On January 10, 2024, the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) gave official approval to 11 Financial Institutions to create a “spot bitcoin ETF” (Exchange-Traded Fund). This long-awaited and controversial government approval basically allows these 11 Financial Institutions to now offer to the public the opportunity to buy “bitcoin” easily and safely as if it were simply a stock in a mutual fund on the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, or Chicago Board of Trade, instead of investors still having to figure out how to buy it on a “Crypto Exchange” (e.g. Coinbase) as a “mysterious” and “dangerous” cryptocurrency. 

This approval is recognized worldwide as the biggest event in the history of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. It finally adds legitimacy to Bitcoin as an Asset Class, and it has opened a floodgate of new investors causing the price of bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrencies in general to ultimately increase substantially.  Bitcoin has gone mainstream.

So, how does this financial world news impact the highly contested U.S. Congressional Race CA 32 in Los Angeles, California? Well, in addition to Californians now being able to buy bitcoin easily just like every other person in the United States, it also shines a bright light on long-time, crypto-hater Rep. Brad Sherman (D) of CA 32, who has been (and still is today) the biggest opponent of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in Washington, D.C., calling them a “Garden of Snakes for investors who are thieves, felons, drug dealers, money launderers, sex traffickers, and those attempting to evade taxes.” 

Sherman, who serves on the House Committee on Financial Services and is the Chair of the Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship, and Capital Markets, has been fighting for over 15 years to not regulate or even ban bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, but to “outlaw” them. Sherman is supported by big banks and financial institutions.

Larry Thompson, veteran entertainment attorney, acclaimed talent manager and film producer, plus long-time crypto advocate and investor is strongly challenging Sherman and has received the very valuable, unanimous endorsement of the California Republican Party.  

Thompson also received this past week the additional endorsements of both Brock Pierce and Perianne Boring. 

Pierce is the Chairman of The Bitcoin Foundation, the longest established Bitcoin advocacy organization in the world.   He is also a Venture Philanthropist who has been credited with pioneering the market for digital currency and has raised more than $5B for companies he has founded. “You’ve supported this community and industry,” says Pierce to Thompson,  “long before you chose to run for office. I would hope that a lot of people see you as the tip of the spear, and an agent of change to help enable the future where we can have regulatory clarity and certainty, where America can stay the capital of innovation.  Thank you for stepping up in this very important race.”