Stephen Bannon, co-founder of Breitbart News and
former Chief Strategist for U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration,
is planning to enter the world of crypto,
the New York Times reports today, June 14.
The New York Times reports that Bannon is currently
planning his foray into the world of cryptocurrencies
and Initial Coin Offerings (ICO). According to the Times, Bannon
has held private meetings with both crypto investors and
hedge fund managers about the possibility of issuing an
ICO through his investment firm, Bannon & Company.
However, Bannon told the New York Times that he would
not be specific about his crypto plans, as linking his constroversial
reputation to projects could hurt their chances of success.
Bannon — who the Times reports has a “good stake” in Bitcoin (BTC) —
ran alt-right, anti-establishment media outlet Breitbart
News until January of this year. He also served in the Trump administration
until his dismissal in August 2017, allegedly due to
his critical remarks about the president in Michael Wolff’s book Fire and Fury.
Bannon reportedly first got interested in the crypto sphere
through former child actor turned crypto entrepreneur, Brock Pierce,
when Bannon was working as vice chairman of Pierce’s gaming company.
Bannon told the New York Times that it was his job with the Trump
campaign that prevented him from getting involved with Pierce and crypto back in 2016.
Timothy Lewis, the co-founder of the Ikigai crypto hedge fund,
told the New York Times that he was “impressed” with Bannon’s knowledge
of crypto technology when he met with him last month to speak about
crypto and ICO government regulations:
“I didn’t know what to expect going in, but he had clearly done his homework.”
According to the New York Times, Bannon had previously brought up
the idea of creating his own cryptocurrency this spring at
Harvard, dubbed the “deplorables coin” in an homage to
Hillary Clinton’s reference to Trump supporters as a “basket of deplorables.”
CHEERS