It looks like another congressman has caught the bitcoin bug. Darren Soto – a democratic representative of the state of Florida – has announced that his reelection campaign this year will accept cryptocurrency donations and payments.
Darren Soto Has His Eye on Blockchain
Soto seems to believe that blockchain has what it takes to lead the U.S. into a new digital age. He’s also confident that the technology offers more benefits than many analysts seem to give it credit for. In a recent interview, he states the following views regarding cryptocurrency and blockchain:
Blockchain technology has an incredible amount of potential for innovation and economic growth. I believe our government needs to support that growth, establish light-touch regulations to ensure certainty, protect innovation, stop fraud, and enable its appropriate use for government, business and consumers. The study mandated by the Blockchain Innovation Act is a starting point meant to give government agencies a chance to make recommendations before any bills pass with a regulatory effect. These recommendations will perform an educational function to members of Congress and will pave the way for more actionable blockchain-focused legislation.
It sounds like Soto is looking to bring blockchain technology mainstream and make it much easier to understand and utilize in today’s current operations. One of the biggest problems surrounding cryptocurrency and its applications is that the laws and legislation surrounding crypto tend to be rather complicated. It’s still not clear to many people what constitutes a transaction, and there are still many tax-related questions floating about the arena.
But the big issue is this: there have been several politicians that have sought to bring blockchain to the mainstream, some of which had considerably higher aspirations than just serving as a congressional rep. Some – such as Andrew Yang and Michael Bloomberg – had set their sights on the White House in the past, but had ultimately failed to make any sort of impression on voters, so can it be said that America is really ready to see blockchain strike legitimacy?
This Hasn’t Always Worked
Both Andrew Yang (an entrepreneur and businessman) and Michael Bloomberg (a publishing mogul and the former mayor of New York City) announced their desires to run for president in 2020. Both came up short, with other candidates – such as present nominee Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and even Elizabeth Warren – coming out way ahead in the scorecards. As a result, both candidates had no choice but to suspend their campaigns rather early.
The big clincher for both figures is that they sought to bring about simpler crypto legislation. This wasn’t enough to earn them top spots in the primaries, so one can’t help but wonder if most Americans are passionate enough about blockchain that it could serve as a primary focal point in a political race.