Dan Gillmor
boosted
If Big Journalism was doing its job, it would be making it clear that Washington, DC, is indeed suffering a massive crime wave -- but not the one the Trump regime claims.
The criminals are the regime's apparatchiks and associates. Their boss is the president, and their lawbreaking is unprecedented.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says Elon Musk is “one of the only people in the world” who could build Houston’s much-needed tunnel system for flood water mitigation.
But his company, Boring, has never completed a major public project in Texas.
https://www.propublica.org/article/elon-musk-wesley-hunt-houston-tunnels-boring-co?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
@ProPublica Tunnels are underground. They are prone to flooding.
Elon Musk Proves Yet Again That He's Just Not Very Bright
America's dumbest smart guy strikes again with an idiotic take on subways. https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-proves-yet-again-that-hes-just-not-very-brigh-1848835670 #ElonMusk #uspolitics #texas
Elon Musk Proves Yet Again That He's Just Not Very Bright
America's dumbest smart guy strikes again with an idiotic take on subways. https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-proves-yet-again-that-hes-just-not-very-brigh-1848835670 #ElonMusk #uspolitics #texas
The at least nominally non-partisan Fairshake will have more company than last election cycle, with some powerful crypto executives opting to back explicitly pro-Trump crypto PACs.
And a coalition of crypto companies including Coinbase, Kraken, DCG, and others are teaming up to back an "educational non-profit" to "educate" legislators about crypto.
The crypto industry has also launched a 501(c)(3) “educational non-profit” called the American Innovation Project, which will focus on “educating” policymakers. Although such groups must by law be cautious about engaging in only minimal lobbying activities, focusing on non-advocacy educational initiatives, I am not confident this will be carefully followed or policed. The group is backed by crypto companies including Coinbase, Kraken, DCG, and others, and funded by DCG and the Cedar Innovation Foundation crypto dark money group.39
![Fairshake will have more company than last election cycle. While in 2024 Fairshake operated alongside the Democrat-focused Protect Progress and Republican-focused Defend American Jobs — with all three PACs essentially functioning as coordinated arms of the same operation — a new set of crypto PACs have sprung up, including:
Digital Freedom Fund (super PAC): Rejecting Fairshake’s strategy of claimed nonpartisanship, this PAC explicitly supports Republicans who will “help realize President Trump’s vision of making America the crypto capital of the world”. The newly formed committee has not yet filed any fundraising disclosures, but the Winklevoss twins announced a $21 million contribution.37
First Principles Digital (hybrid PAC): This PAC describes itself as a “Republican-led, Republican-focused organization working to elect pro-crypto leaders to Congress”. It’s affiliated with Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), and has raised $1 million this year so far (entirely from the Winklevoss twins, except for a $5,000 contribution from Trump crypto adviser David Bailey [I90, 84]). First Principles shares leadership with America First Digital, a new dark money group that aims to “help advance pro-crypto policies and regulations, amplify the efforts of industry champions in Washington, and support ongoing education efforts among key decision-makers.”38](https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/103/145/669/982/995/original/c4925dea900a5a90.png)
Fairshake will have more company than last election cycle. While in 2024 Fairshake operated alongside the Democrat-focused Protect Progress and Republican-focused Defend American Jobs — with all three PACs essentially functioning as coordinated arms of the same operation — a new set of crypto PACs have sprung up, including:
Digital Freedom Fund (super PAC): Rejecting Fairshake’s strategy of claimed nonpartisanship, this PAC explicitly supports Republicans who will “help realize President Trump’s vision of making America the crypto capital of the world”. The newly formed committee has not yet filed any fundraising disclosures, but the Winklevoss twins announced a $21 million contribution.37
First Principles Digital (hybrid PAC): This PAC describes itself as a “Republican-led, Republican-focused organization working to elect pro-crypto leaders to Congress”. It’s affiliated with Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), and has raised $1 million this year so far (entirely from the Winklevoss twins, except for a $5,000 contribution from Trump crypto adviser David Bailey [I90, 84]). First Principles shares leadership with America First Digital, a new dark money group that aims to “help advance pro-crypto policies and regulations, amplify the efforts of industry champions in Washington, and support ongoing education efforts among key decision-makers.”38
Meanwhile, AI firms are pointing to the Fairshake crypto PAC's massive spending in 2024 elections as a blueprint for "pro-AI" super PACs like Leading the Future, which has received contributions from Andreessen Horowitz, OpenAI, Perplexity, and others.
