This City, 2.0 | Edge

Hello and welcome organizer, Newsletter for edge Participants about the most ambitious crossover event ever: the endless war between technology and politics. Not subscribed yet? Come on, do it!

Washington may seem slower than Silicon Valley. But that’s because it’s more turbulent. In order to accomplish anything, one has to navigate the massive amount of chaos that arises when thousands of federal elected officials, employees, political appointees, lobbyists, corporations, lawyers, journalists, and influencers try to advance their interests, often at the same time.

For the past 20 editions of organizerI’ve written weekly about the big stories about technology’s growing influence in Washington, both as a tool used by politicians to gain power and as an industry that tries to bend laws to its advantage. But over the past year, it has become harder to advertise the existence of just that one Big story every week. Many new technologies are the subject of heated political debate – semiconductors, artificial intelligence, cryptocurrencies, social media, surveillance, For example, but not limited to – Designating one person each week seems like it barely scratches the surface of the action happening everywhere in the city.

So, this week I’ll be jotting down the notes and lines I’ve collected while reporting, as well as some of the more surprising stories I’ve come across. Shockingly, even though the area is virtually frozen, and even outside of the partial lockdown, there has been a lot going on…

But obviously, yeah, let’s talk about shutdown first.

Warning regarding prolonged negotiations: The House narrowly voted to avoid a partial government shutdown Tuesday afternoon, but publicly made its demands for ICE reforms: judge-issued warrants for arrests, and enforcement on agents wearing body cameras. edge favorites), and have ICE agents remove their masks. Republicans are responding by demanding that funding for “sanctuary cities” be defunded. But of course everything can change in an instant…

Epstein Alert: After a tense exchange between their lawyers and the House Oversight Committee, Bill and Hillary Clinton reached an agreement. They agreed to testify before Congress about their relationship with Jeffrey Epstein At the end of the month, narrowly avoiding a vote on contempt of court. They also agreed to photocopy and transcribe their testimony, so set up the ctrl+F keys to search the Justice Department’s Epstein files database for names that have been dropped.

Celebrity alert: Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt will appear with Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the passage Article 230 At a press conference on Capitol Hill.

The future of cryptocurrencies is gaining some clarity

On Monday, the White House held a meeting with policy directors at several major cryptocurrency companies, trade associations, and representatives of traditional financial institutions to reach agreement on the Clarity Act. The Cryptocurrency Market Structure Bill was in limbo after that Coinbase suddenly canceled its supportciting its current language on stablecoin returns. According to a readout from Cody Carbone of the Digital Chamber, a trade association representing the digital assets industry, “political rhetoric was toned down” and the invited parties eventually agreed to seek a compromise by the end of February.

It is worth noting that the negotiation was between policy managers in these institutions, and no CEOs of those companies – which makes sense, given the reports from Davos. The Wall Street Journal I mentioned On Friday, Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong got into several confrontations with Wall Street executives during the World Economic Forum who were offended that he… He publicly accused traditional banks of sabotaging the bill Against the crypto industry. Most succession-The altercation: JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon boycotted a coffee date between Armstrong and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair to accuse him of being “full of shit”. (Personally, I think billionaires would rather fight in Davos than negotiate in Washington, but that’s just me.)

Who fired this DOGE?

traffic lights reported Friday That Michael Grimes, a banker and longtime Elon Musk aide, will leave the Trump administration. Since joining the administration in early 2025, Grimes has led the Commerce Department’s venture capital arm, which has eliminated funding for the CHIPS Act, bought a stake in Intel, and will eventually own $1. Trillion From business deals in East Asia to investment in other technology companies. (The project, by the way, is operating without congressional approval.) The department will now be run by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, along with a group of Wall Street investors, and is currently exploring potential new investment projects.

This week in “Interesting Timelines”

The Wall Street Journal Reports Just days before Donald Trump’s second inauguration, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of Abu Dhabi’s ultra-powerful royal family known as the “Spy Sheikh,” signed a deal to buy a 49 percent stake in World Liberty Financial — the cryptocurrency company owned by the Trump family — for nearly half a billion dollars, paying $187 million upfront to Trump-controlled entities. Shortly thereafter, the UAE was able to gain approval to purchase 500,000 advanced AI chips, despite concerns that Tahnoun’s AI company is a little too close to Chinese-owned Huawei, much to the comfort of the State Department.

Disgraced FTX CEO Sam Bankman Freed, who was convicted of multiple counts of financial crimes and sentenced to prison, is… Try again To convince people he’s actually a Republican victim of the “woke mob,” this time he’s championing X’s cause. (It’s the second time the former influential influencer and major Democratic donor has spoken out) He tried to look red.)