Colorado's Pro-Crypto Governor Will Run for President—But Only if Job Is Decentralized

Jared Polis' name has come up in chatter about possible nominees for the Democratic Party presidential ticket in 2024.

By Jeff John Roberts

In brief

• Colorado governor Jared Polis joked about a "decentralized Presidency" at ETHDenver.
• Polis has been a supporter of crypto since his time as a congressman.

Colorado governor Jared Polis is a rising star in the Democratic Party, but he playfully batted away rumors he could run for president in 2024 if Joe Biden doesn't seek re-election.

"How about a distributed crypto president where we can all be that president?" Polis told Decrypt last week in response to the suggestion that he could be the country's first crypto commander in chief, adding jokingly that it was time to "decentralize the presidency."

Polis made the remarks at ETHDenver, a get-together that attracts crypto luminaries like Vitalik Buterin and thousands of Ethereum fans to Colorado's capital every year.

The governor has been a crypto advocate since his days as a congressman, when he brought a Bitcoin ATM to Capitol Hill back in 2014. In the interview with Decrypt, which you can view below, Polis described steps he has taken—from letting people register their fishing licenses on a blockchain to exempting crypto from state securities laws—to make Colorado a crypto-friendly state.

More broadly, Polis's style of governing has made him a popular figure in Colorado, and put his name into the conversation of potential Democratic presidential nominees for 2024—a conversation that has heated up as party leaders fret that VP Kamala Harris's blunders and poor campaigning skills mean she is unelectable.

The appeal of Polis, in Democratic political circles, is that he is viewed as socially liberal but also moderate when it comes to business and hot-button issues like the pandemic. A recent profile in New York, for instance, asked if Polis is the "one Democrat who's figured out covid."

In the interview with Decrypt, Polis rebuffed rumors of a possible presidential run by saying his 10 years in Washington, D.C. were enough, and that he and his husband want to raise their kids in the state.

While Polis sounded adamant at ETHDenver he wouldn't run (decentralized presidency jokes aside), he is also campaigning for re-election in Colorado, meaning he would be unlikely to advertise any national ambitions. That could always change over time.

For more live interviews from ETHDenver, check out Decrypt's video page here.