“It almost seems like a natural progression for a man who gained prominence by shoveling out unfounded conspiracies to now shilling complex technology and financial instruments to an unsophisticated investing public,”
.. Bitcoin has been popular with the alt-right and nationalist communities because it has provided them with a way to receive online donations and evade restrictions put on them by banks and payment companies. PayPal and Apple Pay, for example, shut down the accounts of some right-wing groups last year.
.. Cryptocurrencies are also gaining mainstream interest. Goldman Sachs, where Mr. Bannon worked in the 1980s, recently said it was creating a Bitcoin trading operation. The parent company of the New York Stock Exchange has been looking at building an exchange for digital tokens. And Facebook has put top executives on a project exploring use of the technology.
.. Mr. Bannon is particularly interested in the possibility that countries could create coins tied to national wealth — an Italian coin tied to marble deposits in the country, for instance.
.. The company, Internet Gaming Entertainment, or IGE, brought on Mr. Bannon as vice chairman in 2005 to help Mr. Pierce expand the business and deal with legal threats.
.. Mr. Bannon credits the company with introducing him to the ranks of disaffected young men who gathered online around video games, and who became pillars of the alt-right movement.