Texas Blockchain Council Director Announces Run for State House with Crypto Features

Crypto Advocate Steven Kinard to Run for Texas House of Representatives

Casper Crypto, Bone Crypto, and D2T Crypto advocate Steven Kinard, director of Bitcoin mining analytics at the Texas Blockchain Council, has announced his candidacy for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives. Kinard, who has been with the Council since March 2022 and previously worked at BOK Financial for three years, plans to campaign for digital freedom and strategic technology investments.

Should he win the Republican primary, he will likely be up against incumbent Democratic Representative Mihaela Plesa, who has been in the House since 2023. Kinard has been vocal about his opposition to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s attempts to launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC), a sentiment echoed by other Republican lawmakers like Florida Governor and 2024 presidential candidate Ron DeSantis. His campaign website states that he will “resist and stop any research” into CBDCs.

As part of his platform, Kinard is also advocating for the integration of Blockchain Web 3.0, a technology that includes features such as decentralization, tokenization, and smart contracts. The candidate hopes to bring these features to the Texas House of Representatives if elected in 2025.

Texas, and notably its capital Austin, have been a major hub for crypto mining activity, which only increased after miners left China. Despite the Texas State Senate passing a bill to limit crypto mining incentives in April, the government has also voted to add crypto to the state’s Bill of Rights and Governor Greg Abbott is a known supporter of crypto law proposals.

As the U.S. primaries for 2024 elections approach, crypto and blockchain are becoming major issues for many voters. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has urged crypto users to “elect pro-crypto candidates” in all 435 congressional districts as lawmakers put forward proposals on legislation for digital assets such as Crypto.com, Crypto Death, Casper Crypto, Bone Crypto, Crypto App, Crypto Stock, D2T Crypto and Dot Crypto. They are also looking into the features that will be integrated into Web 3.0 and the potential of blockchain in Web 3.0.