Newsletter: Regulators race to reassure the crypto industry as the its flagship Clarity Act legislation collapses, SBF tries his luck with the Supreme Court, and crypto PACs unleash $30 million against Sherrod Brown.

[molly0xfff@hachyderm.io]

Sam Bankman-Fried has taken his appeal to the Supreme Court, but he’s relying on a very similar argument that the Court unanimously rejected last year. I doubt they’ll take up his case.

#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics #CitationNeededNewsletter

[botahamec@mas.to]

@molly0xfff SBF is still around?

[molly0xfff@hachyderm.io]

Fellow FTX executive Caroline Ellison is out of jail, and the Manifund effective altruist grantmaking organization has just let slip they hired her. She “brings specific, useful expertise around finance”, they say, which yeah — much in the same way that Bernie Madoff had very specific expertise.

#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics #CitationNeededNewsletter

[molly0xfff@hachyderm.io]

Binance pleaded guilty to Iran (and other) sanctions violations in 2023. Trump pardoned its founder. Binance took a $2B investment paid in the Trump family’s stablecoin. Now DOJ is investigating Binance for... Iran sanctions violations, under a US attorney who used to be Trump's lawyer.

#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics #CitationNeededNewsletter

[molly0xfff@hachyderm.io]

As the Trump administration boosts prediction markets and clears the way for them to operate without pesky oversight, Donald Trump Jr. is leading a $1 billion funding round into Polymarket through his 1789 Capital VC firm.

#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics #CitationNeededNewsletter

[molly0xfff@hachyderm.io]

Another ruling against Kalshi widens a circuit split over whether states can regulate prediction markets. It’s likely to end at the Supreme Court.

#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics #CitationNeededNewsletter

[petes_bread_eqn_xls@mastodo.neoliber.al]

@molly0xfff that’s insane

[molly0xfff@hachyderm.io]

Crypto's biggest spending push yet is in Ohio’s Senate race, where former Senate Banking Chair Sherrod Brown is challenging incumbent Republican Jon Husted. Brown has toned down his crypto criticism on the campaign trail, but that hasn't stopped $30 million+ in crypto money against him.

#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics #CitationNeededNewsletter

[molly0xfff@hachyderm.io]

As usual, the crypto industry’s ads say nothing about crypto. Instead, one of their most-run attack ads claims that Brown “voted to unleash 87,000 IRS agents on you while giving social security benefits to illegals.”

More: https://influence.citationneeded.news/2026/elections/OH-S-special

#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics #CitationNeededNewsletter

[patricksh@mas.to]

@molly0xfff The corruption is so apparent and thick you could cut it with a knife.

Now we even have news outlets using platforms like Kalshi for election coverage. I'm just mind boggled constantly. https://truthout.org/articles/cbs-touts-using-data-from-kalshi-their-sponsor-in-election-coverage/

[molly0xfff@hachyderm.io]

Crypto’s efforts to buy politicians are spreading outside the US. In the UK, over $100 million in crypto money has flowed into Nigel Farage’s far-right Reform UK party, courtesy of Tether-linked billionaire Christopher Harborne and BitMEX’s Ben Delo (pardoned by Trump last year).

#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics #CitationNeededNewsletter

[molly0xfff@hachyderm.io]

The crypto industry can drop $30 million+ on a single Senate race. Citation Needed runs on reader support alone. If you think someone should be tracking this stuff, consider a paid subscription: https://www.citationneeded.news/signup/

[molly0xfff@hachyderm.io]

@botahamec tucked away in federal prison, but yes

[su_liam@mas.to]

@molly0xfff Not everybody gets a good highly-paid job straight out of jail, but some people do.

[robbyoconnor@masto.nyc]

@molly0xfff can't afford Republicans either. They're why Democrats are doing so well.

[quixote@mastodon.nz]

@molly0xfff Man. When is this one family crime wave going to JAIL?

[quixote@mastodon.nz]

@molly0xfff The corruption is one massive thing. But somehow not even _staying_ bought is another whole level of rotten.