The crypto election
Make Me Smart
Marketplace
4.6 • 5.5K Ratings
🗓️ 4 September 2024
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This year alone, cryptocurrency companies have spent over $119 million on pro-crypto candidates in federal races across the country. That’s almost half of all corporate money spent on this year’s election. But can all this crypto money really sway elections? Lee Reiners, crypto policy expert at the Duke Financial Economics Center, explains what the crypto industry is hoping to accomplish with its election spending, the myth behind the “crypto-vote” and why former President Donald Trump is vying to become the “crypto-president.”
Then, we’ll get into the U.S. government’s big penny problem. And, Boeing’s history in the spaceflight sector, and more to celebrate as the Paralympics continue.
Here’s everything we talked about today:
- “Crypto firms have spent more than $119 million on 2024 elections” from Marketplace
- “Crypto’s ‘huge moment’ scrambling US politics” from Politico
- “Why Republicans are embracing bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies” from Marketplace
- “How Crypto Money Is Poised to Influence the Election” from The New York Times
- “Harris triggers crypto tug-of-war between Democrats” from Politico
- “America Must Free Itself from the Tyranny of the Penny” from The New York Times
- “This Once Hot Real-Estate Type Is Now Being Offered as Office Space” from The Wall Street Journal
We want to hear your answer to the Make Me Smart question. Leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART or email us at makemesmart@marketplace.org.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello everyone. I'm Kimberly Adams. Welcome back to Make Me Smart, |
| 0:09.6 | where none of us is as smart as all of us. It is Tuesday, September the 3rd. |
| 0:14.4 | Kai is out today, but joining me for our weekly deep dive |
| 0:17.7 | is Marketplace's Matt Levin. |
| 0:20.0 | Welcome back, Matt. |
| 0:21.4 | Hey, Kimberly. |
| 0:22.6 | Thanks for having me as always. |
| 0:24.3 | I'm very excited to be part of today's deep dive |
| 0:27.9 | because it's a topic that I cover occasionally |
| 0:30.8 | here at Marketplace and a topic I kind of loved to cover. It's |
| 0:35.4 | crypto and we'll be talking particularly about crypto and the election |
| 0:40.8 | because they are spending big money in this election. |
| 0:45.0 | I was really stunned when I saw the amount of money that crypto is dumping into this race. |
| 0:51.0 | It's amazing. |
| 0:52.0 | Yeah, this year alone, crypto companies have spent |
| 0:55.0 | over $119 million on pro-cripto candidates in federal races across the country. That is almost half, half of all of the corporate money |
| 1:05.6 | that's been spent on this year's election, at least the money we can track because we know dark money, |
| 1:09.9 | whatever. Anyway, here to make us smart about the role of crypto |
| 1:14.1 | in the 2024 elections and what's at stake |
| 1:18.0 | is Lee Reiner's crypto policy expert |
| 1:20.6 | at the Duke Financial Economic Center. |
| 1:23.0 | Lee, welcome to the show. |
... |
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