DDoS attack disrupts Musk and Trump’s highly anticipated meeting

According to Elon Musk, X suffered a DDoS attack just before a scheduled interview with presidential candidate Donald Trump. Despite technical difficulties, the interview went ahead. Meanwhile, polls show growing support for cryptocurrencies among Democratic voters, and Kamala Harris could potentially benefit from this trend. In Texas, Senator Ted Cruz received an endorsement from the Texas Blockchain Council for his pro-crypto stance, while Republican John Deaton is gaining financial backing from crypto PACs in his Massachusetts Senate race.

Musk battles DDoS attack ahead of Trump interview

X owner Elon Musk He said the social media platform suffered a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack just as he was scheduled to interview the presidential candidate. Donald Trump It was about to begin. Musk announced the attack on X on August 12 and claimed that efforts were underway to stop it.

A DDoS attack disrupts the service by overloading it with excessive traffic, which then prevents legitimate users from accessing it. Technical difficulties as a result of the attack disrupted the X Space where Musk and Trump were scheduled to hold their interview at 8:00 p.m. ET. Many users reported being unable to join and the stream was labeled as “unavailable.”

However, around 120,000 users managed to access the stream. According to Musk, the system was Tested earlier in the day with 8 million simultaneous listeners.

Despite the challenges, Musk began the interview shortly after 8:30 p.m. ET and explained that it will be conducted with a smaller live audience. He added that unedited audio will be released immediately afterward. Musk believes the attack was due to massive opposition to what Trump had to say.

During the two-hour conversation, Trump touched on topics including a attempted murderillegal immigration, foreign relations and criticized President Joe Biden and his rival, Kamala Harris. Curiously, despite Trump’s stance in favor of cryptocurrencies and Musk’s fondness for Dogecoincryptocurrency was not mentioned at all.

Bet in Multimarket This no doubt reflected high expectations that Trump would mention “cryptocurrency” or “bitcoin,” with bets totaling more than $1 million. However, as the interview progressed without any mention of cryptocurrencies, the odds quickly plummeted to a mere 1% by the end.

Before the interview, Thierry Breton, the EU’s head of the internal market, warned Musk in a letter that he has to comply with EU laws. In response, the X CEO Linda Yaccarino Yaccarino criticized Breton’s letter, calling it an unprecedented attempt to extend European laws to American political activities. He also said it patronizes European citizens by suggesting they cannot independently assess the talks and draw their own conclusions.

Poll shows Democrats are embracing cryptocurrencies

TO survey sponsored by venture capital firm Paradigm suggests that the US Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has the opportunity to appeal to cryptocurrency owners during its campaign. The survey was conducted by Mercury Analytics among 804 registered voters who identified as Democrats.

Democrats are likely to buy cryptocurrencies (Source: Paradigm)

The poll indicates that Vice President Harris could improve her chances of winning in November by targeting crypto-interested voters. The data revealed that 27% of Democrats surveyed were somewhat or very likely to buy cryptocurrencies in the next year.

The poll also found that nearly 13% of Democrats were either undecided or considering voting for Republican nominee Donald Trump or third-party candidates like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. This suggests that Harris could potentially regain some support from these voters by distancing herself from the Biden administration’s crypto policies, such as those of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A large portion of Democrats surveyed shared concerns about financial privacy, particularly as it relates to government oversight of transactions related to reproductive care. Since the 2022 overturn of Roe v. Wade, the legality of abortion has become a major election issue. More than 70% of respondents agreed that personal financial transactions should generally be private and should only be accessible to government agencies for specific reasons.

Respondents’ concerns about privacy (Source: Paradigm)

The survey also indicated that while most Democrats do not currently own cryptocurrencies, digital assets are more popular among non-white voters. Additionally, around 80% of respondents believe it is important for the United States to lead in high-tech software innovations, such as cryptocurrencies and fintech.