Among those excited about the crypto industry’s massive political influence are current, powerful Senators like Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott.
“Thank you, to all of y’all, for getting rid of Sherrod Brown. ... The industry put Bernie Moreno in the Senate.”
Interviewer: I'd love to hear from your perspective what changed and specifically Senate banking you guys have such a broad mandate So how did you prioritize digital assets?
Tim Scott: I gotta tell you I mean Thank you to all of y'all for getting rid of Sherrod Brown He's running again by the way, but Literally the industry put Bernie Moreno in the Senate and he's on the banking committee So really having the opportunity to have a team That's focusing on the industry because we have passion For people who want to make a profit and help people this industry does it better than anything I've seen in my adult lifetime
The at least nominally non-partisan Fairshake will have more company than last election cycle, with some powerful crypto executives opting to back explicitly pro-Trump crypto PACs.
And a coalition of crypto companies including Coinbase, Kraken, DCG, and others are teaming up to back an "educational non-profit" to "educate" legislators about crypto.
The crypto industry has also launched a 501(c)(3) “educational non-profit” called the American Innovation Project, which will focus on “educating” policymakers. Although such groups must by law be cautious about engaging in only minimal lobbying activities, focusing on non-advocacy educational initiatives, I am not confident this will be carefully followed or policed. The group is backed by crypto companies including Coinbase, Kraken, DCG, and others, and funded by DCG and the Cedar Innovation Foundation crypto dark money group.39
Fairshake will have more company than last election cycle. While in 2024 Fairshake operated alongside the Democrat-focused Protect Progress and Republican-focused Defend American Jobs — with all three PACs essentially functioning as coordinated arms of the same operation — a new set of crypto PACs have sprung up, including:
Digital Freedom Fund (super PAC): Rejecting Fairshake’s strategy of claimed nonpartisanship, this PAC explicitly supports Republicans who will “help realize President Trump’s vision of making America the crypto capital of the world”. The newly formed committee has not yet filed any fundraising disclosures, but the Winklevoss twins announced a $21 million contribution.37
First Principles Digital (hybrid PAC): This PAC describes itself as a “Republican-led, Republican-focused organization working to elect pro-crypto leaders to Congress”. It’s affiliated with Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), and has raised $1 million this year so far (entirely from the Winklevoss twins, except for a $5,000 contribution from Trump crypto adviser David Bailey [I90, 84]). First Principles shares leadership with America First Digital, a new dark money group that aims to “help advance pro-crypto policies and regulations, amplify the efforts of industry champions in Washington, and support ongoing education efforts among key decision-makers.”38
Political fundraising is ramping up for the midterms, and the pro-crypto super PAC Fairshake is number one on the list of super PACs by cash raised in the 2025–2026 cycle.
