Bitcoin advocate Chamath Palihapitiya abandons bid to become California governor

Chamath Palihapitiya, founder of venture capital firm Social Capital, has dropped his bid to run for governor of California. He said so on the All-In Podcast.

🚨E20 is here!🚨

— @Jason & @chamath reconcile
— Robinhood wrap up, lessons learned
— Insiders vs. Outsiders
— California’s failing report card (& how to fix it)
— @chamath tells his @azizansari story

👇👇👇
🔊: https://t.co/IFp93HhAly
📺: https://t.co/yw533KnP4J

— The All-In Podcast 💧🐦 (@theallinpod) February 3, 2021

The billionaire and Bitcoin advocate explained that suspending his political ambitions was necessary to focus on his business.

“To be frank, I’m not prepared to do any of this [campaign platform — ed.]. I believe it’s necessary to untangle conflicts of interest and draft a plan in case this [victory in the election — ed.] occurs,” Palihapitiya said.

On January 26, the founder of Social Capital endorsed calls for Gavin Newsom’s recall with the hashtag #RecallGavinNewsom and announced his intention to run for the post.

It’s on. #RecallGavinNewsom https://t.co/r8Cwd4szrn

— Chamath Palihapitiya (@chamath) January 26, 2021

In a brief campaign platform, he proposed eliminating state taxes, boosting teachers’ salaries, and instituting a benefit for every newborn.

Twitter users questioned whether the tax-cut pledge could be fulfilled. The investor did not comment on the proposals and did not specify which party he planned to run with.

Palihapitiya is known as a supporter of Bitcoin. He previously described digital gold as the best means of countering autocracy and currency controls, and as the sole hedge against risks in traditional finance.

In 2020 the billionaire praised the cryptocurrency for its low correlation with traditional assets. Later Palihapitiya said that has not matched the returns of betting on Bitcoin.

In December 2020, former U.S. presidential candidate Andrew Yang, who advocated for transparent cryptocurrency regulation, joined the race to be mayor of New York.

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