The billionaire founder and CEO of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, Sam Bankman-Fried, has revealed he intends to spend anywhere between $100 million and $1 billion to help influence the 2024 United States presidential election campaigns. In a podcast interview on Tuesday, Bankman-Fried was asked how much money he might donate during the next presidential election cycle, answering he’d give “north of $100 million” with a “soft ceiling” of $1 billion if he were to bankroll the person running against former president Donald Trump: “I would hate to say hard ceiling because who knows what’s going to happen between now and …

A low cap cryptocurrency named TrumpCoin (TRUMP) has finally drawn the ire of the Trump dynasty six years after it entered the market. On Jan. 25, Donald Trump’s second son Eric threatened legal action against the TRUMP cryptocurrency for allegedly using his family’s name fraudulently. Fraud Alert: It has come to our attention that someone is promoting a crypto currency called "TrumpCoin" (Symbol "TRUMP.") This has NOTHING to do with our family, we do not authorize the use and we are in no way affiliated with this group. Legal action will be taken. — Eric Trump (@EricTrump) January 24, 2022 …

Shortly after launching her own nonfungible token (NFT) project last month, former First Lady of the United States Melania Trump gave a shout out to Bitcoin (BTC) on Twitter. On Monday, Mrs. Trump wished Bitcoin a happy birthday. The world’s largest cryptocurrency marked its 13th anniversary on Jan. 3. It is widely reported that Bitcoin's market cap exceeds USD$1 Trillion. Today marks the 13th anniversary of the Bitcoin Genesis Block. Happy Anniversary, #SatoshiNakamoto #MelaniaNFT pic.twitter.com/aZqNJFcZmd — MELANIA TRUMP (@MELANIATRUMP) January 3, 2022 The former First Lady said, “It is widely reported that Bitcoin’s market cap exceeds $1 trillion.” At the …

Hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin and former United States President Donald Trump have both slammed digital currencies as a threat to the U.S. dollar. Griffin, the founder of the $38-billion hedge fund Citadel LLC, told the Economic Club of Chicago on Monday that crypto is “a jihadist call that we don’t believe in the dollar.” He expressed his dismay over the younger generation working on dollar alternatives in the crypto sector: “What a crazy concept this is, that we as a country embrace so many bright, young, talented people to come up with a replacement for our reserve currency.” “I …

Hip-hop icon Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., also known as Snoop Dogg, has revealed himself to be the pseudonymous nonfungible token (NFT) collector “Cozomo de’ Medici.” While Snoop has not provided further clarification beyond a Sept. 21 tweet unveiling his digital identity, Medici’s NFT wallet is worth roughly $17.6 million, according to DappRadar. Snoop’s collection features a long list of NFTs, including highly sought-after CryptoPunks, Meebits and Art Blocks tokens. Snoop’s CryptoPunks represent most of his portfolio’s monetary value, with the tokens estimated to be worth $13.19 million. The collection includes CryptoPunk #3831, which depicts a green alien wearing a mask …

The launch of a cryptocurrency developed by Donald Trump supporters last week has been marred by a website data breach. According to The Guardian, user information including IP addresses, email addresses and passwords were accessed via a poor security configuration on the project’s website. The crypto is dubbed MAGACOIN after former President Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan. The project’s website claims that MAGACOIN was “created by America First Conservatives out of frustration with “Losing the Election” (the site has it in quotes) and “a desire to fight back by supporting MAGA candidates in 2022 and beyond” with profits from …

Former United States President Donald Trump has once again slammed Bitcoin (BTC). Appearing on FOX Business on Monday, the former president remarked: “Bitcoin, it just seems like a scam […] I don’t like it because it is another currency competing against the dollar. Essentially, it is a currency competing against the dollar. I want the dollar to be the currency of the world, that’s what I’ve always said.” TRUMP: Bitcoin, it just seems like a scam. I don't like it. I want the dollar to be the currency of the world. pic.twitter.com/CXjALsJmXx — August Takala (@AugustTakala) June 7, 2021 Trump's …

Former crypto skeptic Carl Icahn, the founder of Icahn Enterprises, told Bloomberg he’s set to enter the crypto market in a “big way” — teasing an investment of around $1.5 billion. Icahn is an investor and former advisor to the Trump administration, who has a net worth of $15.6 billion according to Forbes. In 2018, Icahn told CNBC that crypto is “ridiculous” and added, “maybe I’m too old for them, but I wouldn’t touch that stuff.” But speaking on Wednesday, Icahn explained he’s now considering a large investment and that entering the market in such a manner would “not be …

Every Friday, Law Decoded delivers analysis on the week’s critical stories in the realms of policy, regulation and law. Editor’s note Armed National Guardsmen are building up concentric perimeters of black barricades around the U.S. Capitol and its whole neighborhood of federal buildings in preparation for the Biden inauguration and protests against it on Wednesday. Which inspires some déjà vu, whether to last week or last summer. As much as history is said to repeat itself, the present day seems to be stuck on its own loop. Remember how last week’s Law Decoded was mostly about the handover of presidential …

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey cited his passion for Bitcoin and decentralization in a 13-Tweet thread today explaining why the company banned U.S. President Donald Trump from the platform last week. Although claiming this was the “right decision for Twitter,” Dorsey admits it sets a dangerous precedent. Having to take these actions fragment the public conversation. They divide us. They limit the potential for clarification, redemption, and learning. And sets a precedent I feel is dangerous: the power an individual or corporation has over a part of the global public conversation. — jack (@jack) January 14, 2021 Trump was banned from …

President-elect Biden has finally decided on his nominee to head the Securities and Exchange Commission. At least according to Reuters' anonymous sourcing in a Tuesday report, Gary Gensler will be Biden's nominee as SEC Chair. During the Obama administration, Gensler was the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, in which capacity he was in charge of enforcing the many new provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act that followed the 2008 financial crisis. Gensler has spent most of the Trump years at MIT, teaching courses on digital assets and blockchain. If nominated, there is little doubt that a now-Democrat-controlled Senate would …

Every Friday, Law Decoded delivers analysis on the week’s critical stories in the realms of policy, regulation and law. Editor’s note January takes its name from Janus, the god of transitions and the guardian or the gates of Rome, looking always forward and backwards. So while this has been going on for over two millennia, only a week into 2021 I am thoroughly tired of retrospectives and prognostications. My personal takeaways from 2020 were pretty existential: we are but sentient dust; life comes at you fast; man plans and God laughs etc. But while I grew more suspicious of the …