Policies
Former US Senator and House member joins Crypto Council for Innovation
Cory Gardner, who served as a United States senator for Colorado from 2015 to 2021, has joined the Crypto Council for Innovation, a crypto advocacy group aimed at establishing dialogues with governments and regulatory agencies on the benefits of digital assets. In a Thursday announcement, the Crypto Council for Innovation, or CCI, said Gardner was one of three new members to join the group’s leadership team. Under CEO Sheila Warren, the former senator will work alongside Amanda Russo, a communicators adviser for the World Economic Forum, and Annie Dizon, a former executive with social impact nonprofit TechSoup. In addition, Katherine Wu, a venture partner at Archetype, will become CCI’s first research fellow, while former Algorand Foundation CEO Sean Lee joined the group to help buil...
Fossils vs. Renewables, PoW vs. PoS: Key policy issues around crypto mining in the U.S.
On Jan. 27, a group of eight U.S. lawmakers, led by Senator Elizabeth Warren, sent letters to the world’s six largest Bitcoin mining companies, demanding to reveal the detailed data on their electricity consumption. This isn’t the first time Senator Warren requested this information from a mining operation — last month a similar letter was sent to Greenidge Generation, which uses a natural gas plant to power its facility. These moves highlight the increasing regulatory pressure on crypto mining businesses in the United States. But, as last week’s Congress hearing showed, the growing scrutiny might turn out to be an opportunity to align the mining sector’s development with the broader political push for clean energy. Here are some of the key themes around crypto mining that have captured th...
President Biden taps economists for Fed governors’ seats, Sarah Bloom Raskin as vice chair for supervision
The White House has officially tapped former Fed governor Sarah Bloom Raskin to serve as the vice chair for supervision for the Federal Reserve, as well as economists Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson to fill two empty seats on its board of governors. In a Friday announcement, U.S. President Joe Biden said he had nominated Cook, an Obama-era economic adviser and Michigan State University faculty member, as well as Jefferson, a former research economist for the Fed, to the board of governors in addition to Raskin. Jefferson and Cook will take two of the vacant seats in the group of seven governors, with Jerome Powell and Lael Brainard nominated to serve as chair and vice-chair, respectively. According to the president, the three nominees have the “experience, judgment and integrity to lead the...
ConstitutionDAO, a ‘crypto red alert’ and other cases of crypto-powered social action in 2021
From the very beginning of the cryptocurrency movement, the societal potential of Bitcoin (BTC) has been one of the fundamental selling points. The decentralized design of crypto-based systems introduces the possibility of bringing individuals together to work toward shared goals, as well as enabling them to pool resources while remaining insulated from outside control. 2021 saw a number of cases that could serve as evidence of this emancipatory power of digital assets. ConstitutionDAO: $49 million raised in a few days Arguably, the most high-profile case of a massive fundraising effort enabled by a decentralized autonomous organization in 2021 was ConstitutionDAO. The group was formed in November with the sole objective of purchasing an original copy of the United States Constitution, whi...
JAMB boss lists major challenges
Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) said malpractice and indiscipline are some of the board’s major challenges yet to be fully addressed. The Registrar made this known when members of the Senate Committee on Basic and Secondary Education visited the board’s headquarters in Bwari, Abuja on Monday. Oloyede said that the challenges, unfortunately, were mostly with regards to parents trying to bend the system by all means and get their wards or children into schools, irrespective of their performance. “Our challenge remains examination malpractice, especially with regards to parents who keep calling me to favour their wards or children whether they meet the requirements of the system or not. “There’s also indiscipline from the tertiary institutions...
President Buhari: Nigerian government to implement policies that will tackle Niger Delta challenges
President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed his administration’s desire to implement genuine policies that would help in tackling problems affecting the Niger Delta region to make life more meaningful to the people. Buhari gave the assurance during the commissioning and handing over of the erosion control and road improvement works in Owo Local Government to the Ondo State Government. The president, who was represented by the Minister of State, Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Sen. Omotayo Alasoadura, noted that the erosion control of flooded area/road project was one of the ecological intervention projects approved and executed by the federal government through the Ecological Fund Office, in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF), for the good people of Owo an...
