2018-11-12 12:18 |
The mid-term elections allow the United States to make some changes to the Congress and state authorities. On these elections, 36 governor seats, 435 House of Representatives seats, and approximately a third of the 100 Senate seats. Most of the time, these elections result in shifts of power, especially if the executive branch didn’t have fairly good performance over the first half of his term.
The Democratic Party seemed set on taking over both the Senate and the House of Representatives, though they only managed to shift the power in the House. They also had a number of victories with the governorship's, but there’s plenty of individuals that didn’t seem impressed with the way they’ve progressed. However, it is worth noting that many of the politicians are supportive of blockchain.
GovernorsOne of the most prominent names that comes up with pro-blockchain governors is Jared Polis, the new Governor of Colorado. He has been one of the biggest advocates for blockchain and even was an innovator of crypto campaign finance. Later on, he was responsible for co-founding and co-chairing the Congressional Blockchain Caucus. Many experts and voters believe that he will continue to pursue these efforts in his new position, considering his promise to “establish Colorado as a national hub for blockchain innovation in business and government.”
The plan includes the inclusion of distributed ledger technology to improve the election infrastructure and securities. The other four prongs include:
Not including cryptocurrencies in laws regarding transmission and the legal status of certain utility tokens Finding solutions for energy distribution involving the blockchain Creating a digital version of government records to list them on public ledgers Establishing a council for the blockchain to work with the Office of Economic Development and International Trade in ColoradoAnother notable governor is Gavin Newsom, who tweet to Polis a few years ago about going the same route with blockchain, while welcoming campaign contributions in BTC. He hasn’t been as outwardly bold about this support of blockchain technology, but he has been speaking on the digitization initiatives of the government as well.
In Wyoming, the State Treasurer, Mark Gordon, was just elected as governor, also supporting the way that blockchain is thriving now in his state. He’s in good company with Greg Abbott (Texas) and Lupe Valdez (Rhode Island) seem to be behind these efforts as well.
CongressMembers of Congress that are supportive of the blockchain technology and the work to develop regulatory registration are combined into the Congressional Blockchain Caucus. This Caucus hopes to make it possible for the private and public sector to come together as a way to determine the best policies for the industry.
With co-founder Polis leaving the caucus, there are still many politicians still involved to keep their progression moving along, including:
David Schweikert, a Republican co-chair from Arizona Tom Emmer, a Republican from Minnesota Bill Foster, a Democrat from Illinois Stephen Lynch, a Democrat from Massachusetts Michael McCaul, a Republican from Texas Denny Heck, a Democrat from Washington Jerry McNerney, a Democrat from California Darren Soto, a Democrat from Florida Jeff Duncan, a Republican from South Carolina Tom MacArthur, a Republican from New Jersey John Larson, a Democrat from Connecticut Greg Gianforte, a Republican from MontanaThe only Caucus member to run and lose their election is Keith Rothfus, a republican from Pennsylvania. Instead, the victor was Conor Lamb, a Democrat.
Decentralized PredictionsOne of the aspects of the election that stood out had nothing to do with who filled the vacant offices. There is a restriction on betting on the elections from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), but there seems to be a few platforms that make it possible without violating this law.
Predictit is a perfect example of this platform, considering that it is a centralized prediction market that is connected with academic relationships that except them from the CFTC ban. They have been the main source to pose such predictions in the past, but Augur recently rose up as a blockchain-powered marketplace with the same services. It is possible that the CFTC could end up regulating it, but Augur is using the full extent of their abilities in the meantime.
Some reports, like the information released by Augur co-founder Jeremy Gardner, show that the money put down on this particular election passed $2 million. Regulations state that there is an $850 cap for each person that bets within each market, but Augur only restricts users by how much ETH they are willing to put in.
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