Political action and party committees
Viewing 1,399 filtered results for:
2025–2026Super PAC (independent expenditure only)
Name Type Receipts Disbursements Ending cash on hand
FAIRSHAKE Super PAC (Independent Expenditure-Only) $59,056,790.44 $3,800,671.85 $119,500,316.53
DEMOCRACY PAC Super PAC (Independent Expenditure-Only) $52,029,116.25 $2,647,275.44 $53,120,780.28
AMERICA PAC Super PAC (Independent Expenditure-Only) $45,341,344.67 $47,398,032.68 $165,960.38
SENATE LEADERSHIP FUND Super PAC (Independent Expenditure-Only) $26,475,632.45 $2,807,526.22 $29,750,782.85
SMP Super PAC (Independent Expenditure-Only) $17,362,935.92 $12,898,516.02 $13,635,089.11
V-PAC: VICTORS, NOT VICTIMS Super PAC (Independent Expenditure-Only) $16,971,139.41 $4,391,775.03 $12,696,180.56
UNITED DEMOCRACY PROJECT ('UDP') Super PAC (Independent Expenditure-Only) $14,509,998.44 $4,594,753.92 $38,718,139.62
TEXANS FOR A CONSERVATIVE MAJORITY Super PAC (Independent Expenditure-Only) $11,248,318.04 $429,741.76 $12,168,534.86
SCHOOL FREEDOM FUND Super PAC (Independent Expenditure-Only) $10,000,000.00 $0.00 $10,128,286.22
RESTORATION PAC Super PAC (Independent Expenditure-Only) $8,123,576.61 $5,324,298.83 $4,214,869.99
Political fundraising is ramping up for the midterms, and the pro-crypto super PAC Fairshake is number one on the list of super PACs by cash raised in the 2025–2026 cycle. They’ve received about $59 million so far, and have almost $120 million in cash on hand.h This puts them ahead of all other super PACs,i including George Soros’ Democracy PAC, Elon Musk’s America PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund, and the Senate Majority PAC.33 Most of Fairshake’s contributions this period are from Coinbase ($25 million) and Ripple ($23 million).34
Among those excited about the crypto industry’s massive political influence are current, powerful Senators like Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott.
“Thank you, to all of y’all, for getting rid of Sherrod Brown. ... The industry put Bernie Moreno in the Senate.”
Interviewer: I'd love to hear from your perspective what changed and specifically Senate banking you guys have such a broad mandate So how did you prioritize digital assets?
Tim Scott: I gotta tell you I mean Thank you to all of y'all for getting rid of Sherrod Brown He's running again by the way, but Literally the industry put Bernie Moreno in the Senate and he's on the banking committee So really having the opportunity to have a team That's focusing on the industry because we have passion For people who want to make a profit and help people this industry does it better than anything I've seen in my adult lifetime
Bloomberg published a great story about a plan by Tether co-founder and some other guy to pitch bitcoin fugitive Roger Ver on paying $30 million for a pardon. It didn't work out, and Ver is apparently paying (much less) for Roger Stone instead.
(Bloomberg article: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-18/how-a-30-million-crypto-pardon-scheme-failed-before-it-got-to-trump)
Ver seems to have opted for more reliable lobbyists like Roger Stone, who I certainly can’t argue lacks experience with presidential pardons. (Stone is, if nothing else, substantially cheaper than Argall, charging a mere $600,000 to lobby for “ending the exit tax and reform of cryptocurrency tax policy”. Ver has also paid $30,000 for lobbying by Sterling Green’s Tracy Ackerman on the same subject, as well as “supporting the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) agenda” and “criminal justice reform for cryptocurrency related law enforcement and lobbying for the dismissal of charges against Roger Ver.”).2829
Photo of Matt Argall posing with Robert F. Kennedy Jr
![Bloomberg reported a plan by bitcoin fugitive Roger Ver to pay $30 million in hopes of securing a pardon from President Trump. Ver was charged with tax fraud in April 2024 after allegedly evading around $50 million in expatriation taxes owed after renouncing his US citizenship, and is currently fighting extradition from Spain [I57]. According to Bloomberg, Tether co-founder (and former Mighty Ducks child actor) Brock Pierce schemed with Matt Argall to pitch a plan for Ver’s pardon in exchange for a hefty fee. “It’s unclear whether Argall and his associates had genuine connections to people with power, much less the clout to persuade them that Ver’s pardon was a worthy cause,” writes Bloomberg, noting that, aside from a LinkedIn picture of him at a campaign event with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Argall doesn’t “appear to have any clear connections to Trump’s inner circle”. Although Ver may have been interested in the offer early on, one of his lawyers may have warned him off, opining that the claims of high-level connections seemed false.27](https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/103/128/190/190/870/original/610f74a7f73bc8b9.png)
Bloomberg reported a plan by bitcoin fugitive Roger Ver to pay $30 million in hopes of securing a pardon from President Trump. Ver was charged with tax fraud in April 2024 after allegedly evading around $50 million in expatriation taxes owed after renouncing his US citizenship, and is currently fighting extradition from Spain [I57]. According to Bloomberg, Tether co-founder (and former Mighty Ducks child actor) Brock Pierce schemed with Matt Argall to pitch a plan for Ver’s pardon in exchange for a hefty fee. “It’s unclear whether Argall and his associates had genuine connections to people with power, much less the clout to persuade them that Ver’s pardon was a worthy cause,” writes Bloomberg, noting that, aside from a LinkedIn picture of him at a campaign event with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Argall doesn’t “appear to have any clear connections to Trump’s inner circle”. Although Ver may have been interested in the offer early on, one of his lawyers may have warned him off, opining that the claims of high-level connections seemed false.27
Political fundraising is ramping up for the midterms, and the pro-crypto super PAC Fairshake is number one on the list of super PACs by cash raised in the 2025–2026 cycle.
