{"id":125973,"date":"2026-01-16T17:44:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T17:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/125973\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T17:44:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T17:44:07","slug":"mark-cuban-a-state-rep-gets-into-lobbying-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/125973\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Cuban, a state Rep. gets into lobbying, and more"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/a> that crypto advocates argue is critical to the industry\u2019s continued success in America. <\/p>\n

In Texas \u2014 a state that\u2019s been attempting to position itself as a global crypto hub<\/a> \u2014 the industry has also lately provided notable storylines. Here\u2019s what\u2019s been going on lately:<\/p>\n

Cuban, Mavs off the hook <\/p>\n

Back in 2021 \u2014 a year when crypto was seeing volatile price swings and attracting high-profile endorsements<\/a> from celebrities including Matt Damon, Tom Brady and Reese Witherspoon \u2014 the Dallas Mavericks entered into a partnership with Voyager Digital, a crypto trading platform. <\/p>\n

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<\/a> that the trading platform was \u201ca perfect fit for our Mavs fans and Mavs fans of all ages.\u201d Fans came on board, too, with demand for one reward deal so great that Voyager added a waitlist. <\/p>\n

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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\u2019s promoters had duped millions of investors. <\/p>\n

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 \u201ca long list\u201d of reasons, federal judge Roy Altman noted in a recent court order<\/a>, 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\u2019t enough to establish jurisdiction, Altman ruled in late December. <\/p>\n

Cuban and representatives for the Mavs did not immediately respond to queries about the case dismissal. <\/p>\n

From ex-politico to lobbyist<\/p>\n

For years now, a group of influential Texans, including lawmakers and various industry executives, has been working to transform the state<\/a> into a global crypto capital, including by encouraging more Bitcoin mining, providing a new legal regulatory framework and establishing a state \u201ccrypto reserve.\u201d <\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a need for a group to liaise between the industry and regulators and policymakers,\u201d 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. \u201cTexas likes to lead,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

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\u2019d previously had a long-running affair with the politician, and that he had paid for \u201cseveral abortions.\u201d Capriglione, who helped drive Texas\u2019 strict state abortion ban<\/a>, admitted he\u2019d had an affair \u201cyears ago\u201d but denied the abortion claims as \u201ccategorically false.\u201d <\/p>\n

In a statement, Capriglione \u2014 who has been a longtime crypto advocate as a representative \u2014 called his new gig \u201can incredible opportunity to continue advancing the digital assets industry that I\u2019ve championed throughout my legislative career.\u201d <\/p>\n

In his own statement, Bratcher, who will stay on as a board member, thanked the group\u2019s board and members and cited the group\u2019s \u201ctremendous accomplishments,\u201d including its various legislative efforts. <\/p>\n

Texas fills up crypto reserve<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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<\/a>. <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The comptroller\u2019s office did not answer a question from The News about the exact purchase price, but around the time of the state\u2019s purchase, IBIT was trading around $48. <\/p>\n

Late last week, IBIT <\/a>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. <\/p>\n

\"Megatel<\/a>Dallas-based homebuilder to launch crypto rewards after SEC green light<\/a><\/p>\n

Consumers will be able to spend the token with regular merchants via a digital wallet and payment card.<\/p>\n

\"Protesters<\/a>Protests erupt in Iran over currency\u2019s plunge to record low<\/a><\/p>\n

Several cities see demonstrators take to the streets to express outrage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After surging last year to new heights of influence and record prices, the crypto industry is facing a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125974,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[910,7319,4975,27,29,28,292],"class_list":["post-125973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-business","tag-cryptocurrency","tag-mark-cuban","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-texas-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}