Former Senior White House Staffer Joins Bitcoin Miner Bitfury

A former White House senior staffer has accepted a role at the best funded miner in bitcoin.

Jamie Elizabeth Smith, former deputy White House press secretary and special assistant to President Obama, has joined Bitfury as its global chief of communications. The miner has raised $60m in venture funding to date.

Prior to her roles at the White House, Smith worked at Edelman, a global public relations firm, and was also the director of public affairs for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. She also held senior communications roles at the Senate, for Hilary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign and at former secretary of state Madeleine Albright's consulting firm.

Speaking about her new venture in the crypto space, Smith said in a blog post:

"I believe in the blockchain and the transformation power of this technology. And you should too. In fact, I believe in the blockchain so much that I just left my fantastic job working for Edelman ... to take on the role of global chief of communications at BitFury."

"So, why would I leave this path to take my chances on the blockchain? And what is the blockchain anyway?" Smith wrote.

She elaborated:

"Simply put – the blockchain is an unalterable public ledger where every single bitcoin transaction is recorded, enabling peer-to-peer payments to be made without the need for a bank or other third-party".

Smith's appointment comes after her former colleague Brian Forde – who also held a senior advisory role at the White House – joined the Digital Currency Initiative at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab earlier this year.

BitFury's advisory board also includes former Commodity Futures Trading Commission chief James Newsome and a deputy assistant attorney general, Jason Weinstein. Smith is the first BitFury executive with significant government experience to have an operating role at the firm.

White House image via Shutterstock