Pro-Crypto Candidates Score Wins in Gubernatorial US Midterm Elections

Throughout last years, most politicians held anti-crypto views. However, after 2017 some politicians started to share their positive views for the cryptocurrency world. This year’s US Midterm elections, two candidates with open pro-crypto views won sets to become governors of the states of Colorado and California. The California race was won by the Democrat representative Gavin Newsom with 59% of the votes. Newsom was one of the first-ever politicians to openly support cryptocurrencies way back in 2014.

He was also one of the first politicians to accept Bitcoin as donations for his political US Midterm election campaign. The freshly-elected governor stated that he received a great deal of support for crypto entepreneurs – the Winklevoss twins. They collectively donated over $110 000 for his campaign. Reportedly, the twins donated over 90% of the funds in fiat. The newly-elected governor kept a BitPay page where everyone could make donations in Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash.

Pro-Crypto Polititians in the US Midterm elections

The Colorado US Midterm election race was way closer and Jared Polis from the Democratic party managed to secure the win with 51.5% of the votes. Polis’ campaign also accepted Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. Additionally, his campaign’s website also contained an entire page where he explained his blockchain policies. He outlined 5 areas where he wishes to explore the technology.

Among them were the very progressive ideas of using blockchain technology to improve Colorado’s energy grid and increase voter protection and further develop the cybersecurity infrastructure. Polis also hopes to draw many companies to the state by establishing regulatory sandboxes. The firms will help the state create work places and save taxpayers a lot of money.

The biggest blockchain promise in the US Midterm elections, were the so called “statewide safe harbors”, which will be designed to exempt cryptocurrencies from state money transmission laws. The new governor’s policy draws on a precedent from the state of Wyoming. Earlier this year, the state of Wyoming created a new class of assets by defining cryptocurrencies as “Utility Tokens.”

At the same time, the state legislature passed a House Bill, which effectively exempts cryptocurrencies from state securities regulations. The bill was signed by Governor Matt Mead and the nationwide effects are still to be seen.

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