Political action and party committees
Viewing 1,399 filtered results for:
2025–2026Super PAC (independent expenditure only)
Name Type Receipts Disbursements Ending cash on hand
FAIRSHAKE Super PAC (Independent Expenditure-Only) $59,056,790.44 $3,800,671.85 $119,500,316.53
DEMOCRACY PAC Super PAC (Independent Expenditure-Only) $52,029,116.25 $2,647,275.44 $53,120,780.28
AMERICA PAC Super PAC (Independent Expenditure-Only) $45,341,344.67 $47,398,032.68 $165,960.38
SENATE LEADERSHIP FUND Super PAC (Independent Expenditure-Only) $26,475,632.45 $2,807,526.22 $29,750,782.85
SMP Super PAC (Independent Expenditure-Only) $17,362,935.92 $12,898,516.02 $13,635,089.11
V-PAC: VICTORS, NOT VICTIMS Super PAC (Independent Expenditure-Only) $16,971,139.41 $4,391,775.03 $12,696,180.56
UNITED DEMOCRACY PROJECT ('UDP') Super PAC (Independent Expenditure-Only) $14,509,998.44 $4,594,753.92 $38,718,139.62
TEXANS FOR A CONSERVATIVE MAJORITY Super PAC (Independent Expenditure-Only) $11,248,318.04 $429,741.76 $12,168,534.86
SCHOOL FREEDOM FUND Super PAC (Independent Expenditure-Only) $10,000,000.00 $0.00 $10,128,286.22
RESTORATION PAC Super PAC (Independent Expenditure-Only) $8,123,576.61 $5,324,298.83 $4,214,869.99
Political fundraising is ramping up for the midterms, and the pro-crypto super PAC Fairshake is number one on the list of super PACs by cash raised in the 2025–2026 cycle. They’ve received about $59 million so far, and have almost $120 million in cash on hand.h This puts them ahead of all other super PACs,i including George Soros’ Democracy PAC, Elon Musk’s America PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund, and the Senate Majority PAC.33 Most of Fairshake’s contributions this period are from Coinbase ($25 million) and Ripple ($23 million).34
The revolving door flung former Digital Assets Advisory Council director Bo Hines into an advisory role at stablecoin issuer Tether, after he helped back the stablecoin regulation that will largely dictate Tether's operations in the US going forward.
![Former Digital Assets Advisory Council director Bo Hines didn’t spend long looking for work, after he abruptly announced on August 9 that he would be resigning and returning to the private sector [I90]. Only ten days later, the revolving door flung him into a position as “Strategic Advisor for Digital Assets and U.S. Strategy” for Tether, an offshore stablecoin company that I’ve previously described as “the most Wild West of the established stablecoin issuers” [I89] Hines had helped back the Genius Act, which will largely dictate Tether’s future operations in the US; the bill also received a stamp of approval from Tether, whose CEO stood in the background as Trump signed it into law.](https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/103/124/343/929/474/original/69d746ce381694f4.png)
Bloomberg published a great story about a plan by Tether co-founder and some other guy to pitch bitcoin fugitive Roger Ver on paying $30 million for a pardon. It didn't work out, and Ver is apparently paying (much less) for Roger Stone instead.
