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Obama Campaign Strategist David Plouffe Joins Coinbase Advisory Council

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In brief

  • David Plouffe, architect of Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign and former adviser to Kamala Harris, has joined Coinbase’s Global Advisory Council, deepening the exchange’s bipartisan strategy amid mounting crypto legislation in Washington.
  • Plouffe joins Trump’s former campaign manager Chris LaCivita and other high-profile political figures in the advisory council.
  • Speaking at Coinbase’s summit, Plouffe called crypto holders “politically competitive” swing voters, as the industry ramps up political spending and influence ahead of key regulatory decisions.

David Plouffe, the Democratic strategist behind Barack Obama’s historic 2008 presidential victory, has joined Coinbase’s Global Advisory Council, marking the latest bipartisan power play by the crypto giant to secure political influence in Washington.

The appointment, announced Thursday at Coinbase’s State of Crypto Summit in New York, adds another high-profile political strategist to the exchange’s expanding roster of advisors.

Not only was @davidplouffe the architect of President Obama’s wins in 2008 and 2012, he helped @Uber navigate an unprecedented era of regulatory expansion. We’re thrilled to have him join the @coinbase Global Advisory and our SOC Summit today. https://t.co/HkbFkDPssk

— paulgrewal.eth (@iampaulgrewal) June 12, 2025

Plouffe, who most recently served as a senior adviser to Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign, joins Donald Trump’s former co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita, who joined the council in January following the presidential inauguration.

Plouffe’s addition points to Coinbase’s strategic effort to maintain bipartisan appeal as the industry pushes for favorable legislation under the Trump administration.

“Crypto speaks directly to how people want to live their financial lives – faster and cheaper, with fewer gatekeepers,” Plouffe said in Coinbase’s announcement. “It reflects the desires of today’s customers and voters alike. Policymakers who understand that shift will be positioned to lead; those who ignore it risk being left behind.”

Plouffe brings decades of experience at the intersection of government, public policy, and technology.

Beyond his role as Obama’s campaign architect, he served as a White House Senior Advisor and later led global policy and strategy at Uber during its international expansion.

His addition to the Coinbase GAC comes as Congress moves with unusual speed on crypto-friendly legislation.

On Wednesday, Democrats joined Republicans to advance stablecoin regulation, the Genius Act, with final Senate passage expected next week.

A broader crypto market structure bill is also advancing through House committees.

“David joining GAC comes on the heels of one of the biggest legislative moments for crypto in U.S. history,” said Faryar Shirzad, Coinbase’s Chief Policy Officer. “He understands how to build broad coalitions and drive forward-looking policy.”

Crypto swing voters

Speaking at Thursday’s summit, both Plouffe and LaCivita detailed their campaigns’ efforts to court “crypto voters” in 2024.

The crypto industry spent over $130 million on congressional races, with Coinbase serving as the largest contributor to the industry’s super PAC, as per a New York Times report.

“The folks who own crypto are pretty politically competitive,” Plouffe told AP News. “These are not MAGA voters. They are swing voters. Lean a little Democratic, certainly lean a lot younger.”

LaCivita credited the crypto issue with helping Trump reach new demographics, particularly younger and Black voters.

“It gave us an opportunity to establish common ground with an area and a demographic that we need expand in in order to be successful,” he said.

The Global Advisory Council now includes former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, former Senators Patrick Toomey and Kyrsten Sinema, the UK’s former Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, and other prominent figures.

Trump, who addressed the conference via video, called it “a really big honor” to be deemed the “first crypto president.”

His administration has already begun rolling back Biden-era crypto restrictions, including guidance that discouraged crypto investments in retirement accounts.

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Black Ops 7 is a sequel to Black Ops 2, and it's bringing co-op campaign back to Call of Duty
Game Updates

Black Ops 7 is a sequel to Black Ops 2, and it’s bringing co-op campaign back to Call of Duty

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Xbox couldn’t end its summer Games Showcase without teasing the next Call of Duty, which, just like rumours and reports have long suggested, is a Black Ops sequel. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is the first consecutive release within the Black Ops series, and it arrives later this year.

Also as expected, the game will be released on last-gen consoles (PS4, and Xbox One) alongside PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. No release date has been announced, but we are going to learn more later this summer.

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Treyarch, and Raven Software once again return to co-develop the game, which is essentially a Black Ops 2 sequel – though it also follows on from the events of Black Ops 6. The headline feature this time around is the ability to play the campaign in co-op, which we’ve not seen since Black Ops 3 a decade ago.

Black Ops 4 did not have a campaign at all, but reports at the time strongly suggested that an ambitious co-op campaign with open maps was in the works, before it got scrapped to make the game’s release date.