According to Paradigm, this is a strong indication that Democratic voters support crypto innovation in the United States, despite the actions of some Biden administration officials. The firm also suggested that this could give Democratic members of Congress and the Harris campaign confidence to continue to push for reasonable legislation to Cryptocurrency regulation.

With just over 80 days to go until the US presidential election, Harris’s addition to the campaign has attracted a huge amount of support from cryptocurrency industry leaders and Democratic-leaning lawmakers. Some of these people include members of the House of Representatives, entrepreneurs, and others. Cuban brandand SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci.

Texas Blockchain Council endorses pro-cryptocurrency candidate Ted Cruz for Senate

Meanwhile, the Texas Blockchain Council (TBC) has endorsed incumbent Senator Ted Cruz for re-election to the U.S. Senate. In an August 12 post on X, TBC Chairman Lee Bratcher announced the endorsement while Cruz was addressing a crowd at a Core Scientific mining facility in Denton, Texas.

Bratcher praised Cruz’s understanding of Bitcoin as a tool for freedom and mining as a tool for network stability. Cruz has served in the Senate since 2013 and is a strong believer in cryptocurrencies. According to Cruz, “cryptocurrencies are the future.”

Cruz has spoken at a few TBC events, including the North American Blockchain Summit, where he spoke about the benefits of Bitcoin Mining for the Texas energy grid. Coinbase’s Stand With Crypto political initiative called Cruz a “strong” supporter of cryptocurrencies, considering his voting record in Congress and his pro-crypto social media posts. In 2022, Cruz very publicly expressed his preference for Bitcoin, saying, “I like Bitcoin because the government can’t control it.”

Cruz is a Republican and is running for re-election against Democrat Colin Allred, Libertarian Ted Brown, and independent Democratic candidate Tracy Andrus. An ActiVote July 18th survey showed Cruz leading Allred by eight points.

The political landscape in Texas could be changing after President Joe Biden announced he will drop out of the presidential race. Polls suggest Harris could be ahead of Republican candidate Donald Trump in key swing states.

Crypto PAC Spends $850,000 to Back John Deaton

The crypto community is also welcoming other politicians with open arms. A political action committee (PAC) backed by crypto industry figures has spent $850,000 to support the Republican candidate. John Deaton in the Massachusetts primaries.

According to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the Commonwealth Unity Fund Super PAC assigned $450,000 on a direct mail campaign for Deaton on Aug. 7 and more than $500,000 on a media buy on Aug. 6. In July, the PAC also spent $300,000 on a media placement.

Deaton is one of three Republicans running to represent Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate starting in 2025, and has received a lot of support from the cryptocurrency sector. Ripple announced in July that it Contribute $1 million to the Commonwealth Unity Fund to assist Deaton in his attempt to unseat Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warrenwho has held the position since 2013. Additionally, Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss each donated $6,600 to Deaton’s campaign in April and pledged a combined $1 million in July.

On July 31st, FEC Records The data showed Deaton raised about $1.7 million, with about $1 million cash on hand. In contrast, Sen. Warren raised about $6.4 million since January 2023, with about $4.9 million cash on hand.

The Massachusetts primary on September 3 will be a key battleground for cryptocurrency-related campaign financing in the US elections. On August 6, several US House of Representatives candidates backed by the Fairshake Super PAC and its affiliates scored primary victories after a combined media spend of $4 million.

Deaton is an attorney who has filed amicus briefs in support of cryptocurrency companies in lawsuits against the SEC and launched his Senate campaign in February. However, support for Deaton in the cryptocurrency industry is not unanimous. Senator from Wyoming Cynthia Lummisa well-known supporter of Bitcoin and digital assets, backed Republican Ian Cain about Deaton in July, largely due to Cain’s understanding of the digital economy and his support for innovation.

Polls in June showed Sen. Warren leading her Republican rivals, including Cain and Deaton, by at least 20 points. Warren is running unopposed in the Democratic primary.