(Bloomberg article: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-18/how-a-30-million-crypto-pardon-scheme-failed-before-it-got-to-trump)
Ver seems to have opted for more reliable lobbyists like Roger Stone, who I certainly can’t argue lacks experience with presidential pardons. (Stone is, if nothing else, substantially cheaper than Argall, charging a mere $600,000 to lobby for “ending the exit tax and reform of cryptocurrency tax policy”. Ver has also paid $30,000 for lobbying by Sterling Green’s Tracy Ackerman on the same subject, as well as “supporting the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) agenda” and “criminal justice reform for cryptocurrency related law enforcement and lobbying for the dismissal of charges against Roger Ver.”).2829
Photo of Matt Argall posing with Robert F. Kennedy Jr
Bloomberg reported a plan by bitcoin fugitive Roger Ver to pay $30 million in hopes of securing a pardon from President Trump. Ver was charged with tax fraud in April 2024 after allegedly evading around $50 million in expatriation taxes owed after renouncing his US citizenship, and is currently fighting extradition from Spain [I57]. According to Bloomberg, Tether co-founder (and former Mighty Ducks child actor) Brock Pierce schemed with Matt Argall to pitch a plan for Ver’s pardon in exchange for a hefty fee. “It’s unclear whether Argall and his associates had genuine connections to people with power, much less the clout to persuade them that Ver’s pardon was a worthy cause,” writes Bloomberg, noting that, aside from a LinkedIn picture of him at a campaign event with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Argall doesn’t “appear to have any clear connections to Trump’s inner circle”. Although Ver may have been interested in the offer early on, one of his lawyers may have warned him off, opining that the claims of high-level connections seemed false.27
Commerce Secretary Lutnick has announced plans to "put out GDP on the blockchain". I am a little concerned they hope to lean on the supposed inherent reliability of blockchains to lend artificial credibility to questionable numbers.
I am a little concerned that this push is an effort to lean on the supposed inherent reliability of blockchains to lend artificial credibility to questionable numbers cherry-picked by Trump when the real ones are unflattering, as he did recently with jobs data.22 While it is harder to alter information once it has been recorded on a blockchain, this does not mean the information itself is reliable. Blockchain advocates often conflate immutability with accuracy, suggesting that blockchains inherently validate the truth of recorded data. In reality, a blockchain only preserves data in the state it was entered — it doesn’t verify whether that data was correct in the first place. I may be ascribing a far greater degree of forethought to Lutnick’s announcement than it deserves, though — maybe our Commerce Secretary is actually just making sure he tackles the top priority of making sure Polymarket bettors can bet on the future GDP without needing to rely on an oracle.
To be extra clear, Lutnick is not proposing moving any funds — just using some unspecified blockchain as a ledger to record statistics like GDP. In a normal timeline, an announcement that the government will publish its statistics in an additional type of database would not warrant announcement from a cabinet official, but it’s 2025 and there’s a Crypto President to indulge.
The White House has finally cracked the code on how to publish numbers to the internet. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced at a Cabinet meeting, “The Department of Commerce is going to start issuing its statistics on the blockchain, because you are the Crypto President, and we are going to put out GDP on the blockchain. So people can use the blockchain for data distribution, and then we're going to make that available to the entire government, so all of you can do it. We're just ironing out all the details so we can do it.”
The revolving door flung former Digital Assets Advisory Council director Bo Hines into an advisory role at stablecoin issuer Tether, after he helped back the stablecoin regulation that will largely dictate Tether's operations in the US going forward.
The normally five-person CFTC Commission will soon be down to just one Commissioner, Acting Chair Caroline Pham. Pham plans to resign when Trump's nominee is confirmed. This could leave the agency — which may take on primary crypto oversight — under unilateral control.
