In today’s edition of The Daily, we feature a couple of stories from the U.S. political scene. President Donald Trump has chosen a known Bitcoin advocate as the Acting White House Chief of Staff. And a congressman proposes to fund the building of a barrier on the U.S.-Mexico border with a “Wall Coins” crowdsale offering.
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Mick Mulvaney Moves Up in the Trump Administration
U.S. President Donald Trump has announced on Friday that Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management & Budget, will be named Acting White House Chief of Staff. As we reported when he was first appointed as Trump’s budget director back in February, Mulvaney has made public his positive interest in Bitcoin.
Mulvaney has solicited bitcoin donations for his campaigns in the past. And at a Small Business Committee hearing on Bitcoin, he stated: “I know it isn’t a mainstream issue yet — and may not become one — but it is extraordinarily interesting and something that could eventually influence the dollar and our monetary policy. In fact, one of the witnesses drew favorable comparisons between Bitcoin and Milton Friedman.”
“Mick has done an outstanding job while in the Administration. I look forward to working with him in this new capacity as we continue to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump tweeted about the new appointment on Friday. “For the record, there were MANY people who wanted to be the White House Chief of Staff. Mick M will do a GREAT job!”
Buy a Brick, Build a Wall
Speaking about President Trump, promising to build a “big, beautiful” wall on the U.S. southern border to stop illegal immigration from Mexico was a pillar of his elections campaign. However, the president has not been able to push forward the process of securing funds for his flagship project so far. So, could an ICO be the answer? That’s what one congressman is now proposing.
Warren Davidson, Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio’s 8th congressional district, talked about this idea in a recent interview with NPR.
“I’ve offered a modest compromise called Buy a Brick, Build a Wall that we introduced, which lets the American people, or whomever should choose to donate – Mexicans or otherwise – to donate to the program,” Davidson explained. “You could do with this sort of, like, crowdfunding site. Or you could even do blockchain, and you could have wall coins. But you could raise the money. And frankly, if we get it right at the Treasury, you could even accept Mexican pesos.”
Time will tell if this was just an off-the-cuff remark that will never become an official plan or something more than that, but Davidson certainly knows the American digital assets field well. At a regulatory round-table he hosted on Capitol Hill a couple of months ago, the congressman called on regulators to provide clarity for crypto entrepreneurs as quickly as possible. “Legitimate players in the industry have a desire for some sort of certainty so we can prevent and prosecute fraud. I’m confident we can move forward and make this a flourishing market in the U.S. It’s an imperative for us to do, we did it well with the internet,” he stated.
What do you think about today’s news tidbits? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
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