With 55 days until his inauguration as President of the United States, Joe Biden is reportedly considering the former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for a permanent position in his administration. According to a Nov. 25 report from CNBC, the president-elect is floating Gary Gensler for a position as Deputy Treasury Secretary starting in 2021. The report states that “people familiar with the matter” have mentioned Gensler as a likely candidate for the role. He would be working under former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, whom Biden is reportedly planning to nominate as Secretary of the Treasury. Yellen …

American progressives, particularly the high-profile group of Congresswomen known as “the Squad,” have been highly vocal on questions of economic equity, the corrosive social impact of Big Tech and the need to reimagine fiscal and monetary policy in the post-2008 and post-COVID-19 political moment. How do they view blockchain technologies and the subsequent debates that have surrounded the digital dollar, given the potential for some overlap when it comes to certain concerns like financial inclusion, efficient distribution and citizens’ privacy? In a recent interview for Forbes, the economic policy advisors to several members of the Squad — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), …

Acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks — soon to be confirmed in the role full time — has revealed another way for U.S. crypto custody providers to receive a charter to operate as a federally-approved bank. In a Nov. 17 interview with Forbes, Brooks stated that there are currently three methods for payment companies to become a federally chartered bank. The first option is to apply for a non-depository national bank charter, and the other two are to buy a depository institution or apply for a National Trust Bank charter. But Brooks said the Office of the Comptroller of …

The central bank for the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan is working on a draft law to regulate the cryptocurrency industry in the country. According to an announcement on Nov. 13, the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic is developing a draft law that would regulate cryptocurrency exchanges in consultation with industry stakeholders. The bank stated that the draft law would regulate the sale and purchase of cryptocurrencies with the aim of tackling fraudulent cryptocurrency schemes and financial crimes, as well as safeguarding consumer and investor rights. Among the expected benefits of the forthcoming regulations, the bank notes the improved …

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted people’s lives, the relationship between governments and citizens, and the entire world economy, and of course, it has had a major impact on the United States presidential election. Due to social isolation, a large number of American voters opted to vote by mail, which increased vote counting time, led candidate and acting President Donald Trump to judicialize the electoral process with actions in several states, and triggered intense debates about the veracity and legitimacy of the current American electoral system. Related: Blockchain voting systems could be the future, but current flaws persist The current voting …

Douglas Tuman, a crypto enthusiast and host of the Monero Talk podcast, has lost in his bid to represent New York’s 4th District in the United States Congress. According to election results from The Associated Press, Tuman, a Republican, received 134,243 votes to incumbent Democrat Kathleen Rice’s 147,580 in New York’s 4th District, which includes parts of central and southern Nassau County. Rice has served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives since 2015. The Monero (XMR) podcaster first announced his intentions to run for Congress in March, stating that he was running on a platform “to improve …

Former Republican congresswoman and current Bitcoin holder Cynthia Lummis has won a seat in the U.S. Senate against Democratic challenger Merav Ben-David. According to a Nov. 4 report from Fortune, Lummis was an early adopter of Bitcoin (BTC), having first purchased the cryptocurrency in 2013 thanks to a tip from her son in law, Will Cole. Cole has served as the chief product officer at blockchain financial services firm Unchained Capital since December 2019. “Cynthia believes in the philosophy behind Bitcoin, not just that it is a new asset class,” said financial firm Avanti’s founder and CEO Caitlin Long. She …

On the eve of the United States presidential election, most mainstream polls are pointing to a highly likely Joe Biden victory, though this isn’t reflected in crypto prediction markets. For Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, the “big difference” between them presents something of a puzzle, and he’s offered three guesses as to why such a disparity has emerged. In what he posed as a pro-prediction market or favorable view, Buterin suggested that these markets “correctly incorporate the possibility of heightened election meddling, voter suppression, etc. affecting the outcome.” In contrast, statistical models perhaps “just assume the voting process is fair.” To …

Blockchain-based payments firm Ripple has joined a non-partisan group of companies working to ensure access to fair voting in the United States. According to a Nov. 2 tweet from Ripple, CEO Brad Garlinghouse has joined Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and PayPal CEO Dan Schulman at the Civic Alliance, an organization that states it supports “safe, healthy and trusted elections” in addition to encouraging members’ employees and customers to be civic-minded. “We believe voting should be safe and accessible to everyone, everywhere,” said Ripple. “That’s why Ripple is 100% in #ForDemocracy.” Within the Civic Alliance, which has 936 members at the …

Researchers at the Centre for Science and Security Studies at King’s College London have turned to analyzing "non-political" solutions for the problem of nuclear disarmament. The researchers' new report notes that the multilateral nuclear order consolidated around the United Nations' Non-Proliferation-Treaty, or NPT, has been consistently beset by problems of international cooperation, reinforced by the asymmetry between the nuclear-weapon and non-nuclear-weapon states. The latter, referred to as NNWS, are signatories to the treaty, but insofar as they are non-nuclear, their contribution to fulfilling their treaty obligations boils down to developing tools and processes that can help to improve multilateral disarmament …

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) dropped 3% in less than three hours as the U.S. stock market plummeted. Following the pullback, most traders are neutral or slightly bearish on the short-term trend of BTC. Traders and on-chain analysts are now pinpointing $12,500 and $11,973 as the two levels to watch for the continuation of the Bitcoin rally. Why $12.5K and $11.9K are crucial for the current Bitcoin rally The Bitcoin price dropped sharply on the day due to the confluence of major macro factors. JPMorgan said the re-election of U.S. President Donald Trump would be the most favorable outcome for …

Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of blockchain-based payments firm Ripple, disagrees with Coinbase’s new policy restricting its employees from engaging in political discussions at work. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong first announced the ‘apolitical’ policy in a blog post on Sep. 27. He encouraged Coinbase employees to not indulge in political discussion and keep their focus on the company’s mission of creating an open financial system for the world. Garlinghouse disagrees, telling CNBC that technology companies have an obligation to contribute to solving societal issues. Garlinghouse said that tech companies and platforms have made some societal problems worse, so they must also …