As for the trailer, it was the ‘one more thing’ shown at the Xbox Games Showcase. Only the sharpest of Black Ops fans would’ve figured out that it was David Mason being shown exploring some sort of robotics facility – but not everything is as seems. Just like every Black Ops game, Black Ops 7’s narrative will incorporate some mind-bending elements, and we certainly do some of that in the footage.

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The story takes place in 2035, a decade after the events of Black Ops 2. Psychological warfare is the name of the game, and the villan (Menendez) is a manipulator who uses cutting-edge tech to weaponise fear against their enemies.

Black Ops 7 is also bringing back round-based Zombies. As for multiplayer, expect near-future weaponry and a host of new maps – which really makes it a BO2 sequel. A full reveal will take place “later this summer,” but the teams want players to get more time out of Black Ops 6 and Warzone before everyone’s focus shifts to the new game.

Black Ops 7 is a day-one Game Pass game, available at no extra cost to Ultimate, and PC Game Pass members.



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New Pathologic 3 trailer gives us a look at the Bachelor’s campaign
Game Updates

New Pathologic 3 trailer gives us a look at the Bachelor’s campaign

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Moscow-based developer Ice-Pick Lodge has provided players with an in-depth glimpse at its upcoming RPG, Pathologic 3, via a new trailer. Pathologic 3 is the latest chapter of the reimagined version of Ice-Pick Lodge’s 2005 classic, Pathologic.

The trailer follows protagonist Daniil Dankovsky (often referred to in-game as The Bachelor), a well-educated doctor who travels from his home in the city to a remote village with a horrifying secret. Set in the steppes of Western Russia in the late 1800s, Pathologic 3 will follow Dankovsky’s desperate attempts to find the cure for a plague that seems to be supernatural in origin.

One major departure from Pathologic 2 is Pathologic 3’s focus on time. Just like previous iterations of the game, players only have 12 days to cure the plague and save (or not save) the town. But Pathologic 3 also includes a new feature: time-jumping.

“Time jumps and temporal experimentation are the game’s core mechanic and the defining twist of Pathologic 3,” Ice-Pick Lodge said in a recent press release. “They chart the journey from a hostage of circumstance to someone trying to assemble the perfect puzzle of events — piecing the world into a single riddle and becoming something greater.”

When players encounter an unexpected problem (or simply make a mistake), they can rewind time and try again. But time travel comes at a cost. To get a “do-over,” players must spend a rare resource known as Amalgam, which can be obtained by completing critical quests, putting irrevocably sick townspeople out of their misery, and — rather oddly — shattering mirrors.

Dankovsky must work against the clock to diagnose and treat patients, all while navigating interpersonal issues amongst the town’s inhabitants, who range from distrustful and shy to downright rude and dishonest. Ultimately, his goal is to keep as many NPCs alive as possible and find (or create) a panacea that will end the plague for good.

Dankovsky can also make town-wide decrees. Image: Ice-Pick Lodge via Polygon

Pathologic 3 serves as an updated version of Ice-Pick Lodge’s obscure 2005 cult classic, Pathologic. Despite the game’s title designating it the third entry in the series, Pathologic 3 is actually the second chapter of the story. The original Pathologic — which gained popularity in both the West and its home country of Russia — told the story of three characters: The Bachelor, The Haruspex, and The Changeling. After releasing a bug-free, well-translated version of the original game (Pathologic Classic HD), the studio partnered with TinyBuild and began work on Pathologic 2.

Launching in May 2019, Pathologic 2 was meant to be an updated version of the original game that would be more accessible to Western audiences. It launched with just one protagonist’s storyline available (The Haruspex), but Ice-Pick Lodge confirmed that The Bachelor and The Changeling’s campaigns would be added at a later date via a game update. Just like the original Pathologic, the sequel was initially meant to include all three protagonists’ storylines, but the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and the sanctions that followed it eventually caused a major disruption in the Russian-based studio’s development of Pathologic 2.

After partnering with a new publisher (Hypetrain Digital), work on The Bachelor’s campaign began, but because the studio had a new publisher, his campaign couldn’t be added to Pathologic 2 via a patch or game update — hence why the upcoming second chapter in Pathologic’s revival is called Pathologic 3. Ice-Pick Lodge has yet to announce a release date for Pathologic 3, but the studio has suggested that the game will launch on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X sometime in 2025. It’s currently available to wishlist on Steam.





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Microsoft Surface Laptop and Surface Pro devices on a table.
Gaming Gear

Can’t upgrade your laptop to Windows 11? Asus joins Microsoft’s campaign urging you to buy a new Copilot+ PC, and I’m not sure that’s wise

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  • Asus is trying to persuade those who can’t upgrade their Windows 10 laptop to switch to a Copilot+ PC
  • This is ignoring concerns about millions of PCs heading to the scrapheap because of Windows 11’s spec requirements
  • Asus is also overselling the abilities of Copilot+ PCs, which just aren’t that impressive overall – not yet, anyway

For some time, Microsoft has been urging folks with a Windows 10 PC that can’t upgrade to Windows 11 that they should buy a new computer, preferably a Copilot+ PC – and Asus is now playing that same tune.

