Jeremy Kauffman (born September 19, 1984) is an American entrepreneur and

political activist A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some t ...

known for founding and leading

LBRY LBRY (), is a blockchain-based file-sharing and payment network that powers decentralized platforms, primarily social networks and video platforms. LBRY's creators also created Odysee, an open-source video-sharing website that uses the networ ...

. Kauffman is also known as a vocal supporter and activist within the

Free State Project The Free State Project (FSP) is an American political migration movement founded in 2001 to recruit at least 20,000 libertarians to move to a single low-population state (New Hampshire was selected in 2003) in order to make the state a stronghold ...

, a movement designed to get 20,000

libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

s to move to the state of

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

. Kauffman is also known for controversial tweets made on the

Libertarian Party of New Hampshire The Libertarian Party of New Hampshire (LPNH) is the New Hampshire affiliate of the national Libertarian Party (LP). Active since its foundation in 1972, it is the third-largest political party in the state having had multiple members elected ...

's official account. He was the Libertarian nominee in the

2022 United States Senate election in New Hampshire The 2022 United States Senate election in New Hampshire was held on November 8, 2022, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of New Hampshire. The primary elections were held on September 13, 2022. Incumbent first- ...

Early life

Kauffman was born on September 19, 1984 and grew up in

Manchester, New Hampshire Manchester is a city in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. It is the most populous city in New Hampshire. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 115,644. Manchester is, along with Nashua, one of two seats of New Hamp ...

. He earned two Bachelor of Science degrees in physics and computer science at

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...

Business career

Jeremy Kauffman was CEO of TopScore prior to formulating the idea for a version of

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

that would be decentralized in its construction and operation. The result of this idea for a media and video viewing platform that claimed to be fully decentralized was called LBRY (pronounced as "library"). LBRY was launched in 2015. When asked about the purpose of LBRY and Odysee, Kauffman stated that while the LBRY blockchain could be used in a 'Wild West' kind of way, the main goal of the platform was to provide people with choices for content. Following an open investigation by the SEC regarding the issuance of a

cryptocurrency A cryptocurrency, crypto-currency, or crypto is a digital currency designed to work as a medium of exchange through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. It i ...

token called "LBRY credit.", a federal judge in November 2022 ruled that LBC is legally a security that requires regulation by the SEC. Kauffman has not yet commented on whether he intends to appeal the decision or to settle with the SEC but has said the decision "threatens the entire U.S. cryptocurrency industry" by classifying "almost every cryptocurrency" as a security. Upon hearing that

Gary Gensler Gary Gensler (born October 18, 1957) is an American government official and former investment banker serving as the chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Gensler previously led the Presidential transition of Joe Biden, Biden–Ha ...

would be the head of the SEC, Kauffman was hopeful that an

M.I.T. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

professor who specialized in cryptocurrency would be fair to the new industry and to not be "a complete sociopath."

Odysee LBRY (), is a blockchain-based file-sharing and payment network that powers decentralized platforms, primarily social networks and video platforms. LBRY's creators also created Odysee, an open-source video-sharing website that uses the network, ...

, an open-source video-sharing website that uses the LBRY network, was also founded by Kauffman in 2020. While Kauffman has indicated that he would remove content from the Odysee platform that courts deem to be illegal, he has signaled support for the practice of putting 3D on the website by sharing a 3D gun blueprint file from his personal Twitter account.

Political activity

In 2018, Kauffman joined the board of directors of the non-profit, the

. Kauffman believes that the Free State Project is the most effective way for libertarians to achieve "liberty in our lifetimes" and has debated this assertion in a public forum. Kauffman is also a member of the

Libertarian Party Active parties by country Defunct parties by country Organizations associated with Libertarian parties See also * Liberal parties by country * List of libertarian organizations * Lists of political parties * Outline of libertarianism ...

Mises Caucus The Libertarian Party Mises Caucus (LPMC) is a caucus within the United States Libertarian Party that promotes paleolibertarianism and a more radical version of libertarianism associated with the presidential campaigns of Ron Paul. It was found ...

. In April 2021, Kauffman was given access to

(LPNH)'s official

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account soon after the state party was taken over by the Mises Caucus. Kauffman later made tweets on the LPNH account that received controversy, such as calling for child labor to be legalized, saying "All Republicans do about

wokeness ''Woke'' ( ) is an adjective derived from African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) meaning "alert to racial prejudice and discrimination". Beginning in the 2010s, it came to encompass a broader awareness of social inequalities such as sexi ...

is whine. Libertarians have solutions; repeal the Civil Rights Act f 1964, and re-opening

Gitmo Guantanamo Bay Naval Base ( es, Base Naval de la Bahía de Guantánamo), officially known as Naval Station Guantanamo Bay or NSGB, (also called GTMO, pronounced Gitmo as jargon by members of the U.S. military) is a United States military bas ...

"so that

Anthony Fauci Anthony Stephen Fauci (; born December 24, 1940) is an American physician-scientist and immunologist serving as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the chief medical advisor to the president. ...

and every governor that locked their state down can be sent there, never again to be allowed inside of the United States". The pro-child labor tweet specifically received pushback from 2012 and 2016 Libertarian presidential nominee

Gary Johnson Gary Earl Johnson (born January 1, 1953) is an American businessman, author, and politician. He served as the 29th governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003 as a member of the Republican Party. He was the Libertarian Party nominee for Presid ...

, saying "This isn't what libertarianism means to millions of Americans". The tweets later partly resulted in the resignation of the national Libertarian Party leader Joe-Bishop Henchman. Kauffman defended his actions by saying the tweets were good for libertarians, and accused national party leadership of being "woke neoliberal globalists". As of June 2022, Kauffman is running for

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

as a

Libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

in New Hampshire. In response to a question as to why he was running for office, he replied, "I'm the only one running that will actually make the government smaller". Among his key campaign issues are "abolishing the Federal Reserve, the Internal Revenue Service and child-labor laws", "making sure the lockdowns and restrictions can't happen again" and committing "to end the drug war". In an

NHPR New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR) is the National Public Radio member network serving the state of New Hampshire. NHPR is based in Concord and operates eight transmitters and six translators covering nearly the whole state, as well as portions of ...

interview, Kauffman stated that he wanted "less democracy," elaborating that he does not want people in California and New York voting on his life in New Hampshire and that it is permissible to "let states disagree" under the U.S. system of

federalism Federalism is a combined or compound mode of government that combines a general government (the central or "federal" government) with regional governments (Province, provincial, State (sub-national), state, Canton (administrative division), can ...

. While some polls initially indicated that Kauffman's run would have a

vote splitting Vote splitting is an electoral effect in which the distribution of votes among multiple similar candidates reduces the chance of winning for any of the similar candidates, and increases the chance of winning for a dissimilar candidate. Vote spl ...

effect between

Maggie Hassan Margaret Coldwell Hassan (; née Wood; born February 27, 1958) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States senator from New Hampshire. A Democrat, Hassan was elected to the Senate in 2016 while serving as the 81st go ...

and

Don Bolduc Donald C. Bolduc (born May 8, 1962) is an American retired United States Army Brigadier general (United States), brigadier general. The Republican nominee in the 2022 United States Senate election in New Hampshire, he lost to incumbent Democrati ...

, Hassan beat Bolduc by nearly 10% with Kauffman receiving 2% of the total vote.

Personal life

Kauffman has three children with his wife Rachel.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kauffman, Jeremy 1984 births Candidates in the 2022 United States Senate elections Living people American company founders New Hampshire Libertarians