Pro-Bitcoin Jared Polis & Gavin Newsom Elected As U.S. Governors

Amid the mainstream media’s coverage of the U.S. midterms, which has become the western world’s flavor-of-the-month, key details important to crypto advocates have slipped far under the radar. But, Francois Pouliot, a Quebecois-Canadian Bitcoin proponent, has sought to change this, doing his utmost best to raise his digital voice over a clamoring crowd of commentators.

On Tuesday night, Pouliot, a self-proclaimed “skin-in-game Bitcoin entrepreneur,” took to his Twitter page, which sports 40,000 dedicated followers, to announce that Colorado’s Jared Polis (Democrat) has been elected into Congress via the democratic process.

So why does this pertain to crypto? Well, Polis, who is arguably one of the most progressive governors in America’s political environment, has long been a fan of cryptocurrencies and is open to aiding the asset class on a regulatory stage.

In an exclusive interview with CoinDesk just months before 2014’s midterms, the Boulder, Colorado native explained that he would do everything in his power to hamper anti-Bitcoin policies, whether it be through rallying against governmental agencies or touting the benefits of crypto assets. Furthering this sentiment, speaking from the point of view of an innovator, Polis added that “it’s about time” for cryptocurrencies to rise to prominence.

And in spite of the relative age of this interview, the politician’s pro-crypto views have persisted well into 2018, even to this day. In February of this year, NewsBTC reported that the Colorado governorrequested for Congress to draft a guideline for crypto holding disclosures. Although this could be seen as an anti-crypto move, especially considering that this industry values pseudonymity, at the time, the lawmaker claimed that the growing legitimacy of crypto necessitated the body to take appropriate action.

U.S. Midterms: Bitcoin-Friendly Politicians Elected in Colorado, California

The deal between Remixpoint and Hinomaru attests to a trend of moving cryptocurrencies beyond financial speculation, and into mainstream commerce applications. The idea has been practiced before by global giants like Microsoft, Expedia, and Dell but couldn’t sustain for long owing to Bitcoin’s price volatility and blockchain scalability issues. The digital currency so far has taken care of the scalability aspect by integrating a third-party solution called Lightning Network to its blockchain. However, it remains prone to wild price fluctuations.

Remixpoint, which also operates BITPoint, a licensed and regulated cryptocurrency exchange in Japan, could address volatility issues by converting cryptos into fiat at the POS in real time. That should make it ideal for both travelers and Hinomaru to use cryptos with much lesser volatility risk.

The deal between the two could also see the expansion of bitcoin-enabled POS in Hinomaru’s entire business model. The private company manages a fleet of 362 limousines and 161 taxis while the trial service as mentioned above is limited to airport rides only. A successful test run is likely to boost crypto payments among regular taxi rides as well.

These commerce aspects could mainly attract people willing to spend their crypto holdings in real time, and merchants/payment providers looking to accumulate these assets without having to mine or purchase them from a local exchange. Travelers, for instance, could bring the best usabilities out of cryptos by treating them as global currencies. They can carry them anywhere, anytime and spend them locally without having to go through a costly fiat conversion process.

Tokyo Airport Limousines Will Start Accepting Bitcoin as Payment