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⌐◪-◪ → Tucker Carlson just interviewed Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, check out the full interview here.

During the interview, Durov endorsed Bitcoin as a means for freedom by saying, “I’ve had a few hundred million dollars in my bank account or Bitcoin since 10 years ago” because his “no. 1 priority in life is my freedom”.

Durov did not specify how much of that figure he held in BTC vs. fiat, but as of July 2023, he was reported to be holding a shocking $17.5B in cryptocurrencies.

Durov’s deep pockets have allowed him and his team to turn down VC funding and keep Telegram independent — focusing on what’s best for Telegram’s nearly 900M active users.

Durov added during his interview that the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation previously attempted to persuade a Telegram engineer to install backdoors for surveillance purposes — thankfully that didn’t happen.

This story emphasizes the need for privacy and freedom on the digital frontier, which applies to both communications and commerce. While the cat-and-mouse game will never end, I’m optimistic that the people will prevail.

⌐◪-◪ → Former Trump advisor Roger Stone just partnered with the $TRUMP memecoin — no this is not a joke.

The partnership was announced during a 𝕏-Spaces yesterday, you can listen to the full recording here.

Roger Stone cited two reasons for the partnership:

1.  MAGA memecoin has donated over $1M to homeless veterans and to fight child sex trafficking

2. He wanted to partner with the memecoin ($TRUMP) that’s the largest holding in Donald Trump’s crypto wallet.

For context: Donald Trump’s wallet holds $3M $TRUMP, 52% of the wallet’s total $5.8M holdings.

As surreal as this situation may be, you gotta give credit where credit’s due. MAGA memecoin has donated:

• 213.5 ETH ($653k) → United States veterans

• 183.25 ETH ($560k) → Child trafficking prevention

That’s a total of 396.75 ETH ($1.21M) donated to the National Veterans Homeless Support (NVHS) and Veterans for Child Rescue (V4CR) non-profits. Whether you love or hate Trump/memecoins, you can’t deny that this is a positive thing.

Also - political memecoin szn is about to get fucking crazy.

⌐◪-◪ → Senators Gillibrand (D) and Lummis (R) were just on CNBC talking about their new stablecoin bill that aims to ban unbacked (algorithmic) stablecoins. Specifically, the Lummis-Gillibrand Payment Stablecoin Act would:

1. prohibit unbacked, algorithmic stablecoins

2. requires 100% 1:1 backing with cash or equivalents

3. implements an anti-money laundering framework.

It seems like there is real interest/support for stablecoin regulation across the political aisle and the crypto ↔ government aisle.

Even crypto-skeptic Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who runs the influential Senate Banking Committee, voiced openness to stablecoin legislation.

The goal here is transparency, accountability, and consumer protection, but the downside is that the U.S. shoots itself in the foot and stifles crypto innovation, putting us at a massive disadvantage vs. other countries.

The bright side however is more regulatory clarity for crypto in general, addressing the massive legislative gap that currently exists, which some crypto-natives view as a positive.

For context: If this bill passes, 2 of the top 3 stablecoins by market cap (USDT and DAI) would be prohibited in the US.

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