President Buhari orders military to crush bandits in ‘language they understand’
President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday ordered the military to crush bandits operating in Zamfara and Kaduna in the language they understand. The president condemned repeated bandit killings in Zamfara and Kaduna States, urging the nation’s military to respond to the worrying situation in a language that the bandits understood. Buhari, in a statement issued by his spokesman, Garba Shehu noted that the military and other security agencies were now working on new methods and policies that are yielding good results in many of the troubled parts of the country. He called for a crushing response to the killing of innocent citizens in the rural communities. Buhari also averred that the nation, its military and the entire population needed to summon the courage required to defeat the bandits and ...
PIB: Ijaw leaders reject ‘disgusting, provocative’ bill
The leadership of the Ijaw nation has rejected the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) just passed into law by the National Assembly describing it as disgusting and provocative. The leaders also called on the Minister of State for Petroluem Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, to use this opportunity to write his name in gold, and on the side of prosperity by standing firm with the Ijaw people against their oppressors. President of the Ijaw National Congress (INC), the umbrella body of the Ijaw people, Prof Benjamin Okaba in a packed press conference, he addressed at the Ijaw House, headquarters of INC in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, declared that the Ijaw nation rejects in its entirety the 3% and 5% provisions as compensation, the redefinition of host communities and other provisions including the alloca...
Ekiti APC chieftain: 2022, 2023 elections‘ll be based on personality, not party affiliation
An All Progressives Congress (APC) Chieftain in Ekiti, Mr Demola Popoola, says that the 2022 and 2023 elections will be about personality rather political party affiliation. Popoola stated this in Oye-Ekiti while declaring his intention to contest the governorship primaries of the party in the state. “The next general elections will be based on who the candidate is and not his political party. “Contributions and capacity of aspirants will play a critical role in the polls, but I am determined to bring my wealth of experience to bear in governance of the state, if given the opportunity in 2022. “I will work through my plans to banish poverty from Ekiti through my deliberate and concerted efforts in creating jobs through industrialisation of the state,’’ he said. Popoola, who hails from Oye-...
418 police officers commissioned as ASPs in Wudil
A total of 418 cadet officers who have completed their training at the Nigeria Police Academy, Wudil, have been commissioned as Assistant Superintendents of Police (ASP). In his remarks at the colourful Passing Out Parade ceremony held on Tuesday at the premises of the Academy, President Mohammed Buhari reminded the commissioned officers of their responsibilities, saying they were commissioned at a time the country was in need of their services The president, who was represented by the Minister of Police Affairs, Mohammad Maigari Dingyadi, enjoined the ASPs to discharge their duties effectively and efficiently while asking them to shun all acts of corruption in the course of their duty He declared that his administration has been committed to the security of all Nigerians at all time and h...
House speaker: APC must be committed to its manifesto to succeed
The speaker of the house of representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, says the All Progressives Congress (APC) must be committed to its manifesto for it to succeed in governance. Gbajabiamila said members of the party must also not forget that they will answer for “what we have done with our time in government”. A statement from Lanre Lasisi, the speaker’s spokesman, quoted him as saying this at the progressives youth conference organised by the APC in Abuja on Monday. He described manifestoes as “statements of vision and vision is the foundation of all achievements.” “For a nation such as ours to succeed, we must first define a common vision that will inspire us, bring us together, and provide the focus that allows us to persevere through the inevitable difficult times,” the speaker said. “As i...
French, German leaders urge EU coordination on reopening borders
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron called on Friday for European Union countries to coordinate their COVID-19 border reopening policies and guard against new variants of the virus. Macron said EU countries must be careful not to allow new variants to spread, adding that the EU was watching developments in Britain, which has seen a steep rise in the weekly reported cases of the Delta variant. “Some countries have reopened their borders earlier for tourist industry reasons, but we must be careful not to re-import new variants,” he told a joint news conference with Merkel before a working dinner at the chancellery in Berlin. Merkel added: “We can’t act as if the coronavirus is over.” “Caution is still necessary so that we have a summer of many freedoms, if no...
