GM. Eric here. 

You hear that? That’s the sound of crypto lobbyists quaking with disappointment.

Over the past few months, they’ve amassed a $169 million war chest to influence politicians and create a narrative that crypto is a huge election issue. 

With Donald Trump’s strong pro-crypto stance and Joe Biden warming to the industry, yesterday’s debate was set up like a slam dunk for influence peddlers. 

Only crypto didn’t come up during the debate. Not once. 

To make things worse, crypto hasn’t factored into the French and British elections either. 

So does crypto matter for voters?

“In the scale of things for voters and the market, no. For some politicians, yes,” Virginie O’Shea, founder of Firebrand Research, told me.

Still, election cycles are fickle things. A lot can happen between now and November. 

And, as Tom Carreras pointed out today, the industry has already benefited from the political theatre via a wave of politically linked memecoins and wagers made on crypto-betting site Polymarket.

Serial entrepreneur swears off crypto after rough ride in custody market

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Why we launched DL Research: An interview with Paige Aarhus, director of DL News

DL News has a new sister company, DL Research This is why we decided to launch the commercial arm.

Lightspeed Ventures among crypto VCs piling millions into startup Stability.AI as crypto hype wanes

Stability.AI’s investor list is a sign that as AI hype grabs headlines and cash piles from Silicon Valley, growth-stage opportunities in the crypto industry are fewer and farther between.

Post of the week

Regulatory expert Sean Tuffy poked fun at the US Securities and Exchange Commission — a favourite adversary of the crypto community — days before the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets law kicks in.

The European Securities and Markets Authority is one of the financial watchdogs regulating MiCA.