24th June 2026 > > The UK and Maryland
- 5 hours ago
- 3 min read
tl;dr
We look at Andy Burnham and cryptos. Another win for crypto-PACs.
Market Snap
Market Wrap
A wobble by SPCX was followed by weakness across the tech sector and especially chip stocks. There has been plenty of talk that the AI bubble must burst one day, and probably soon. Comparisons have been drawn to the internet bubble at the turn of the Millennium, but I don’t buy that argument. The big players in AI all generate bucketloads of free cash flow. Companies like Pets.com were newly launched websites with no business track record. As the AI revolution gathers pace and embraces the crypto revolution, smart investors will increasingly view them as one sector, not two separate ones.
Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – We must talk about Andy Burnham
The UK’s now long-standing tradition of changing our PM before the incumbent gets to know the job in any meaningful way, hands the chalice to Andy Burnham, former mayor of Manchester.
I must remind you all that the CCC remains fiercely apolitical.
But we cannot ignore the politics that impact the environment around cryptos. The UK has always been antagonistic towards cryptos, though readers know that there has been a recent thawing to a minor degree. What could crypto life look like when Andy ascends the throne?
…
In 2024, at an event hosted by the Manchester Blockchain Alliance and the Coinbase-backed lobby group Stand With Crypto, Andy had this to say:
"I'm in. I'm bought in. I love the sound of it."
"If this is about economic progress and social progress — I'm in."
"Manchester was the home of the Industrial Revolution. Let's make it the home of the Web3 revolution."
"Web3 could be the democratisation of it all."
Here he is – directly associating himself with Stand With Crypto:
We are going to hold you to that, Andy.
…
So, that’s a positive start, but I am not so naïve as to believe that the health of the crypto revolution will rank in the top three issues for Andy, though clearly it should. Looking at some of the team likely to support him in his new role, they are not nearly as enlightened.
Let’s start with Ed Miliband whose crowning achievement – in his eyes only – will be the successful passage of his latest legislation, which will force everyone to have a small windmill attached to each of our skulls, for reasons that are unclear. Madiband described BTC as:
“One giant Ponzi scheme”.
BTC mining is a fantastic tool, probably the best we have, for helping to stabilise the grid, a key requirement for the wholesale adoption of renewable energy due to the intermittent nature of those power sources, wind and solar, in the UK. BTC mining is a moral imperative if you wish to transition to Net Zero. Madiband is too blinkered to grasp that basic fact.
David Lammy compares users of crypto with kleptocrats. Shabana Mahmood believes crypto is a fraud vector, despite all the evidence to the contrary. Angela Rayner frames crypto as “dodgy money”, a topic of which she personal experience of. There is talk of Starmer being made Foreign Secretary. His view on cryptos? Nada of course. The man doesn’t have a view on anything at all. Never has done, never will do.
Andy will be surrounded by crypto sceptics or, at best, agnostics. We like his personal stance. Let’s see how strongly he will prosecute it.
Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Maryland Senate Primary
Following the heartwarming news that crypto-PAC supported Barry Moore won the Republican primary for the Senate seat in Alabama (https://www.curiouscryptos.com/post/22nd-june-2026-alabama-bankman-fried-coinbase), another victory for freedom, liberty, and privacy can be chalked up.
Fairshake donated a vote-winning $5.5mm to Adrian Boafo in the Democratic primary for the Maryland seat up for grabs in the midterms:
Geoff Vetter, a Fairshake spokesman, explains:
"We went big and we went early. We did our part to move Adrian Boafo from fifth place to the halls of Congress. He is poised to be a leader in the largest pro-crypto Congress in history.”
Fairshake is non-partisan. Its only concern, much like the CCC, is whether individual politicians are pro- or anti- crypto. Maryland Senator, Chris Van Hollen criticised what he calls an “… obscene amount of big special-interest money” given to Adrian, though they hail from the same party. Van Hollen has never, to the best of my knowledge, complained about lobbying by TradFi, presumably because he has been the beneficiary of it. He knows his personal antagonism towards cryptos makes him vulnerable when his seat is next up for election.
Let’s hope that we see many more Adrians before November. A crypto-friendly Democrat-controlled House of Representatives will be a beautiful thing to behold.
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