What Tech Wants: Crypto Reign Of Terror (with Jacob Silverman and Molly White)

Lever Time

The Lever

News, News Commentary, Politics

4.8 • 560 Ratings

🗓️ 29 January 2026

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 2024, the cryptocurrency industry spent more than $130 million to influence elections nationwide. Their campaign donations and lobbying efforts turned the tables for their risky boom-and-bust business, which is now poised to overtake our entire financial system. In Part Two of What Tech Wants, Lever Time’s investigation into why Silicon Valley is buying our democracy, producer Ariella Markowitz reveals how crypto companies aligned with President Donald Trump to advance their agenda. To listen to Part One of our series, click here. Click here to subscribe to Molly White’s newsletter Citation Needed. Click here to read Jacob Silverman’s book, Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley. Click here for a full transcript of the episode. Get ad-free episodes, bonus content and extended interviews by becoming a member at levernews.com/join. To leave a tip for The Lever, click here. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:00.0	You're listening to the free ad-supported version of our podcast. For an ad-free experience,
0:05.5	visit levernews.com slash upgrade. When Donald Trump was inaugurated like all presidents, he swore
0:12.1	an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. Instead, Donald Trump has decided
0:16.9	to swerve, deflect, and append the Constitution and treat it like a terms and conditions
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0:49.3	It's a podcast that's all about hope for what a real democracy should look like from an esteemed, respected
0:54.9	constitutional scholar and a deeply neurotic comedian who thought the emoluments clause was a breakfast item.
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1:17.8	The Lever.
1:21.2	From The Lever's Reader-supported Newsroom, it's Lever Time.
1:24.3	I'm David Sirota.
1:26.1	In our last episode, you heard the story of how a handful of
1:29.9	Silicon Valley leaders organized to purge progressive politicians from San Francisco
1:34.7	politics, and how that recall movement spread. Those political strategies showed the tech
1:40.2	industry they could organize to remove politicians that don't agree with their agenda.
1:45.8	In this next installment of our investigation, the levers producer Arellella Markowitz
	...

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