Windows Latest noticed a post from Asus about why now’s the time to switch to Windows 11, and to consider upgrading to a Copilot+ device (from Asus, naturally).

This is aimed at folks who are in the unfortunate situation where their Windows 10 laptop is too old to support the stricter hardware requirements of Windows 11, and so they can’t upgrade. Notebooks with older CPUs are left out in the cold, of course, as you can’t switch out those parts like you can with a desktop PC.


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Asus reminds us that Windows 10 runs out of support in October 2025, which is rapidly approaching, and that you shouldn’t run an OS without security updates, which is certainly true.

The laptop maker then moves on to persuade us that what everyone in this situation needs is a new Windows 11 notebook, and that what makes these devices different is one word: Copilot.

Moreover, Asus argues: “But here’s where it gets even better: with Copilot+ PCs, Windows 11 takes the AI experience to a whole new level. These devices are equipped with an NPU – a dedicated AI processor, specifically designed to handle AI tasks locally, making your experience smoother, faster, and more secure.

“If your current laptop isn’t up to snuff for Windows 11 or Copilot+, this is the perfect time to upgrade to a device that’s built for it.”

Thereafter follows a series of plugs for Asus Vivobook models, Copilot+ PCs with both Snapdragon (Arm-based) and traditional Intel processors.

(Image credit: Photo by Tom Fisk via Pexels)

Analysis: Landfill woes and unwise overselling

The problem with these marketing campaigns, which are nudging people to simply dump their Windows 10 PC, is that this isn’t a very green-friendly perspective to serve up.

Going way back, there have been alarm bells rung about potentially towering piles of scrapped PCs heading to landfills later this year, thanks to Microsoft’s policy of enforcing steeper system requirements with Windows 11. If it wasn’t for some of those – generally security-related – measures, those folks could upgrade to the newer OS just fine and keep their current laptop (or indeed desktop PC).

So, when companies like Microsoft and now Asus push the benefits of throwing out old hardware for a shiny new Copilot+ PC, you can see why this frustrates organizations that are working to promote eco-friendliness in one way or another.

At any rate, if your laptop isn’t compatible with Windows 11, is it really ready for the bin when October 2025 and the End of Life for Windows 10 rolls around? Of course not – one option is that you can pay to extend support for a year.

That’s a choice Microsoft has provided for consumers for the first time ever, actually, likely to placate those with the aforementioned environmental concerns – though it’d be good if this support could be extended even further. (It can be for businesses, but we don’t know if that’ll be the case for everyday users).

Another option is switching to Linux, of course, as has been highlighted recently.

The other problem with the argument Asus presents here (and Microsoft is guilty of this too) is that it’s overselling the ability of Copilot+ PCs. While there are some impressive powers for these devices – like improved (natural language) Windows 11 search, and the same search trick in Settings too – most of the AI exclusives for Copilot+ devices aren’t overly compelling (Recall included right now).

While Copilot+ laptops may eventually take your Windows 11 computing experience to ‘another level’ as Asus mentions in its blurb, we definitely aren’t there yet. This is marketing fluff, essentially, and while that’s hardly unexpected, companies need to be careful about how they’re framing these kinds of posts, given the environmental concerns in play here.

No, you can’t keep your PC running forever, but Microsoft and its partners need to be more thoughtful about the state of tech landfill and our planet. And I’d really like to see Microsoft confirm extended support for updates to consumers for more than just a year, without making that additional time prohibitively expensive.

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A Hacker May Have Deepfaked Trump’s Chief of Staff in a Phishing Campaign
Gaming Gear

A Hacker May Have Deepfaked Trump’s Chief of Staff in a Phishing Campaign

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For years, a mysterious figure who goes by the handle Stern led the Trickbot ransomware gang and evaded identification—even as other members of the group were outed in leaks and unmasked. This week German authorities revealed, without much fanfare, who they believe that enigmatic hacker kingpin to be: Vi­ta­ly Ni­ko­lae­vich Kovalev, a 36-year-old Russian man who remains at large in his home country.

Closer to home, WIRED revealed that Customs and Border Protection has mouth-swabbed 133,000 migrant children and teenagers to collect their DNA and uploaded their genetic data into a national criminal database used by local, state, and federal law enforcement. As the Trump administration’s migrant crackdown continues, often justified through invocations of crime and terrorism, WIRED also uncovered evidence that ties a Swedish far-right mixed-martial-arts tournament to an American neo-Nazi “fight club” based in California.

For those seeking to evade the US government surveillance, we offered tips about more private alternatives to US-based web browsing, email, and search tools. And we assembled a more general guide to protecting yourself from surveillance and hacking, based on questions our senior writer Matt Burgess received in a Reddit Ask Me Anything.

