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George Santos is back in the headlines, and not in a good way. The pardoned former congressman has been referred to the Justice Department and the CFTC over allegations that he placed prediction market bets against his own State of the Union appearance — while publicly promoting it. If accurate, that is a textbook conflict of interest dressed up in blockchain clothing.
Meanwhile, the stablecoin space is attracting some very serious institutional weight. Stripe, Visa, and Mastercard are reportedly among the backers of a new stablecoin platform set to debut soon, with Coinbase also exploring participation. When the companies that built the existing payments infrastructure start placing chips on crypto rails, that is a signal worth watching carefully.
And on the political front, crypto's lobbying machine is running an impressive streak. The Fairshake PAC went undefeated through the June primaries, backing winners across both parties — ten Democrats and one Republican among eleven total victories. That kind of bipartisan reach suggests the crypto industry is playing a long and patient game in Washington, and so far, it is working.
Keep surfing. Tech Beat out.
