Who Is Brian Forde?- The Crypto Candidate for Congress

We’re missing something in Congress

With the advent of the Trump presidency already in full swing, it’s clear that our political climate is getting worse. With this, it can be said that what we lack the most is trust in our public officials and someone needs to bring it back.

Brian Forde, a candidate for the House of Representatives in California’s 45th district, wants to bring this and more, to the table.

The Importance of 21st Century Skills

Brian Forde’s been working in and around emerging markets and emerging technologies since at least 2005.

That year, after having served in Nicaragua in the Peace Corps, he started a business that aimed to give low cost telephone access to Nicaraguans, especially those who lived far away from urban areas. The company used VOIP, which is something that Google has started to roll out this year. Essentially, VOIP is a common technological framework that allows people to phone each other using their broadband internet connections.

In 2011, while he was an MBA candidate at London Business School, Brian was asked to join the White House Office of Science and Technology policy during the Obama presidency. While there, he worked as a Senior Advisor for Mobile and Data Innovation, which entailed leading a program called “The White House Innovation for Disaster Response and Recovery Initiative.” In addition to this, he also helped with and worked on the President’s Open Data initiatives, which were basically various proposals designed to make the dealings of the US government transparent and therefore, more open, to the general public. Forde also personally started what were called “White House Tech Inclusion” and “Tech Hire Initiatives,” which were, overall, proposals designed to promote diversity in the tech industry. As if this wasn’t enough, he followed up these efforts by heading up a White House team that supported the Mayor of Detroit, who was trying to bring the city closer to the 21st century, in terms of the technology that it was using.

From the White House, Brian moved to MIT, where he started the now famous, MIT Digital Currency Initiative and therefore, moved deeply into Blockchain-related work. As some of you might not be clear on exactly what this initiative does, think of it as an incubator and a research center for Crypto firms as well as general Blockchain firms. More specifically, the MIT Digital Currency Initiative is also known for facilitating a consistent, heavy press push for all things Blockchain, which is easy to see upon visiting the main landing page of their web site. Overall, MIT is ranked on most of the top university lists as the best in the world and the Digital Currency Initiative exists as MIT’s vehicle to stand at the forefront of the movement towards digital currencies above traditional currencies. Specifically, their three main goals are: getting students involved in research around key industry issues, getting relevant stakeholders together to discuss the technology in different ways, and serving as the place where unbiased research in the space can be done.

While Brian’s still at the head of this ambitious effort, he’s also lecturing at MIT on these topics and more, as well as running for Congress.

Bringing Crypto Know How to Washington

It’s no secret that Washington has a long history of falling behind the global business world in terms of being tech savvy.

Brian Forde’s background, as discussed above, is a perfect fit for California’s 45th district, according to Bloomberg and other sources.

The technology sector is there is exploding with growth, resulting in the district being filled with offices from tech giants like Amazon, Google, Blizzard Entertainment, and more. Given this, it’s also feasible to assume that Brian Forde being elected would be seen as favorable not just by the business leaders there, but also by the majority of the citizens there. He’s already attracted the support of some of the most powerful leaders in the Cryptocurrency space like the Winklevoss Twins of Gemini and various Crypto-VCs like Mike Novogratz.

His possible base of support doesn’t stop with tech businesses and tech employees, however. He’s also running as a Democrat in a district that’s historically elected Republicans to the House, but has recently begun to show signs of greater support for Democratic candidates including swinging Clinton’s way in the 2016 election. With this in mind, it’s reasonable to assume that he could be viewed as the candidate bringing change for the better, given that the area already greatly values overall innovation and a forward thinking attitude.

Rational Thinking and Regulations

Brian Forde wants to bring this forward thinking attitude to Congress, together with what he calls “the practice of scientific thinking over emotional thinking.”

To understand what he means by this, think about how our representatives, all across the US government, currently react to any sort of negative press that brings their actions into question. They don’t answer such attacks with facts.

They do the same thing and the cycle continues.

Forde proposes ending this cycle through promoting rational decision making in our government via looking at political issues like a scientist would look at a problem that he or she encountered in his or her research. All in all, this means that he believes extreme emotional responses have no place in politics.

In an interview with Bloomberg’s Emily Chang, Brian made his opinion clear, adding that any sort of political stance can and should be backed by data.

In the end, with this, the key question that he brings to light is one that many of us have been pondering for quite some time. Why are we electing officials that perpetuate this cycle of fighting between parties that leads to no actions being taken for the better of our country?

Why can’t we change things?

The easy answer is because money controls everything, including our leaders. If they don’t fight back in the traditional way, then they lose the support of the lobbyists who some argue are the true constituents that they serve. If Forde wants to cut the lobbyists out of the picture, at least somewhat, then he’ll have to bring a more well-rounded plan to the table.

The Importance of Fostering Innovation

In articulating the need for fostering innovation, Forde hopes to show that he already has such a plan. In the context of the AI and Crypto industries, Brian could be said to be the candidate who can articulate to the rest of Congress, why it’s important to foster innovation.

Tyler Winklevoss was quoted in Bloomberg as saying, “Brian understands the power of emerging technologies and how to foster and shape them in a way that has a positive impact on people and organizations.” With Forde’s background, this idea isn’t hard to grasp.

He’s been working with emergent technologies for his entire career and he’s been successful with them for his entire career.

Perhaps, even more importantly, with his experience in the White House as well as in working with the government at many different levels, it’s easy to see how he will be the sort of representative that all of us deserve. The best government officials know how to bridge the needs of the people with the needs of business, while at the same time doing so rationally and with the future in mind.

With AI and Crypto being defined by most as the industries that are developing in the most rapid ways, having effective lobbyists and government liaisons has become more important than ever. The problem is, they need to be more than up-to-date on how each industry is moving and where it is moving to.

Here’s to hoping that Brian can spread the word about the importance of data-driven, rational decision making as well as the need for the government to be well aware of what kind of future we are building. If he succeeds, we just might be able to stop dreading the possibility that the next mistake that our representatives make will be catastrophic for our safety.