Why does it matter that a financial adviser has a post about drug use?
The Cosmic Cheesecake: J. D. Kofsky, the SEC, and the COBIT Commission: An Attorney General’s Report on Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies
One of the key policy advisers for J.D. Vance has a website on which he has posted extensively about using drugs such as cocaine and opiates. In the posts, which are as recent as three months ago, Kofsky wrote about experiencing withdrawal from and trying to “kick” tianeptine—also known as “gas station heroin”—and kratom; advised other users on how to transport drugs on domestic flights; and called Vance “a Trump boot licker.”
Before working for Vance, Kofsky was the policy adviser to Securities and Exchange Commissioner Mark Uyeda and worked for Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. The crypto industry has seen Vance as an ally since he ran for Senate in the 2022 election and then disclosed that he personally owned more than $100,000 in Bitcoin. Kofsky has criticized SEC chair Gary Gensler’s heavy-handed approach to crypto regulation multiple times on X. Over the summer, Vance circulated a draft bill that would remove much of the authority the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission have over governing digital currency. At the time, Politico called the bill one of the more “industry-friendly” pieces of legislation.
In one of the posts, Kofsky shared a video of Vance at a Senate hearing and provided a number of other pieces of identifying information. That information, paired with a Poshmark account using the same username and an image of Kofsky as its avatar, were two of the big bread crumbs that helped me confirm Kofsky was behind the account.
Some PsychoticMammal posts about drugs were removed after WIRED contacted them, as well as their profile picture was changed to reflect characters from the movie Attack of the Clones. A statement from Kofsky was provided by a representative for the Senate office.
WIRED’s Analysis of the Harris-Trump Campaign and a New Initiative to Protect Black Men Using Cryptocurrencies (Cryptanalysis)
It’s a different type of newsletter. The WIRED Politics team can help you understand the internet’s impact on politics.
The Harris and Trump campaigns both have efforts to win over the community. The website crashing during the launch of Trump’s firm resulted in a relatively small number of purchase of their crypto token. According to WIRED reporting, only 8,500 people participated in the coin’s presale and collectively purchased 750 million of them.
That the crypto industry clearly favors the Trump-Vance campaign has seemingly spooked the Harris campaign to some degree. Harris formally announced her support for the technology this week as part of a new initiative to protect Black men who have invested in these assets.