As the US election approaches, how does OG view the impact on the encryption industry?

Author: How about husband, Odaily Planet Daily

As the US election approaches, how the encryption industry aligns itself becomes a key focus of industry follow.

Recently, the founder of Ethereum, Vitalik, posted an article opposing ‘voting for the encryption industry because of support for presidential candidates,’ calling for a return to the original intention of entering the circle. This has caused a great stir, and the founders of long and encryption projects have successively spoken out. Later, Ryan Selkis, CEO of Messari, posted a controversial article in support of Trump’s provocative remarks, which ultimately led to his resignation and apology.

Odaily Planet Daily has sorted out recent comments on the US election stance and analyzed their true impact.

Longer speeches converge, who is really thinking about the future of the encryption industry?

ETH co-founder Vitalik Buterin expressed on the 18th that he opposes making political voting choices based on ‘whether to support encryption’. Supporting a politician should be based on their entire platform and views, not just because they support Cryptocurrency.

The Cryptocurrency field is becoming increasingly active politically, and support is largely based on whether political parties and candidates are willing to be tolerant and friendly towards Cryptocurrency. However, decisions made in this way are likely to contradict the values that initially brought you into the encryption field. In the encryption field, people tend to overly focus on the central status of money, as well as the freedom to hold and spend money (or Token). BTC is seen as an extension of the liberal spirit in the field of internet payments.

Vitalik hopes that encryption voters will return to their original intentions and not vote based on the preferences of candidates. He reminds that just because candidates are currently friendly to cryptocurrency does not mean they will still be friendly to cryptocurrency in five years.

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson refutes Vitalik’s remarks and states, “My primary goal has always been to keep the government as far away from cryptocurrency as possible, but when this goal is not achievable, the remaining choices become very clear. If they continue to overregulate, then we should not vote for them… Voting for Biden is voting for the demise of the US cryptocurrency industry. For this reason, we should vote for candidates who support cryptocurrency.”

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson obviously prioritizes the current development of the encryption industry—rather than voting for candidates who do not support the encryption industry, it is better to focus on the present and cast votes for candidates who support cryptocurrency.

Ava Labs founder and CEO Emin Gün Sirer expressed support for Vitalik’s remarks. ‘I agree with Vitalik’s point: our choices must be based on principled reasons related to the personal freedom stance of the candidates. In order to win elections, the superficially supportive stance continues to change, but politicians will eventually return to their true inner selves. In addition to personal freedom and authoritarianism, there are longer dimensions of principles.’

There are also well-known figures expressing the hope that both parties will unify their views on the encryption industry.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse questions why innovations aimed at reducing costs and improving efficiency are being politicized. He also condemns the partisan divisions in encryption innovation, particularly Senator Elizabeth Warren’s characterization of Cryptocurrency as a tool for illegal activities. Garlinghouse calls for bipartisan cooperation to fully leverage the advantages of Cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin Magazine CEO David Bailey wrote: ‘The media is trying to undermine Trump’s support for BTC through donations from the encryption industry. However, what they don’t realize is that the encryption industry is proving to the world that if you cooperate with us, we will strongly support you; otherwise, we will end your career. After this election, BTC will receive bipartisan support in the United States for political reasons.’

Whether focusing on current reality or future issues, the above remarks have different starting points and considerations. Compared to these rational discussions, there are also OGs of encryption who are overly enthusiastic about the election performance.

Ryan Selkis, the founder of Messari, has repeatedly posted a lot of “pro-Trump” overtones on social media. For example, “All those who voted against Trump at this time could die in flames”, “The civil war in this country is going on today, and if you are against Trump, you are against those who are willing to fight”, etc.

Mask Network founder Suji Yan commented on Ryan’s behavior: ‘This is too stupid. We will stop all potential transactions with Messari and stop participating in all their activities. We will also advise our partners and portfolio companies to think twice before working with them.’

Influenced by public opinion, Ryan has set most of the relevant remarks to private. The leadership of Messari has negotiated with him about the situation, and ultimately, Ryan resigned.

Conclusion

From the above discussions in the encryption industry OG, many people have mentioned the issue of politicization to varying degrees, especially in Vitalik’s article, hoping that everyone can return to the original intention of joining the encryption industry, rather than supporting it because of the political bias of short-term candidates.

The US election just highlights the politicization of the encryption industry. In recent years, the encryption industry has gradually become one of the political arenas for politicians to gain power. Politicians have seen the wealth generated by the encryption industry and the increasing number of encryption voters. Previously, politicians who despised and even criticized the encryption industry have embraced the industry to gain support in votes and finances. Of course, some practitioners in the encryption industry also hope to participate in electing politicians who care about the industry to ensure its current development.

Going back to the birth of Crypto, Satoshi Nakamoto may not have imagined that BTC, which was meant to counter centralization, would instead become an important tool for politicians to seize power.