After surging last year to new heights of influence and record prices, the crypto industry is facing a major test, with federal lawmakers preparing to work on a market regulatory bill that crypto advocates argue is critical to the industry’s continued success in America.
In Texas — a state that’s been attempting to position itself as a global crypto hub — the industry has also lately provided notable storylines. Here’s what’s been going on lately:
Cuban, Mavs off the hook
Back in 2021 — a year when crypto was seeing volatile price swings and attracting high-profile endorsements from celebrities including Matt Damon, Tom Brady and Reese Witherspoon — the Dallas Mavericks entered into a partnership with Voyager Digital, a crypto trading platform.
Under the five-year deal, the company paid the team more than $25 million to promote the platform. Mark Cuban, a longtime crypto proponent and controlling owner of the Mavs, promoted the partnership, declaring at a press conference that the trading platform was “a perfect fit for our Mavs fans and Mavs fans of all ages.” Fans came on board, too, with demand for one reward deal so great that Voyager added a waitlist.
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Several months later, after a cease-and-desist from New Jersey authorities, Voyager declared bankruptcy, and in August of 2022 a group of investors filed a class suit against Cuban and the Mavericks, along with the athletes Rob Gronkowski, Victor Oladipo and Landon Cassill, who had Voyager endorsement deals, alleging that Voyager’s promoters had duped millions of investors.
In early 2024, the plaintiffs settled their claims with Gronkowski, Oladipo and Cassill, leaving only Cuban and the Mavs, who moved to dismiss the case. They offered “a long list” of reasons, federal judge Roy Altman noted in a recent court order, but Altman ultimately dismissed it on jurisdictional grounds: The plaintiffs had filed the case in South Florida, where they noted that Cuban owns two condos and the Mavs played games while affiliated with Voyager, but that wasn’t enough to establish jurisdiction, Altman ruled in late December.
Cuban and representatives for the Mavs did not immediately respond to queries about the case dismissal.
From ex-politico to lobbyist
For years now, a group of influential Texans, including lawmakers and various industry executives, has been working to transform the state into a global crypto capital, including by encouraging more Bitcoin mining, providing a new legal regulatory framework and establishing a state “crypto reserve.”
Much of the push has been driven by the Texas Blockchain Council, a lobbying group founded around six years ago and funded through corporate membership dues and events.
“There was a need for a group to liaise between the industry and regulators and policymakers,” Lee Bratcher, a former political science professor who founded the group, told The News last year, in part to help position Texas as a frontrunner for the emerging industry. “Texas likes to lead,” he added.
Early this month, the group announced a leadership change. Bratcher, after serving as president for six years, stepped down from the role and was replaced by Giovanni Capriglione, who currently serves as the Republican state representative for part of Tarrant County.
In July, Capriglione announced that after serving for 13 years, he would not seek reelection when his term ends in 2027. Days later, a conservative news site published an interview with a former exotic dancer who claimed she’d previously had a long-running affair with the politician, and that he had paid for “several abortions.” Capriglione, who helped drive Texas’ strict state abortion ban, admitted he’d had an affair “years ago” but denied the abortion claims as “categorically false.”
In a statement, Capriglione — who has been a longtime crypto advocate as a representative — called his new gig “an incredible opportunity to continue advancing the digital assets industry that I’ve championed throughout my legislative career.”
In his own statement, Bratcher, who will stay on as a board member, thanked the group’s board and members and cited the group’s “tremendous accomplishments,” including its various legislative efforts.
Texas fills up crypto reserve
One marquee initiative from the group, the new Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, has already become active. After earning a signature from Gov. Greg Abbott last year, in December the state comptroller’s office, which controls the fund, purchased around $5 million worth of Bitcoin through the BlackRock-administered exchange-traded fund IBIT, the state office confirmed to The News.
The purchase came amid a broader embrace of cryptocurrency by both the Trump administration and many state legislatures, and was one of the first-ever cryptocurrency transactions by a state government.
The comptroller’s office did not answer a question from The News about the exact purchase price, but around the time of the state’s purchase, IBIT was trading around $48.
Late last week, IBIT was trading around $55. Bitcoin, after surging last fall to record highs above $120,000 and then falling to around $84,000, was trading at around $97,000.
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