Bitcoin Volatility and the Illinois Comptroller Democratic Part Primary

Sneakers (1992)

   There's a story in the Chicago Tribune about one of the many impressive women running for the Democratic nomination for Illinois Comptroller.  Holly Kim, currently the Lake County Treasurer, created a crypto/token titled CHKN,

    Months before Lake County Treasurer Holly Kim announced her bid for Illinois comptroller, she used about $8,300 in previously contributed campaign funds to invest in a cryptocurrency she founded called CHKN token — a digital asset inspired by her backyard flock of chickens.

By the end of 2025, the investment — totaling roughly 8.87 million tokens — had lost nearly all its value, dropping to just $34.59, according to filings with the Illinois State Board of Elections.  Kim described the investment as a learning experience that reflected her efforts to better understand emerging financial technologies.

“I’m someone who learns things by doing, and this is, you know, entirely why I would have converted crypto into a token, because, you know, it depends what’s popular,” Kim said in an interview late last month with the Tribune about the investment. “But voters can absolutely trust me because I’m trying to stay on top and learn about emerging industries.”

In response to questions about her investment loss, Kim released an Instagram ad about her CHKN token, saying, noting it was “worth less than a penny, and five feathers, with zero scandals,” while surrounded by a flock of chickens.   “Clearly, my flock and I weren’t trying to get rich, but what I was trying to do as a member of the Bank On commission against predatory lending was teach people about crypto,” said Kim, referring to her role on a commission overseen by the Illinois comptroller’s office. “I wanted to make sure I understood the ins and outs so that I could protect people from their scams.”

Last night at about midnight Bitcoin dropped to just a bit over $60,000.  It had reached a high of about $125,000 just this last October.  I see it's rallied a bit, back up to $68K but this is not a stable platform or something that can every backstop a Nation or be a solid store of value.  It's a chaotic financial instrument, literally backed by nothing but Vibes, Word of Mouth, and FOMO.

Now, the Move Fast and Break Things vandals and anarchists who see Chaos as a Ladder love Crypto because of the amount of money they can "make".  And therein lies several problems with their thinking and their plans.  Crypto doesn't make anything, it's a literal energy suck and all the value comes from other peoples' actual money.

Bitcoin and crypto can not and will not deliver on any of their fantastical promises;  it isn't a hedge against the Dollar, it isn't the New Gold, it can't be used if their is a global meltdown (No Survivalist is going to exchange his Bullets, Beans, and Bandages for an electronic token).  And contrary to what Bitcoin Prophets might tell you about its' security and secrecy the US Government has its' hands on hundreds of thousands or more of these tokens. It's not money or currency or any kind of tangible asset what it is, as Ben McKenzie and Jacob Silverman wrote in Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud (2023) is, an unregulated, unlicensed security.  An investment contract where you put real money into them and hope expect to get real money out of them through no work on your own.

A lot of the reactionary police officers I knew became fascinated with Crypto and the quick riches it promised precisely because like all modern rightwingers they look at vast pools of other peoples' money, assets, and resources as something they can loot and strip of value.  I asked several of them if they thought the US or State Governments had any role in reigning in these prima facie fraudulent financial instruments or should protect their citizens from such a blatant Ponzi schemes and each and everyone of them said No.  The Government shouldn't get involved because it was way for them to get money for nothing.

Like all Gangsters, crypto "investors" don't want to work;  "The working man is a sucker", they want Get Rich Quick Schemes and see no problem in bankrupting and impoverishing those less savvy, less astute, or even less mentally capable.  It's a total Caveat Emptor and everyman for himself attitude.

That's the Secret of Crypto, and more broadly the Secret of MAGA, and the Secret of the Rebirth of Global Fascism.  Republicans and right-wingers no longer believe in the future or in building things or in the Social Contract but, are in the loot and pillage era.  Smash and Grab.

Kind of like the turbulent 5th century and The Fall of the Western Roman Empire. 

Here's Eric Trump bragging about their American Bitcoin Mining operation using "American energy" on "American soil" as though these are artisanal grapes grown at the headwaters which feed Niagara Falls.  Like the BitcoinMining operation which invaded upstate New York, and caused so much noise it overwhelmed the sound of the Falls and stole all the hydroelectric power from the residents.  And from the same Eric Trump who used his Foundation to steal Children's Cancer donations.