But that’s not all. Each week, we round up the security and privacy news we didn’t cover in depth ourselves. Click the headlines to read the full stories. And stay safe out there.

The FBI is investigating who impersonated Susie Wiles, the Trump White House’s chief of staff and one of the president’s closest advisers, in a series of fraudulent messages and calls to high-profile Republican political figures and business executives, The Wall Street Journal reported. Government officials and authorities involved in the probe say the spear-phishing messages and calls appear to have targeted individuals on Wiles’ contact list, and Wiles has reportedly told colleagues that her personal phone was hacked to gain access to those contacts.

Despite Wiles’ reported claim of having her device hacked, it remains unconfirmed whether this was actually how attackers identified Wiles’ associates. It would also be possible to assemble such a target list from a combination of publicly available information and data sold by gray-market brokers.

“It’s an embarrassing level of security awareness. You cannot convince me they actually did their security trainings,” says Jake Williams, a former NSA hacker and vice president of research and development at Hunter Strategy. “This is the type of garden-variety social engineering that everyone can end up dealing with these days, and certainly top government officials should be expecting it.”

In some cases, the targets received not just text messages but phone calls that impersonated Wiles’ voice, and some government officials believe the calls may have used artificial intelligence tools to fake Wiles’ voice. If so, that would make the incident one of the most significant cases yet of so-called deepfake software being used in a phishing attempt.

It’s not yet clear how Wiles’ phone might have been hacked, but the FBI has ruled out involvement by a foreign nation in the impersonation campaign, the bureau reportedly told White House officials. In fact, while some of the impersonation attempts appeared to have political goals—a member of Congress, for instance, was asked to assemble a list of people Trump might pardon—in at least one other case the impersonator tried to trick a target into setting up a cash transfer. That attempt at a money grab suggests that the spoofing campaign may be less of an espionage operation than a run-of-the-mill cybercriminal fraud scheme, albeit one with a very high-level target.



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Ripple Did Not Fund Anti-Bitcoin Campaign, Larsen Says
Crypto Trends

Ripple Did Not Fund Anti-Bitcoin Campaign, Larsen Says

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Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen has clarified that the San Francisco-based enterprise blockchain company did not actually fund the “Change the Code” campaign.  

As reported by U.Today, Larsen joined forces with Greenpeace, a famous environmental organization, in order to pressure the Bitcoin community to drop the proof-of-work (PoW) consensus algorithm. 

In his most recent post, Larsen stated that Bitcoin had experienced a “remarkable” energy transition. He has noted that mining now mainly relies on renewable sources such as hydropower, nuclear, and wind, based on a recent study conducted by the University of Cambridge.

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In addition, flared gas, which would otherwise be wasted, is also used for powering Bitcoin.  

As reported by U.Today, Ripple recently faced some backlash from Bitcoin proponents after donating the infamous “Satoshi Skull” statue to the world’s largest museum dedicated to the largest cryptocurrency. 

Some, however, recalled the aggressive anti-Bitcoin ad campaign funded by Larsen.  

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse also previously criticized Bitcoin for consuming too much power. As reported by U.Today, he previously described PoW mining as “massive waste.” 

Moreover, some have noted that the website that urged Bitcoins to move away from proof-of-work is still up despite Larson’s statement.    



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Star Wars Battlefront 2 lives, as a massive community return campaign results in a new Steam player record
Game Reviews

Star Wars Battlefront 2 lives, as a massive community return campaign results in a new Steam player record

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Star Wars Battlefront II has been granted a new lease of life. With a community-led effort to storm back into a war-torn galaxy, far, far away, players have flocked back to EA’s sci-fi shooter in great numbers, breaking concurrent player records on Steam.

Prior to this event, the game was seeing an average peak player count of around 1,000 users each today according to SteamDB. However, starting May 4 (Star Wars day), this number started to climb drastically. It first hit a peak of 5,583 players, then continued to climb throughout the month, eventually peaking yesterday at 18,635 concurrent Star Wars fans.

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Battlefront II launched back in 2017 to mixed reception, thanks in part to a horrid microtransaction model. However in the years since, the game has shaped up quite nicely! Foregoing the aspects many found distasteful at first, it proved ripe for a rigorous return to a collective of gamers hungry for some widescale PvP action.

All in all, it’s a pretty lovely moment in the history of the series. People are flocking to social media to show off the game in all its wackiness, as well as its capacity to create cinematic moments. Take this post, from user Alej on Twitter, which shows a small snippet of the game in action. Fast-paced gameplay with ships flying all over the gaff, kicking up dust and laying down aerial barrages. It is still a great game, and dare I say, offers a salve to other games out there without the years of content and solid backbone.

Are you playing Battlefront II right now? Let us know below!



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