support for the Bitcoin mining industry. Bernstein maintains its expectation that leading U.S. Bitcoin miners will consolidate a significant portion of the global market share, with the report stating, "We expect the top 5 Bitcoin miners to represent 25% of Bitcoin's global network hashrate by 2025."

According to Bernstein's ratings, they view Riot Platforms (RIOT), CleanSpark (CLSK), Iris Energy (IREN), Core Scientific (CORZ), and Microstrategy (MSTR) - which owns 1.1% of the world's Bitcoin as a corporate treasury asset - as outperforming entities.

While Kamala Harris's olive branch towards the crypto industry may be seen as a positive step, the analysts at Bernstein suggest that more concrete actions are needed in order to gain support from the crypto community ahead of the presidential election.