In America, we’ve developed countless ways to assess politicians.

Are they telegenic? Do they seem trustworthy? Would we like to get a beer with them?

Sometimes abstract feelings are more important to your vote than whether or not a candidate shares your views.

But there’s one view that we’re positively uncompromising on, and that’s crypto.

Will the next round of presidential candidates make crypto a priority?

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Espresso Shots

☕️ Lawmakers Move Against CBDCs ⚖ ❌

On September 20, the House Financial Services Committee will begin marking up two bills that could block potential CBDCs, according to an announcement from chairman Patrick McHenry.

The first of the bills is the Digital Dollar Pilot Prevention Act, which would prevent the Fed from testing CBDC pilot programs without Congressional approval.

The second bill is an amendment to the Federal Reserve Act, which would prohibit the Fed from offering CBDCs directly to individuals and prohibit the use of CBDCs for monetary policy.

For now, it seems that the government has issues with government-issued cryptocurrencies.

☕️ The Return of Friend.tech 🤝 🔁

After an intense round of initial hype followed by a precipitous drop, it seems that Friend.tech is undergoing a renaissance.

Friend.tech hit $1 million in earnings in 24 hours on September 14, outpacing Tron or even Ethereum.

That day, Friend.tech reached $20 million in daily trading volume — higher than Friend.tech’s levels in August, at the peak of its popularity — according to analytics from Dune.

So, what’s driving the new Friend.tech surge? Some have joked that traders have realized Friend.tech is “yield farms rebranded.” A yield farm involves earning rewards by depositing crypto with a DeFi service.

Alternatively, some have pointed to the fact that more reputable and famous non-crypto figures are joining the platform, prompting others to do the same.

We’re happy to see Friend.tech doing so well, since we were fully prepared to bump them down to Acquaintance.tech and only run into each other at reunions and weddings.

☕️ SBF Writings Leaked ✏ 📝 

Sam Bankman-Fried’s diary was leaked to The New York Times, and it’s a 250-page manuscript that tells Sam’s side of the FTX saga.

Reportedly, the journal bemoans SBF’s current position. “I’m broke and wearing an ankle monitor and one of the most hated people in the world,” SBF wrote. “There will probably never be anything I can do to make my lifetime impact net positive.”

However, SBF did not shy away from casting the blame on other FTX executives or Caroline Ellison, the former head of Alameda Research, and SBF’s ex. “She continually avoided talking about risk management — dodging my suggestions — until it was too late. [...] Every time that I reached out with suggestions, it just made her feel worse. I’m sure that being exes didn’t help.”

Unofficially, SBF has asked the guards for another roll of toilet paper so that he may continue his “private writing.”

Spilling the Beans

Do Voters Care About Bitcoin? 🇺🇸 📊

America has been having presidential elections since 1788, and it’s become less and less important how the American president will fare in military campaigns against the British.

But the issues facing the sitting president and the stances that divide voters are always going to be a reflection of the times.

However, crypto — which has long roared from the peripheral view of American discourse — is finally ready to take center stage in the next election cycle.

We’ve said it before: crypto already enjoys massive visibility in Washington, as several crypto bills trudge through the Capitol.

While the question of American crypto regulation is still unclear, hopefully, the next president can provide some answers.

But as Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong pointed out in an interview with Yahoo Finance, crypto is getting too big to be ignored.

“I don’t think everybody in DC actually fully realizes how powerful the crypto voting block is. And I think 2024 is an election where the voters of America are really going to hold candidates' feet to the fire and say, what is your position on crypto?” Armstrong said.

In terms of our current president, Biden has recently come under fire for stifling crypto innovation.

Ripple CEO Chris Larsen criticized the president in an interview with Bloomberg, claiming that the President had cost San Francisco the blockchain crown “and so it’s London, Singapore, Dubai that really are the global capitals of blockchain.”

If we had to typify the Biden administration’s stance on crypto in one word, it would be “cautious.”

Taxes on Bitcoin mining from the White House, an unclear regulatory air, and crackdowns on tax reporting have hamstrung American crypto.

So we don’t love where Biden stands on crypto, but what about some of the other presidential hopefuls?

Currently, we have three Democratic candidates, including Biden, and fourteen Republican candidates.

The other two Democrats are Marianne Williamson, returning to the race after a failed 2020 attempt, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a lawyer and member of the Kennedy dynasty.

Williamson’s crypto views are still unclear, but RFK’s a Bitcoin bull, to say the least.

RFK has accepted political donations in BTC, and vowed not only to back Bitcoin with the dollar but make it tax-exempt if he’s elected president.

Now, on the Republican side, naturally, there’s Trump, who has undergone a complete turnaround from his previously skeptical crypto stance, even releasing his own NFT collection.

As far as the other candidates, in the first Republican debate, crypto wasn’t even mentioned, with the moderator prioritizing more controversial topics such as climate change or abortion.

But that doesn’t mean that the Republican presidential candidates haven’t been discussing crypto off of the debate stage.

Most notably, Governor Ron DeSantis has been both a staunch crypto advocate in his home state of Florida and strongly anti-CBDC.

But shots were fired at DeSantis by another presidential hopeful, Vivek Ramaswamy, for the language he used during the announcement of his presidential bid, insisting that he would “protect the ability to do things like Bitcoin.”

“I understand this stuff in a much more deep and rich way,” Ramaswamy said in an interview with CoinDesk. “Even the way he said that, ‘Do things like bitcoin.’ When we think about the leader we want in the White House, that needs to be somebody who understands the ‘why.’”

Now, we don’t think it’s wrong to ask that our next president have at least a competent understanding of crypto, but we’d much rather have great talking points take place in a public arena, where crypto can benefit from the publicity.

The second GOP debate will be held on September 27 and we’re excited to see if crypto will be one of the topics entering the fray.

For now, we can only bite our nails like a stage mom, waiting anxiously for crypto to be called up for its moment in the spotlight.

We’re not saying “Bitcoin for President,” but we’re ready for a Bitcoin president. And hey, maybe Ethereum can have a cabinet position if it plays well with voters.

Premium Market Report

Spot

Top 10 Cryptocurrencies (Excluding Stablecoins)

Source: CoinGecko

☕️ Our Take:

Overview:

Meme of the Day

Now to find the other six… 🧙‍♂️

Crypto 101

Daily Rate of Return: This is a metric for managing stock performance, but certainly applies to crypto.

To calculate an asset’s daily rate of return, the price of an asset at the market’s closure is compared to its price at the previous day’s closure.

Because the crypto market doesn’t shut down like the stock market, this same principle can be applied if an investor measures a crypto currency’s performance by a regular interval, such as every 24 hours.

The Last Sip

If Friend.tech is here to stay, we’re waiting for the inevitable launch of Nemesis.tech, a platform where users can buy and trade vendettas and blood oaths.

Stay Caffeinated,

Coffee & Crypto Team

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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.