A new survey by blockchain-oriented research firm Clovr showed that 60 percent of respondents think that cryptocurrency should be treated like fiat currency in political elections. In the course of its research, Clovr surveyed 1,023 eligible voters registered in the U.S. for their understanding of what impact virtual currency could exert on the political process. Per the survey, almost 60 percent of the voters surveyed answered that crypto and the U.S. dollar should be treated the same, while only 21 percent of respondents said the opposite. “60 percent of eligible voters believed that it should be legal to donate cryptocurrency …

Fernando Haddad, the presidential candidate for the Brazil Workers’ Party, has published his government plan via blockchain, per an announcement published on his website Oct. 14. According to the release, Haddad decided to use blockchain technology for disseminating information about his presidential campaign after a long-term struggle with fake news reports. As information stored on a blockchain cannot be altered or compromised, he decided to store the data on a decentralized platform. The release also notes that Haddad used “free software” in Sao Paulo where he served as mayor from 2013–2017. The software solutions monitored various city projects, including the …

Blockchain has one new supporter: the UK finance minister Philip Hammond. Quizzed at the Conservative Party conference on how the UK government might solve Brexit’s UK-Irish border issue, he suggested that blockchain technology may be a solution. "There is technology becoming available […] I don’t claim to be an expert on it but the most obvious technology is blockchain.” He didn't go into any further detail, but in raising distributed ledger technology (DLT) as one way of facilitating 'frictionless' movement between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, he sparked hope that blockchain could help ensure seamless post-Brexit trade between …

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said that the “permutations and possibilities of blockchain technology are staggeringly great,” at Ripple’s annual Swell conference in San Francisco on October 1. Following a keynote address at the event, Clinton spoke with Gene Sperling, who was his economic advisor from 1996-2001, where they covered a range of topics from foreign policy and cultural issues to blockchain and cryptocurrency investing and banking. Clinton said: "This whole blockchain deal has the potential it does only because it is applicable across national borders [and] income groups. The permutations and possibilities are staggeringly great.” While Clinton acknowledged the …

On Sept. 20, the crypto community was rattled by the news that California’s political campaign regulator ruled in favor of an outright ban of any and all cryptocurrency donations. It came across as a surprise for many that the progressive state, which is home to the world’s largest technology hub as well as to a politician whom Bloomberg calls the ‘Crypto Candidate for Congress,’ has suddenly set such a hard-handed regulatory precedent in the run-up to November’s elections. If anything, the signals that emanated from the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) up to this point were largely positive: Just …

The Democratic candidate for governor of Colorado, U.S Representative Jared Polis, has added a blockchain policy to the list of issues of his gubernatorial campaign this year, according to an announcement on Polis’ website. Having set a goal to establish Colorado as a “national hub for blockchain innovation in business and government,” Polis added a set of blockchain-related proposals to his gubernatorial platform on Wednesday, Aug. 8. In his campaign, Polis advocates for implementing five blockchain-related initiatives, such as developing cybersecurity infrastructure to ensure the integrity of elections, and building a statewide ‘safe harbor’ to exempt digital currencies from state …

U.S. Senate candidate Austin Petersen, who is known for his Bitcoin (BTC) advocacy, lost the Republican primary election Aug. 7. According to unofficial results published by the Missouri Secretary of State, Petersen lost the battle to Attorney General Josh Hawley, who received 58.6 percent of the 663,553 votes. Hawley will go on to face to Democratic Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill in the general election. Petersen tweeted: “Sorry I couldn't pull out a win for us, friends. My faults as a candidate are my own, and not the fault of our activists. I am not a perfect messenger. One day soon …

San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange and wallet provider Coinbase has created its own political action committee (PAC), according to documents made public today, July 20. In the U.S., PACs are organizations that pool campaign contributions from members with similar policy and political goals and subsequently donate them to political campaigns for or against candidates, legislation, or ballot initiatives. PACs must register with the Federal Election Commission. Following the 2010 Supreme Court case of Citizens United v. FEC, PACs became the subject of some controversy, as some see them as means for corporate or union donors to contribute massive sums to political …

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision. Decentralized governance is hard, as we have already learned from the notorious Bitcoin community standoffs. But as the saga around the EOS mainnet’s onerous drag toward going live illustrates, it might be challenging to make things work collegially, even in a quasi-decentralized system where the number of stakeholders is limited. Although the long-anticipated EOS blockchain technically took off on June 10, it was not operational, and its tokens were ‘frozen’ for almost five days. …

Last week, Secretary of State of Colorado Wayne Williams proposed a new set of rules for financing political campaigns, which now includes a section on cryptocurrencies. The original edition of the draft introduces the same caps for crypto donations as for fiat ones, while limiting anonymous contributions to $20. The move renders the overall picture of individual states’ handling political crypto contributions spottier than ever, as the last few months saw states adopting divergent approaches to the issue. Although a 2014 advisory opinion by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) remains a major reference point for anyone who seeks to boost …

Blythe Masters has been ranked #46 in Bloomberg's List of Most Influential People in Finance. She is the only representative of the FinTech industry in this list. List dominated by politicians The list of 50 most influential people in the world of finance is dominated by politicians. 5 out of the top 6 spots are occupied by politicians of major nations – Theresa May (#1, PM of UK), Donald Trump (#2, US Presidential candidate), Hillary Clinton (#2, US Presidential Candidate), Xi Jinping (#4, Chinese President) and Angela Merkel (#6, Chancellor of Germany) Apart from politicians, central bank governors figure prominently …

The United States' Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has announced it is working to investigate a string of digital currency businesses, assessing whether they meet financial regulations for the sector. Announcing the bureau's latest activity was director Jennifer Calvery, speaking at the West Coast AML (Anti Money Laundering) Forum in San Francisco May 6. The three-day event is a chance for federal and state regulators to meet with the government's investigative agencies and other qualified consultants. In her opening speech to the forum Calvery gave top billing to her department’s efforts to investigate potential regulatory violations in the virtual currency …