![Crypto lobbying groups have written a letter to President Trump, reiterating their support for his nomination of Brian Quintenz as CFTC Chair. His confirmation, they write, is “essential to accomplishing the proactive agenda your Administration has established to ensure a golden age for digital assets in America”. The letter praises Quintenz for his “forward-looking vision of this transformative technology”.10 It makes no mention of his recently released emails with CFTC employees, obtained via FOIA request, which lawmakers and crypto industry figures have said raise serious questions about possible ethics violations [I90]. Quintenz’s nomination was scheduled for a vote in front of the Senate Agriculture Committee in late July, but the vote was canceled twice. One of the cancellations was at the request of the White House, which did not elaborate on its reasoning for the delay.](https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/103/105/256/598/248/original/293d09e015541c62.png)
Crypto lobbying groups have written a letter to President Trump, reiterating their support for his nomination of Brian Quintenz as CFTC Chair. His confirmation, they write, is “essential to accomplishing the proactive agenda your Administration has established to ensure a golden age for digital assets in America”. The letter praises Quintenz for his “forward-looking vision of this transformative technology”.10 It makes no mention of his recently released emails with CFTC employees, obtained via FOIA request, which lawmakers and crypto industry figures have said raise serious questions about possible ethics violations [I90]. Quintenz’s nomination was scheduled for a vote in front of the Senate Agriculture Committee in late July, but the vote was canceled twice. One of the cancellations was at the request of the White House, which did not elaborate on its reasoning for the delay.
The hollowing out of regulatory agencies has reached a critical point, with the CFTC soon to have just a single commissioner as the crypto industry heavily lobbies for it to become their primary regulator. In normal times, outgoing CFTC Commissioners would be replaced by a roughly bipartisan slate of presidential appointees, but Trump has not bothered to nominate any new commissioners besides his controversial pick for Chair. With the current CFTC Acting Chair set to depart after a new Chair is confirmed, Trump may hope to exert control over the independent regulatory body by installing a single pawn who will hold unilateral agency control.
Commerce Secretary Lutnick has announced plans to "put out GDP on the blockchain". I am a little concerned they hope to lean on the supposed inherent reliability of blockchains to lend artificial credibility to questionable numbers.
I am a little concerned that this push is an effort to lean on the supposed inherent reliability of blockchains to lend artificial credibility to questionable numbers cherry-picked by Trump when the real ones are unflattering, as he did recently with jobs data.22 While it is harder to alter information once it has been recorded on a blockchain, this does not mean the information itself is reliable. Blockchain advocates often conflate immutability with accuracy, suggesting that blockchains inherently validate the truth of recorded data. In reality, a blockchain only preserves data in the state it was entered — it doesn’t verify whether that data was correct in the first place. I may be ascribing a far greater degree of forethought to Lutnick’s announcement than it deserves, though — maybe our Commerce Secretary is actually just making sure he tackles the top priority of making sure Polymarket bettors can bet on the future GDP without needing to rely on an oracle.
To be extra clear, Lutnick is not proposing moving any funds — just using some unspecified blockchain as a ledger to record statistics like GDP. In a normal timeline, an announcement that the government will publish its statistics in an additional type of database would not warrant announcement from a cabinet official, but it’s 2025 and there’s a Crypto President to indulge.
The White House has finally cracked the code on how to publish numbers to the internet. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced at a Cabinet meeting, “The Department of Commerce is going to start issuing its statistics on the blockchain, because you are the Crypto President, and we are going to put out GDP on the blockchain. So people can use the blockchain for data distribution, and then we're going to make that available to the entire government, so all of you can do it. We're just ironing out all the details so we can do it.”
The Trump family's web of crypto businesses is growing ever more tangled, as they've announced yet another crypto treasury company (this one in partnership with Crypto.com). This is either the fifth or sixth the Trumps are involved with.
