The defeat of Republicans in Georgia
Democratic candidate Raphael Warnock will become the first Black U.S. senator in the state of Georgia, winning against Kelly Loeffler in a tight election.
Loeffler, who was the CEO of Bakkt until her appointment to Congress, is the Republican candidate for the Georgia Senate elections. She worked as an integral part of Bakkt since the company was established in 2018.
Bakkt is a cryptocurrency futures exchange company founded by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). Loeffler’s spouse, Jeffrey Sprecher, is the current CEO of ICE, having preceded Loeffler as the first CEO of Bakkt. It is also noteworthy that ICE owns the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), currently the world’s largest stock exchange in terms of market capitalization.
Loeffler Transferred Millions in Stockholdings
The Republicans drove an aggressive campaign against Warnock, with Kelly and her GOPs portraying him as an extreme left wing radical, who undervalues the military forces and reveres communist dictators. This was hit back by the Democrats as they highlighted Loeffler’s financial controversy.
In March 2020, The Daily Beast reported that along with her husband, Kelly Loeffler sold about $1.3 million and $3.2 million in stockholdings. The report claimed that this action was taken post receiving a private Senate briefing about the outbreak of coronavirus within the U.S. in January.
However, these claims were revoked when ICE stated that these transactions were made independently after potential market review from their respective financial advisors.
Betting in the Crypto Industry
High stakes were set on Democrats winning the Georgia Senate elections by crypto-powered prediction markets, wherein Polymarket, a betting platform, anticipated Warnock’s win against Loeffler, and FTX, another cryptocurrency derivatives exchange, predicted the win for Democrats as well.
Polymarket has especially seen the trading volume increase exponentially on its platform due to the 2020 elections.
Fight to Overturn Biden’s Victory
Both Loeffler and Trump have aligning views when it comes to the age-old tradition of conceding post losing elections. The latter has stubbornly refused to concede since losing to Joe Biden in November 2020, in the Presidential Elections, and has claimed that the elections have been rigged in favor of the Democrats.
