WikiLeaks: Hillary Clinton's campaign team considered using alternative coins because the Republicans abandoned Bitcoin

According to WikiLeaks, Hillary Clinton's campaign was very optimistic about blockchain technology, but apparently they didn't know what it was. In addition, because some Republicans accepted Bitcoin donations, the team eventually chose to abandon Bitcoin and instead met with competing currency developers.

In an email to Hillary Clinton’s technical assistant Teddy Goff, John D. Podesta, chairman of the Clinton campaign, said he might favor an alternative digital currency called Ven.

The following text is translated from WikiLeaks:

－－－－－Forward message－－－－－－

From: *Stan Stalnaker* <[email protected]>
Date: May 13, 2015 Subject: Digital Currency for Hillary Recipient: [email protected]
CC: Dan Rosenthal <[email protected]>, Karen Poreh <[email protected]>, Sara Latham <[email protected]>

Dear John

It was great to meet you at the Hillary Clinton Fundraiser in London on Monday. Following our brief chat, it was great to meet with your technical team in New York from May 25th to 28th to discuss how we can use Ven, a digital currency, to raise funds for the campaign. As we discussed, Bitcoin is being used by the Republican Party and it could be a useful tool. But we think Ven is a better choice for your campaign. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has stated that digital currencies are acceptable in campaign activities.

For more information about Ven, visit http://ven.vc and in snapshot attached.

While in Washington, I met with Dan, Karen, and Albright Stonebridge, and we work closely with their firm, as well as with Edelman in New York.

On May 13, 2015, at 1:41 PM, John Podesta <[email protected]> wrote:

I won't send all the crazy ideas, I heard about your donation method, it seems interesting and legal. Basically this digital currency is green, which is different from Bitcoin's libertarianism. After Stan arrives in New York this month, will you have someone on your team meet with him to see if it is worth considering?

From: [email protected]
Recipient: [email protected]
Date: 2015-05-16 13:10
Subject: Re: Digital Currency for Hillary

Sorry for the slow reply, yes of course, please introduce it and we will be below.