(Full-size image: https://storage.mollywhite.net/trump-family-crypto-projects.png
Zoomable graphic: https://www.mollywhite.net/etc/trump-family-crypto-projects/)
Tangled web of Trump family crypto businesses
![The Trump family’s crypto web is only getting more tangled, as Trump family-linked companies are further entwining themselves with various crypto ventures. Trump majority-owned Trump Media and Technology Group, creator of the Truth Social platform, announced a joint venture with Singapore-based exchange Crypto.com. TMTG purchased $105 million of Crypto.com’s CRO token, Crypto.com purchased $50 million of TMTG stock, and the two companies are creating Trump Media Group CRO Strategy Inc., a CRO treasury company they plan to take public through a SPAC merger.
In February, Crypto.com contributed $10 million to the MAGA Inc. Trump super PAC.6 A month later, TMTG and Crypto.com announced their partnership, initially focused on developing “America First investment vehicles” (including crypto ETFs) to be offered by Trump’s social media venture [I80]. Three days after the partnership announcement, Crypto.com said the SEC had dropped an investigation into the company.
This will be either the fifth or sixth Trump family-owned or -linked crypto treasury company, in addition to American Bitcoin,a Trump Media & Technology Group (which itself acquired a substantial bitcoin treasury earlier this month [I90]),b Metaplanet,c and ALT5 Sigma.d Donald Trump Jr. was previously a major shareholder in Thumzup Media;e he sold some or all of his shares,7 though some crypto news outlets continue to describe him as involved with the company.8](https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/103/098/409/154/632/original/125bf62d5eda7d37.png)
The Trump family’s crypto web is only getting more tangled, as Trump family-linked companies are further entwining themselves with various crypto ventures. Trump majority-owned Trump Media and Technology Group, creator of the Truth Social platform, announced a joint venture with Singapore-based exchange Crypto.com. TMTG purchased $105 million of Crypto.com’s CRO token, Crypto.com purchased $50 million of TMTG stock, and the two companies are creating Trump Media Group CRO Strategy Inc., a CRO treasury company they plan to take public through a SPAC merger.
In February, Crypto.com contributed $10 million to the MAGA Inc. Trump super PAC.6 A month later, TMTG and Crypto.com announced their partnership, initially focused on developing “America First investment vehicles” (including crypto ETFs) to be offered by Trump’s social media venture [I80]. Three days after the partnership announcement, Crypto.com said the SEC had dropped an investigation into the company.
This will be either the fifth or sixth Trump family-owned or -linked crypto treasury company, in addition to American Bitcoin,a Trump Media & Technology Group (which itself acquired a substantial bitcoin treasury earlier this month [I90]),b Metaplanet,c and ALT5 Sigma.d Donald Trump Jr. was previously a major shareholder in Thumzup Media;e he sold some or all of his shares,7 though some crypto news outlets continue to describe him as involved with the company.8
The normally five-person CFTC Commission will soon be down to just one Commissioner, Acting Chair Caroline Pham. Pham plans to resign when Trump's nominee is confirmed. This could leave the agency — which may take on primary crypto oversight — under unilateral control.
Crypto lobbying groups have written a letter to President Trump, reiterating their support for his nomination of Brian Quintenz as CFTC Chair. His confirmation, they write, is “essential to accomplishing the proactive agenda your Administration has established to ensure a golden age for digital assets in America”. The letter praises Quintenz for his “forward-looking vision of this transformative technology”.10 It makes no mention of his recently released emails with CFTC employees, obtained via FOIA request, which lawmakers and crypto industry figures have said raise serious questions about possible ethics violations [I90]. Quintenz’s nomination was scheduled for a vote in front of the Senate Agriculture Committee in late July, but the vote was canceled twice. One of the cancellations was at the request of the White House, which did not elaborate on its reasoning for the delay.
The hollowing out of regulatory agencies has reached a critical point, with the CFTC soon to have just a single commissioner as the crypto industry heavily lobbies for it to become their primary regulator. In normal times, outgoing CFTC Commissioners would be replaced by a roughly bipartisan slate of presidential appointees, but Trump has not bothered to nominate any new commissioners besides his controversial pick for Chair. With the current CFTC Acting Chair set to depart after a new Chair is confirmed, Trump may hope to exert control over the independent regulatory body by installing a single pawn who will hold unilateral agency control.
