Obama Special Assistant Joins Bitcoin Mining Company Bitfury

     A former senior White House staffer has accepted a job offer from one of Bitcoin’s most well-funded mining companies.

     Jamie Elizabeth Smith, former White House press secretary and special assistant to President Barack Obama, has joined bitcoin mining company Bitfury as its global chief communications officer. The mining company has raised $60 million in venture capital to date.

     Prior to her time at the White House, Smith worked at Edelman, a global PR firm, and was also the director of public affairs for the National Intelligence Council. She also held senior communications roles in the Senate, helped Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign, and is a former secretary at Madeleine Albright's consulting firm.

Speaking about her new venture into crypto, Smith said in a blog post:

     “I believe in blockchain and the transformative power of this technology, and you should too. In fact, my belief in blockchain is why I left a great job at Edelman to take on the role of Global Chief Communications Officer at BitFury.”

     “So why would I go off the beaten path and try blockchain? What is blockchain?” Smith wrote.

She elaborated:

     “Simply put, the blockchain is an immutable public ledger that records every bitcoin transaction, allowing peer-to-peer payments without going through banks or other third parties.”

     Smith’s appointment comes as her former colleague Brian Forde, who also served in a senior advisory role at the White House, joined the digital currency initiative at MIT’s tech Media Lab earlier this year.

     BitFury’s advisory board also includes former U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission supervisor James Newsome and Deputy Attorney General Jason Weinstein. Smith is the first executive with significant government experience at the mining company, having held an operations role at the company.