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watch nowAs the 2024 U.S. elections reach their home stretch, crypto companies are opening their wallets to try and influence the results. Nearly half of all the corporate money flowing into the election has come from the crypto industry, according to a report this week from the nonprofit watchdog group Public Citizen. More than 90% of the corporate crypto cash that's been raised was brought in this election cycle. Public Citizen's report found that of the 42 primary races that attracted money from crypto-backed super PACs, the candidate picked by the crypto industry won 36. "When Fairshake and its affiliates spend money to influence races, either by attacking crypto skeptics or boosting crypto supporters, the ads don't mention crypto at all," said Claypool.

Persons: Biden, Donald Trump, Rick Claypool, Coinbase, Andreessen Horowitz, Crypto, Brian Armstrong, Fairshake, It's, Claypool, Chuck Schumer, Kamala Harris's, Joe Biden, Harris, Faryar Shirzad, Trump, CNBC hasn't Organizations: Public Citizen, Securities and Exchange Commission, Republican, Senate, Supreme, Citizens, Federal, PAC, Public, CNBC, Trump, White Locations: Nashville , Tennessee, New York, California, cryptocurrencies, San Francisco, Nashville, United States

☆ Your energy costs could become a lot more unpredictable
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-01 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

For more than a decade, Americans could rely on cheap natural-gas prices to heat their homes and power businesses. Prices shot up exponentially, and homeowners, renters, and businesses are still seeing the ripple effects on their utility bills — even though natural-gas prices have since fallen. Just six years later, the US surpassed Qatar to become the world's leading exporter of natural gas. Slocum added that natural-gas exports put upward pressure on prices, citing recent reports by the US Energy Information Administration and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission . The higher costs between 2021 and late 2023 are due to the energy crisis in Europe and "cannot explicitly be linked" with greater US gas exports, the spokesperson said.

Persons: Joe Biden, Tyson Slocum, Goldman Sachs, Slocum, Mike Sommers Organizations: Service, Business, LNG, US Energy Information Administration, Federal Energy Regulatory, American Petroleum Institute, CNBC, Energy, Consumer Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Europe, Texas, New Mexico, Qatar

When cryptocurrencies collapsed and a number of companies failed last year, Congress considered multiple approaches for how to regulate the industry in the future. Ironically, the failure of Bankman-Fried's FTX and his subsequent arrest late last year may have contributed to the momentum for regulation stalling out. Before FTX imploded, Bankman-Fried spent millions of dollars — illegally taken from his customers it turns out — to influence the discussion around cryptocurrency regulation in Washington and push for action. “Moreover, almost everything the crypto industry does is clearly covered by existing securities and commodities laws that every other law-abiding financial firm in the country follow," he said. Bartlett Collins Naylor, a financial policy advocate for Public Citizen's Congress Watch said “laws on fraud and securities are currently sound.”__Hussein reported from Lewiston, Maine

Persons: Sam Bankman, cryptocurrencies, FTX, Fried, “, Sens, Debbie Stabenow, John Boozman, Sen, Sherrod Brown, Brown, He’s, ” Brown, can’t, Joe Biden, Dennis Kelleher, Bartlett Collins Naylor, __ Hussein Organizations: Securities and Exchange Commission, Coinbase, PayPal, SEC, Commodities Futures Trading Commission, Agriculture Committee, U.S ., Financial Services, White, Federal Reserve, Consumer, Better, Public Citizen's, Watch Locations: PALM SPRINGS, Calif, Washington, Ohio, stablecoins, Lewiston , Maine

☆ Microsoft is facing another hurdle in closing a $70 billion deal to buy Activision Blizzard: a new FTC lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The FTC just filed a new lawsuit to seek to stop Microsoft's purchase of Activision Blizzard. Microsoft has been trying to win the OK from global regulators for the nearly $70 billion purchase. This suit, filed in federal court in San Francisco, seeks to stop the deal from closing. "We welcome the opportunity to present our case in federal court," Brad Smith, Microsoft's vice chair and president, said in a statement Monday. "By filing in federal court to enjoin the transaction, the FTC is showing that it won't back down in the face of Microsoft's escalatory tactics."

Persons: Brad Smith, Matt Kent Organizations: FTC, Activision Blizzard, Microsoft, Activision, Morning, Federal Trade Commission, Sony, PlayStation, Nintendo, UK's, Public Citizen, Public Locations: San Francisco, China, Japan, Brazil, South Korea

☆ Chamber of Commerce gets nearly half its funding from those who give at least $1 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Brian Schwartz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce pitches itself as representing the interests of millions of businesses of all shapes and sizes. The chamber, according to the study, brought in 18 contributions from those who donated anywhere from $2 million to over $4 million. The report says that the group raised around $54 million from those big-money contributors alone. And like America, the vast majority of our members — 90% — are small businesses and state and local chambers of commerce." By all measures, our impact for them is substantial and small businesses are strongly engaged with the Chamber."

☆ Why Blackouts, Power Outages Are Becoming More Common
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Taylor Dorrell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

Power outages have increased 64% from the early 2000s, and weather-related outages — many driven by the worsening climate crisis — have increased 78%. A record-breaking blizzard in Buffalo, New York, this winter caused power outages throughout the city, resulting in the deaths of 47 residents. In 2021, a heat wave led to power outages and the deaths of hundreds in the Pacific Northwest. While regional organizations might use fees to penalize companies for power outages, it's now much harder to pinpoint and hold a person or entity responsible. In the meantime, the climate crisis will continue to wreak havoc on an aging grid system that puts profits over reliability.

☆ Pressure mounts for regulators to investigate TikTok over potential 'Big Brother-type surveillance' after reports of plans to track Americans' locations
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Forbes reported TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, planned to use the app to surveil Americans. The consumer rights group joins a growing chorus of bipartisan calls to investigate the Beijing-based company. In its Thursday letter, the nonprofit consumer rights group Public Citizen urged the FTC to investigate and "take immediate action against ByteDance and Tiktok" if the reports of surveillance are substantiated. The app's links to the Chinese government have long spurred concerns over propaganda, fake news, and data privacy — with the Trump administration in 2020 even proposing a total ban of TikTok. In 2021, the Biden administration promised a security review of foreign-owned apps, but has yet to publish its results.

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