Every Friday, Law Decoded delivers analysis on the week’s critical stories in the realms of policy, regulation and law. Editor’s note The political machinations of Eastern Europe have dominated recent headlines. Protests unprecedented since the fall of the Soviet Union have rocked Belarus for weeks. Outrage over the Aug. 8 election that has seen challenger Svetlana Tikhanovskaya flee the country has threatened the longtime dominion of Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, the so-called “last dictator in Europe.” Protestors are calling the 80% win for Lukashenko a fraud. The regime has tried to crack down with its traditional tactics of disinformation and …

Galaxy Digital CEO and known Bitcoin (BTC) proponent, Mike Novogratz, said he sees upcoming financial market difficulties if Democrats take the U.S. presidential bid in November. "Electing Biden and Harris, as much as it's going to be great for the country, it's not going to be great for the market," Novogratz told Bloomberg in an Aug. 14 interview. Following his comments on Biden's vice president, Kamala Harris, being "fair" to Wall Street if elected, Novogratz mentioned heightened taxes from a Democratic presidential win. "The Democrats are going to be tougher on Wall Street in terms of the tax plan," he …

Brock Pierce, entrepreneur, crypto venture capitalist and child star, has announced his USA Presidential run on Twitter July 5. His tweet stated that: “I, Brock Pierce, am running for President of the United States of America.” Pierce’s campaign site states that he is a pioneer digital currency and has raised more than $5 billion for the companies he has founded. Pierce is the Chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation and co-founder of EOS Alliance, Block.one, Blockchain Capital, Tether, and Mastercoin (first ICO). His website, sparse on details, does not say if he is seeking a nomination in a political party or …

Republican Senator and former Bakkt CEO Kelly Loeffler may find herself up against a better-organized and more supported Democratic candidate in November’s special election. Early returns are still coming in from the June 9 Democratic primary determining the challenger to David Perdue’s U.S. Senate seat in Georgia. However, at press time, Democrat Jon Ossoff is leading among seven senatorial candidates with 334,511 votes and 91% of precincts reporting. Loeffler and her Republican and Democratic challengers were not on the ballot this evening, but there are indications Georgia may be turning blue sooner rather than later, threatening her chances to keep …

Per a new poll of Georgia republicans released on April 29, Senator Loeffler (R-GA) seems to have a rough road ahead of her en route to the special election later this year. Loeffler’s appointment and coming election Georgia’s Governor Brian Kemp initially appointed Loeffler to her senate seat in December following Sen. Johnny Isakson’s announcement that he would retire at the end of 2019 facing declining health. As she attained her seat by appointment rather than election, Loeffler will need to win a special election at the beginning of November to serve out the remaining two years of Isakson’s term. …

As shelter-in-place orders are extended throughout the United States due to the coronavirus pandemic, controversy around online voting systems has surfaced. The dangers of internet voting were recently publicly announced by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, or AAAS. On April 9, the AAAS Center for Scientific Evidence in Public Issues wrote an open letter to U.S. governors, secretaries of state and state election directors expressing great concern regarding the security of online voting systems. While the letter stated that “internet voting is not a secure solution for voting in the United States, nor will it be in …

With images from the Wisconsin democratic primary flooding the internet this week showing voters braving hail and cold weather in the middle of a pandemic, Americans may be looking for a better way to vote from home. Unfortunately, according to one scientific association in the U.S., there may not be a safe way to do it with their smartphones just yet. In an open letter dated April 9 to Governors, Secretaries of State and State Election Directors, the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s (AAAS) Center for Scientific Evidence in Public Issues urged officials to not allow internet voting …

As fears of disinformation and election tampering take hold of citizens across the globe, many are left to wonder if there’s a solution that can quell voter concerns. A recent study by global communications firm Ketchum found growing distrust among individuals around voting machines (59%), issues with voter databases (60%), interference through technology (63%) and the influence of social media (61%). In the United States, this year’s Iowa Democratic Party caucuses left voters frustrated when a voting app resulted in incorrect and wholly unreliable results. Delays ensued, and a candidate prematurely proclaimed himself the winner, which led to questions as …

Blockchain voting is gaining more traction in the United States despite the abysmal failure of mobile voting at the Iowa Democratic Caucus earlier this month. Companies on the forefront of blockchain technology realize the potential of the products they are developing to not only transform the global economy, but also the way voters cast their ballots. This week, Kaspersky Lab, a cybersecurity firm monitoring the cryptocurrency industry and emerging digital assets, did just that. The company unveiled a new type of a blockchain-based voting machine using Polys, the system released back in November 2017 designed to be an effective and …

India’s citizens will soon be able to cast votes from outside their city of registration thanks to a blockchain-based system. According to The Times of India on Feb. 13, India’s Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said that the country hopes to increase voter turnout with a blockchain-based voting solution. Using blockchain to prevent “lost votes” Arora said that, in the 2019 elections, 300 million eligible voters did not vote because they were either not politically engaged or were far from where their registered voting district on election day. The Times of India states that the country has over 450 million …

Jonathan Johnson, CEO of Overstock and president of Medici Ventures, has issued a statement supporting blockchain in voting in response to the technology’s vulnerabilities claims published on Feb. 13. Emerging technologies got in the crosshairs of regulators when a mobile software application that had been devised to help calculate the total number of votes in the recent Iowa Democratic caucus reportedly malfunctioned, resulting in the Democratic Party having to delay its public reporting of last Monday’s results. But does blockchain really fail when it comes to elections? Following the Iowa caucus scandal, blockchain-based voting apps fell under scrutiny, which resulted …

After launching TRUMP futures trading last week, FTX plans to release five additional 2020 presidential election-based futures products. “What we’re about to come out with is just similar contracts for the top five Democratic candidates,” an FTX representative told Cointelegraph in an interview. 2020 Reelection futures expand offering FTX plans to launch a Bernie Sanders (BERNIE) futures trading product, as well as futures on Joe Biden (BIDEN), Elizabeth Warren (WARREN), Pete Buttigieg (PETE) and Mike Bloomberg (BLOOMBERG). Although FTX has not finalized a release date for these products as of press time, the representative said they should go live within …