To win political approval, you start with hearts and minds.

And is there any political device more tried and true, more endemic to American politics, than a good old-fashioned TV ad?

Brian Armstrong and Coinbase have realized that if they want to win over American lawmakers, they’ll need to start with America itself.

Espresso Shots

☕️ Binance: the SEC Is Overreaching

Changpeng Zhao and Binance have filed a joint motion to dismiss the SEC’s lawsuit against them, claiming the SEC is exceeding its authority, according to a joint filing.

“In attempting to claim regulatory power over the crypto industry, the SEC distorts the text of the securities laws—reading the word ‘contract’ out of the statutory phrase ‘investment contract’,” reads the filing from Binance and Zhao. “The SEC also seeks to enlarge its jurisdiction globally to include transactions on foreign cryptocurrency platforms, defying Supreme Court precedent holding that the agency’s regulatory authority ends at the U.S. border.”

In short, a national regulatory body is attempting to assert authority over an international company.

And since a federal judge denied the SEC’s request for immediate, general access to Binance.US software last week, Binance may have a chance with its overreach claims.

Legal experts are calling this the worst reach since Ron Howard believed that Alden Ehrenreich could match the charisma of a young Harrison Ford in “Solo: A Star Wars Story.”

☕️ Kalshi Bets Go Too Far

The CFTC is blocking a proposal from the prediction market, KalshiEX, LLC (Kalshi), that would let users bet on which political party will control the chambers of Congress.

Kalshi’s betting model is currently under review by the CFTC. The CFTC has previously ordered PredictIt — a similar betting platform — to shut down, but PredictIt was able to continue operating after it was granted an injunction by the Court of Appeals.

Will Kalshi be allowed to continue in the vein of PredictIt? Some people believe that Kalshi’s congressional bets are a bridge too far.

"These markets are not intended or designed to be casinos for wild speculation-only bets," said President, Co-Founder, and CEO Dennis Kelleher of Better Markets, a consumer advocacy group, in a press release. "That's why the law places limits on how much people can speculate, or gamble, in these markets."

But if Kalshi were a true degen, it’d take odds on whether or not it can skirt the CFTC.

☕️ Amazon Cracks Down on AI

Amazon has added new self-publishing restrictions in an attempt to curb the wave of chatbot-created materials in its marketplace.

Amazon’s new guidelines will require authors to disclose if they used any AI tools in their writing before their materials are submitted to the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) platform.

Authors can no longer submit AI-generated writing and images, and there will be a cap on book submissions for writers who are self-publishing eerily fast. But it’s not a total moratorium on AI — writers submitting to Kindle can still use AI to brainstorm or check for errors.

“Amazon is constantly evaluating emerging technologies and is committed to providing the best possible shopping, reading, and publishing experience for our authors and customers,” said Amazon’s Ashley Vanicek in an email to Decrypt. “All publishers in the store must adhere to our content guidelines, regardless of how the content was created.”

However, some authors may still try to squeeze past the guidelines. We have our own suspicions about a title dubbed “From Optimus Prime to Hal 9000: A Comprehensive Guide to the Sexiest Bots” by 1011010101.

Spilling the Beans

Mr. Crypto Goes to Washington🏛

The year was 1960 when Nixon debated JFK in the first televised presidential debate, and history was changed forever.

What happened? People who watched the debate thought Kennedy won, those who listened thought Nixon.

In short, the American people realized that Nixon was ugly and JFK was pretty hot.

It was also the first time that the majority of America got to watch a presidential debate, and it taught politicians and campaign managers a harsh lesson about telegenics.

Why do we bring up this little slice of American history? Because when it comes to bringing the public around to your way of thinking, never forget the power of the television.

And is there any better way of getting your message across than with a little bit of paid, TV advertising?

Well, that appears to be Brian Armstrong and Coinbase’s way of thinking.

The exchange is currently stepping up its grassroots advocacy campaign, according to a Reuters report. The campaign will involve a comprehensive media campaign in Washington, D.C., in addition to new call-to-action materials across Coinbase’s digital presence.

All of this is part of the greater effort of corralling public sentiment and having average, American citizens contact their representatives in Congress and urge them to advance pro-crypto legislation.

Additionally, Coinbase is organizing a “fly-in” event on September 27, during which top executives and developers from 35 crypto companies will be flown in to sit down with lawmakers.

“Crypto is just so much bigger than Coinbase, and that I think is what’s going to be really powerful about the fly-in,” said Kara Calvert, Head of U.S. Policy at Coinbase, in the Reuters report.

And it’s not just about the scope of crypto firms involved in Coinbase’s advocacy. Knowledge is power and dissemination is the name of the game.

A recent study published by iHeartMedia in conjunction with Malcolm Gladwell’s Pushkin Industries revealed startling discrepancies between the behaviors and focuses of marketers and consumers.

For example, 100% of the marketers surveyed were familiar with NFTs, while only 40% of consumers had heard of them.

Similar discrepancies in familiarity were noted across the board:

• Aperol Spritz: 97% of marketers were familiar; 50% of consumers.

• Charcuterie: 100% of marketers were familiar; 33% of consumers.

And it was the same 100% to 33% discrepancy when it came to familiarity with the breakneck, ever-growing sport of pickleball.

In short, entities pushing products may be selling to a customer they know nothing about.

But Coinbase’s actions are working to bridge that gap of unfamiliarity.

Yes, streaming services have been throttling television networks for years, but television still has its reliable devotees, those tuning in every afternoon to catch “Jeopardy” or watch “Sons of Anarchy” re-runs on FX.

But, by reaching out to voters across several media ecosystems, Coinbase is doing its part to bring crypto awareness to everyone.

According to the FBI database, TV killed the radio. But it’s possible that TV may be a spree killer, and unclear crypto regulation is next on its hit list.

Crypto 101

Generative AI: Sometimes shortened to “Gen AI,” this encompasses any artificial intelligence that can create text, images, or other types of content.

Generative AI learns existing structures and patterns for the chosen medium and then spits back out its own imitation.

ChatGPT is the most well-known form of generative AI.

The Last Sip

The Last Sip: In addition to “From Optimus Prime to Hal 9000: A Comprehensive Guide to the Sexiest Bots”, Amazon may also want to look into all those critical essays about Skynet being a harmful stereotype and those banner ads about “Single Motherboards in Your Area.”

Stay Caffeinated,

Coffee & Crypto Team

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