* “Girl, I Guess” on Democratic Illinois comptroller candidate Lake County Treasurer Holly Kim…

There’s a lot to like about Kim, whose goofy nerdlery (she has a NERD ALERT on her website) and intense earnestness would normally set her up as the frontrunner for my endorsement. Unfortunately, Kim’s penchant for cryptocurrency, including a shady-on-paper exchange with campaign donor and constituent Mark Tan where she received a crypto contribution at an address registered to a business that Tan controls, only to make a crypto investment the next day at that same address in a memecoin that she and Tan created together, had me firing up my FOIA fingers to investigate the extent of her crypto ties. The $8,300 investment in CHKN Token, by the way, is worth only $.21 at the time of this writing, representing a loss of 99.998%.

Kim and several people around her that I trust explained what happened, insisting to me that the exchange was above board, that the donor did not profit, and that there is no quid-pro-quo here. For what it’s worth, I do believe them. But. Not only am I forcefully anti-crypto in any and all cases, I don’t think that someone who would make an investment that size into an unstable currency, no matter what the reason why, has 100% sound financial judgement. What’s more, someone who would use campaign funds to enter into this transaction with someone who is both their donor and business partner is displaying a shocking lack of political judgement. That is, unfortunately for Kim, disqualifying in my book.

* Chicago Tribune this morning…

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, a Democrat seeking to succeed Comptroller Susana Mendoza as the state’s chief fiscal officer, said the loss should not be viewed as a reflection of her ability to oversee Illinois’ finances. Instead, she 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.” […]

Kim’s campaign contribution loss has put a spotlight on cryptocurrencies in the battle for Illinois comptroller, one of the bigger statewide races in 2026 following Mendoza’s decision last year not to run for a fourth term. In addition to Kim’s issue with crypto, comptroller candidate Margaret Croke, a Democratic state representative from Chicago, introduced legislation years ago to benefit and regulate the crypto industry.

* The comptroller has no real control over Illinois investments. But any Democrats connected to crypto right now, including Kim and Croke, are gonna have to face the music…

Crypto Takes a Deep Slide Despite Trump’s Support

The price of Bitcoin is lower than it was the day before President Trump’s election. A leading cryptocurrency exchange is laying off a large chunk of its work force. And a push for industry-friendly legislation has stalled in Congress.

After months of declining prices and dispiriting setbacks, the crypto industry has found itself deep in one of its periodic slumps — a so-called crypto winter.

Bitcoin is trading at less than $64,000, a nearly 50 percent decline from its peak price, which it reached just last October. The prices of two other top coins, Ether and Solana, are both down more than 30 percent over the past week.

At the same time, the stock prices of major crypto firms have plummeted. Strategy, a company that buys enormous amounts of Bitcoin, is down 75 percent since November 2024, when Mr. Trump was newly elected and promised to make the United States “the crypto capital of the planet.” […]

The downturn is especially disappointing for the industry because it has come at a time when the White House is embracing crypto and promising to boost the industry in the United States. The plunging prices show how vulnerable Bitcoin remains to broader economic trends, like the pressures on the larger tech industry that have caused a marketwide sell-off in recent days.

Lots more in all of those stories.

Discuss.