As the 2020 U.S. presidential election draws near, two crypto traders on Twitter shared their predictions for how Bitcoin's price could react to the event. "If we have a clear winner and an easy transition of power, I do not see much of an impact on the price per coin," trader "BigCheds" told Cointelegraph. "On the other hand, if we have a close and/or contested election, we should see a bounce in risk-off assets like gold and Bitcoin." The election is a summation of 2020's wild year, with a number of other factors also remaining at play. "This election year …

Back and forth discussions with regard to a second stimulus package for the people of the United States have been ongoing for months. Today, President Trump decided to push the matter back until after the 2020 presidential elections have concluded. This appears to have resulted in a price drop for Bitcoin (BTC) and other mainstream markets. "Nancy Pelosi is asking for $2.4 Trillion Dollars to bailout poorly run, high crime, Democrat States, money that is in no way related to COVID-19," Trump said in an Oct. 6 tweet thread. "We made a very generous offer of $1.6 Trillion Dollars and, …

The first debate of the 2020 U.S. presidential election had no clear winner, but crypto-powered prediction platforms are having a field day. Election futures on crypto derivatives exchange FTX boomed, with the platform’s CEO reporting more than $4 million in open interest trying to pick the winner between Democrat Joe Biden, and Republican Donald Trump. On FTX, Trump’s brash debate performance got a big thumbs down and drove a 10% crash in the price of futures contracts backing his re-election. Volumes on FTX are amplified by leverage. On predictive platforms that do not offer leverage, more modest six-figure volumes were …

Bitcoin price is showing weakness after another sharp rejection from the $11,000 resistance level. As Bitcoin (BTC) enters the fourth quarter, the sentiment around the market remains generally cautious and neutral. Bitcoin might face a larger pullback in the fourth quarter due to several key factors. Throughout the past three years, every September monthly candle has closed red. The September monthly candle for 2020 is also on track to close as a red candle, indicating a lack of direction. From March through August, favorable financial conditions, a low-interest-rate environment and a multitrillion-dollar stimulus package caused Bitcoin and stocks to rally …

A candidate for the Wisconsin State Assembly is challenging a state regulator by accepting donations in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC). Phil Anderson, a real estate broker and entrepreneur, now accepts cryptocurrency donations for his Assembly campaign. According to an official statement by Anderson, crypto donations are available via major cryptocurrency payment service provider BitPay. Anderson said that his campaign is accepting crypto donations despite regulatory uncertainty from the Wisconsin Ethics Commission. Back in 2018, Anderson accepted Bitcoin donations in his campaign for governor of Wisconsin despite the WEC finding them a “serious challenge” to compliance with state law. According to …

Close to 30,000 votes were recorded on the blockchain during the Russian parliamentary elections in what appears to have been the biggest case of blockchain-based voting yet. The blockchain component of the online voting platform was built by Waves Enterprise. The voting concluded early yesterday, and according to the chief product officer of Waves Enterprise, Artem Kalikhov, everything went off without any hiccups. He told Cointelegraph that the elections took place on the permissioned network run by Rostelecom. The firm was contracted by Russia’s Central Election Commission, which, in turn, subcontracted Waves Enterprise to build the blockchain part of the …

Every Friday, Law Decoded delivers analysis on the week’s critical stories in the realms of policy, regulation and law. Editor’s note One of the most persistent myths about Bitcoin is its supposed anonymity. More properly termed pseudonymity, BTC wallets are permanently tied to their public keys. Most of you know that. But it took government investigators years of trying to corral Bitcoin transactions on dark web marketplaces like the Silk Road to figure that out. Now, however, blockchain analysis is a growing industry, catering to a range of clients including many of the most shadowy of government agencies. This was …

Earlier today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury updated its Specially Designated Nationals List, adding several individuals and a number of cryptocurrency addresses. One of the individuals added was Artem Mikhaylovich Lifshits — a Russian national, accused of interfering in the U.S. elections. In addition to disclosing his personal information, the site lists a number of cryptocurrency addresses that he allegedly controls. One of the Ethereum addresses, found at 0xa7e5d5a720f06526557c513402f2e6b5fa20b00, does not seem to exist, however. Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury. There was likely a mixup somewhere in the chain of command and the Treasury meant to blacklist 0xA7e5d5A720f06526557c513402f2e6B5fA20b008 …

Sept. 10 updates to the U.S. Treasury's sanctions include Russian nationals who allegedly worked to interfere in U.S. elections. The updates specifically target a laundry list of crypto wallet addresses associated with these accused hackers. The new specially designated nationals include St. Petersburg residents Anton Nikolaeyvich Andreyev and Artem Mikhaylovich Lifshits and addresses associated with these two including Bitcoin, Litecoin, ZCash, Dash and Ether. This is not the first time that the Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control has targeted crypto addresses. In March, OFAC added two Chinese nationals who aided North Korea's hacking program in laundering its ill-gotten gains. …

As Russia is set to pilot a blockchain-based e-voting system, the country’s federal elections authority has provided public access to the platform’s source code. According to an official announcement by Russia’s Central Election Commission, or CEC, the source code for the e-voting system was partly released on GitHub on Sept. 7. The initial release included the source code for smart contracts and front-end elements of the e-voting platform like developer libraries and servers responsible for the vote count. According to the CEC, the internal elements of the e-voting platform are expected to be published on Sept. 10. At the time …

Despite reports of potential security and technical issues, blockchain voting platform Voatz has reportedly been deployed successfully at the Michigan Democratic Party State Nominating Convention. More than 1,900 delegates at the virtual convention, held from Aug. 29-30, were able to nominate candidates using Voatz for the state’s Supreme Court, state Board of Education, and boards at state universities. The event was held online due to restrictions caused by the pandemic. "There were so many unique challenges with this year's convention because of the pandemic, but the Voatz platform eased many of our concerns," said Chrisy Jensen, Executive Director of the …

The United States Postal Service, or USPS, recently filed a patent for a mail-in voting system that utilizes Blockchain and other technologies for verification. Responding to an inquiry from Cointelegraph, U.S. Representative for Florida's 9th district, Darren Soto, voiced his excitement about this prospective development. “I think it’s a great idea," Soto told Cointelegraph. "I’m real excited that the post office is working on this issue," he explained. "It’s something that was a pleasant surprise for many in congress," the congressman added, noting the necessity of patent filing in line with governmental technological advancements. Currently a hotly debated topic, mail-in …