Issue 91 – GDP on the blockchain
The regulator set to take on primary crypto oversight is down to a single Commissioner, and new pro-crypto PACs focus on installing more Republicans in the midterms
The Trump family's web of crypto businesses is growing ever more tangled, as they've announced yet another crypto treasury company (this one in partnership with Crypto.com). This is either the fifth or sixth the Trumps are involved with.
(Full-size image: https://storage.mollywhite.net/trump-family-crypto-projects.png
Zoomable graphic: https://www.mollywhite.net/etc/trump-family-crypto-projects/)
Tangled web of Trump family crypto businesses
The Trump family’s crypto web is only getting more tangled, as Trump family-linked companies are further entwining themselves with various crypto ventures. Trump majority-owned Trump Media and Technology Group, creator of the Truth Social platform, announced a joint venture with Singapore-based exchange Crypto.com. TMTG purchased $105 million of Crypto.com’s CRO token, Crypto.com purchased $50 million of TMTG stock, and the two companies are creating Trump Media Group CRO Strategy Inc., a CRO treasury company they plan to take public through a SPAC merger.
In February, Crypto.com contributed $10 million to the MAGA Inc. Trump super PAC.6 A month later, TMTG and Crypto.com announced their partnership, initially focused on developing “America First investment vehicles” (including crypto ETFs) to be offered by Trump’s social media venture [I80]. Three days after the partnership announcement, Crypto.com said the SEC had dropped an investigation into the company.
This will be either the fifth or sixth Trump family-owned or -linked crypto treasury company, in addition to American Bitcoin,a Trump Media & Technology Group (which itself acquired a substantial bitcoin treasury earlier this month [I90]),b Metaplanet,c and ALT5 Sigma.d Donald Trump Jr. was previously a major shareholder in Thumzup Media;e he sold some or all of his shares,7 though some crypto news outlets continue to describe him as involved with the company.8
Issue 91 – GDP on the blockchain
The regulator set to take on primary crypto oversight is down to a single Commissioner, and new pro-crypto PACs focus on installing more Republicans in the midterms
Alex Akselrod
boosted
Prosecutors fail to get felony indictment of DC sandwich-thrower
#AureFreePress #News #press #headline#GOP #Politics #uspolitics#uspol
Alex Akselrod
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Top Florida official says 'Alligator Alcatraz' will likely be empty within days, email shows
#AureFreePress #News #press #headline#GOP #Politics #uspolitics#uspol #Breaking #BreakingNews
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/top-florida-official-says-alligator-164301139.html
Top Florida official says 'Alligator Alcatraz' will likely be empty within days, email shows
#AureFreePress #News #press #headline#GOP #Politics #uspolitics#uspol #Breaking #BreakingNews
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/top-florida-official-says-alligator-164301139.html
Prosecutors fail to get felony indictment of DC sandwich-thrower
#AureFreePress #News #press #headline#GOP #Politics #uspolitics#uspol
Tim Chambers
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Attn: Virginia Voters Abroad! Let's make a plan to vote! 🗳️
Requesting your mail-in ballot is the first step. Do it today so you can vote safely, securely and get them back on time. The process is quick and easy— visit votefromabroad.org to get started!
#Votefromabroad#DemocratsAbroad#USpolitics
Attn: Virginia Voters Abroad! Let's make a plan to vote! 🗳️
Requesting your mail-in ballot is the first step. Do it today so you can vote safely, securely and get them back on time. The process is quick and easy— visit votefromabroad.org to get started!
#Votefromabroad#DemocratsAbroad#USpolitics
Beardy Star Stuff
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The second Civil War starts with a few hundred national guard personnel moving to states and cities controlled by the political opposition of the incumbant government—especially when the incumbant is thoughtless, self-absorbed, authoritarian, and the worse kind of predator.
#USPol#USPolitics