Though he’s a longshot at best, Pierce’s candidacy offers a window into the ways that money and ideas from the cryptocurrency world could start to scramble U.S.
His representatives did not respond to several requests for comment, and it remains unclear how committed he is to mounting a serious Senate effort.
Though crypto moguls tend to be techno-libertarians, and Pierce is no exception, his MAGA hires illustrate the extent to which they have been ideologically flexible in building political alliances.
In addition to hiring a team of right-wing populists, Pierce has cultivated close ties to Eric Adams, the moderate Democratic mayor of New York, and has considered hiring progressive operatives for his Senate run.
VR technology faces the same challenge the personal computer once did: While adoption by gamers and tech enthusiasts might be necessary to push a nascent technology into the mainstream, it’s definitely not sufficient.
The results have pretty clear implications for a theoretical metaverse — first, it’s unlikely that users will want to spend vast chunks of time with vision-blocking goggles strapped to their head, meaning that less-intrusive augmented reality technology will be a crucial part of merging the analog and digital worlds.
When the largest sellers on the app stores, with multi-billion-dollar valuations, come to Congress with proposals to reshape the mobile marketplace to suit their needs, policymakers should be rather skeptical.