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⌐◪-◪ → Trump just posted a video on X, doubling down on his goal to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the planet.”

As a reminder, the policies he’s promised so far include defending the right to self-custody, supporting Bitcoin mining, banning central bank digital currencies, and the two big ones:

• Make Bitcoin a strategic reserve asset

• Fire Gary Gensler

While I’m all for his pro-crypto stance, it does strike me as a bold move this late in the election. On one hand, it will win crypto votes, but on the other, it risks alienating those who still see it as “magic internet money.” I guess his team “did the math” and decided it’s worth the gamble.

Of course, talk is cheap, and the proof’s in the pudding — whoever wins, I hope they actually support our industry. One thing's for sure though, if Trump wins, the current administration is going to massively regret spending the last 4 years waging a war on crypto.

💬 SIDENOTE, WTF IS “WORLD LIBERTY FINANCIAL”?

⌐◪-◪ → Russia just passed a bill allowing international payments with crypto and will begin trials next week to use cross-border crypto payments as a way to bypass international sanctions.

While this move shows Russia’s interest in leveraging blockchain for geopolitical strategy, there are concerns about the broader implications for the crypto community.

If you haven’t read Vitalik’s thoughts on the matter, it’s worth a read. As for me, my main worry is that popular web3 platforms might start banning wallets/users who have interacted (knowingly or not) with "dirty money." — but maybe I’m just fear-mongering.

What I can tell you is, OpenSea banned any/all accounts that used Tornado Cash — which is bullshit in my opinion, but I guess they’re trying to run a legit business.

💬 WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS MOVE BY RUSSIA?

⌐◪-◪ → Bloomberg’s Terminal just integrated Polymarket’s US election odds, enhancing its existing dataset.

The integration aims to provide Bloomberg users with a mix of traditional data and crowd-sourced data from prediction markets.

The move, more broadly, highlights the importance of prediction markets in politics and the power of blockchain technologies — and while I’m not surprised this happened (I’m a big believer in prediction markets) I am surprised it happened this quickly/suddenly.

Not gonna lie, it feels good to have a TradFi giant like Bloomberg adopt blockchain-based solutions.

💬 IS THIS WHAT MASS ADOPTION FEELS LIKE?

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