General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMaxine Waters Is Sounding the Alarm on Trump's "Crypto Week"

As the Genius Act lands on the presidents desk, the California lawmaker says shes concerned that the rug will be pulled out from under the unsuspecting investors.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/the-california-lawmaker-sounding-the-alarm-on-trumps-crypto-week
https://archive.ph/Sk1bO

It was Crypto Week on Capitol Hill where the House of Representatives advanced a trio of Donald Trumpbacked bills, which established first-ever rules around stablecoins and could lend more legitimacy to the Wild West industry. It was a win for the industry, and for Republicans, who once again fell in line behind the president. The CLARITY Act, GENIUS Act, and Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act deliver on President Trumps vision to make crypto a core pillar of the US economy and ensure America remains the global leader in this dynamic industry, House Speaker Mike Johnson wrote on X on Thursday.
But Maxine Waters, ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, was less optimistic when I got her on the phone late Thursday evening after the bipartisan vote: They dont talk about the possible pitfalls, the 86-year-old told me, close to midnight in DC. In an interview, which has been lightly edited for clarity and length, the California Democrat discussed her fears about the industry-friendly legislation, sounded off on the presidents personal crypto ventures, and warned that lawmakers may have opened the door to another financial crisis. I do not think that Congress, Waters told me, should become an institution that falls prey to those who are able to spend tremendous resources in order to gain power and influence.
Vanity Fair: Whats your reaction to these crypto bills getting through?
Maxine Waters: My reaction is we fought a good fight to try and educate the members of Congress on the danger of moving forward with crypto bills without guardrails, without making sure we can protect the investors, without making sure Trump should not, as the president of the United States, be the owner of [a crypto company]. We did our job. We knew that the crypto industry was going to be very powerful with the resources that they have, and that they were going to be basically advancing their cause, without going into any detail. And so Im pleased that we did as well as we did.
What are some of your specific concerns?
Well, there are a number. For example, take Abu Dhabi$2 billion dollars to put into Binance. Trump will earn millions of interest on what he has connected with Abu Dhabi. [Editors note: The Trump-connected crypto venture World Liberty Financial this spring announced that an Abu Dhabi investment firm would use its stablecoin to make an investment in Binance.] Im worried that that is an example of foreign interests getting involved in the United States without oversight, without the kind of regulation that we would be able to control. So thats a big concern. Im concerned that the United States will, but should not have to, bail them out when there is failure if we dont have the right kind of regulation. Im concerned that the president has organized more power, in that he has said to all of the independent agencies, You cannot develop the kind of oversight in your agencies without coming to the White House and the Office of Management and Budget. I have to see what youre doing, and of course, control what youre doing. That is very dangerousto take away the power of independent agencies like the SEC. This is dangerous, not only not to have guardrails, but to further empower the president and his family to use the presidency to gain more wealth and put other investors in harms way.
snip
related:
The 18 Dem Senate Yeas are below as well
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220495075

vapor2
(2,720 posts)and a 5 alarm fire. Gutting every f**king benefit to us.
Democide. the killing of members of ac country's civilian population as a result of its government's policy, including by direct action, indifference and neglect
SleeplessinSoCal
(10,192 posts)And why have it at all, unless . . . .
https://coinbureau.com/guides/how-to-cash-out-crypto/
snot
(11,207 posts)I don't claim to completely understand either the bill or the issues, and I don't doubt that the regulations imposed should be carefully reviewed and strengthened.
On the other hand, I believe the bill would provide needed clarification and regulations re- some kinds of crypto investments, e.g. requiring reserves; and supposedly it creates a barrier against a central bank digital currency, which I regard as highly desirable and important.
Celerity
(50,958 posts)https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/elizabeth-warren-crypto-bill-genius-act-bad-idea-1235362570/
https://archive.ph/UFalO

The Senate is set to pass the GENIUS Act early next week, a controversial piece of cryptocurrency legislation that critics say will hand an undue amount of financial power to the tech industry. On its face the bill, which has advanced with bipartisan support, purports to offer a regulatory framework for the expansion of stablecoins, a form of crypto pegged to an existing, recognized asset in many cases the U.S. dollar. In reality, it could enable corruption, screw over taxpayers, and potentially destabilize the economy. The GENIUS Act would allow banks and private companies to issue stablecoins, essentially their own currencies, with light oversight from regulators. It mandates that issuers of stablecoins hold a reserve of the stable asset backing their cryptocurrency at all times, and that firms abide by certain anti-money laundering laws, as well as U.S. sanctions against foreign entities.
It sounds like a step in the right direction, but this piece of legislation is working its way through Congress as sitting President Donald Trump and his family build a cryptocurrency empire that steamrolls anti-corruption laws and ethical norms one they hope will flourish under the industry-friendly policies and laws created by the administration of the Trump patriarch. One of Trumps priorities has been the normalization of these so-called stablecoins a type of asset that his family is now hawking. Despite the moniker, stablecoins can be extremely unstable. A 2023 study published by the Bank for International Settlements found that of 60 stablecoins analyzed in their review, all of them had become de-pegged from their underlying asset at least once. The 2022 crypto crash was triggered by the failure of Terraform Labs Terra/Luna algorithmic stablecoin the collapse of which saw $45 billion erased in the span of a week.
The stablecoin bill comes as the government reorients its approach to crypto. Under the Biden administration, crypto kingpins began to feel the sting of consequences for schemes gone wrong. FTX crypto exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison after carrying out one of the largest financial scams since Enron. Tether, the largest stablecoin in crypto, settled a lawsuit brought against it by New York Attorney General Letitia James in 2021. Changpeng Zhao, the founder of the global crypto exchange Binance, pleaded guilty to money laundering in 2023. Trump pledged a new, friendlier regulatory environment in Washington and the crypto industry poured many millions into Super PACs to elect allies throughout Congress. Now, the industry has its moment to push through a public smokescreen of barely-there regulation, while continuing to rake in the cash.
No one has been more outspoken on the failings of the GENIUS Act than Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who told Rolling Stone ahead of key votes that the bill would create a superhighway for Donald Trumps corruption. The Trump familys cryptocurrency venture, World Liberty Financial which is currently being operated by his sons and Zach Witkoff, the son of Trumps Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff recently launched its own stablecoin, designated USD1, which is pegged to the U.S. dollar and backed by treasury bonds. The GENIUS Act would allow major tech companies, banks, and other financial institutions to issue their own stablecoins, and many are poised to buy Treasury bonds so they can back the digital currency with real assets, as is required. According to a report issued last week by ARK Invest, the stablecoin market may become one of the largest holders of U.S. debt in the coming years potentially tying large swaths of U.S. debt to a dubiously regulated and often unstable asset. (For example, if Tether the largest stablecoins in the market was a country, it would be the 18th-largest holder of U.S. debt in the world.)
snip
snot
(11,207 posts)or of any crypto product that involves either centralized control or inadequately-regulated intermediaries. And I believe Warren's better than most of our representatives on financial issues.
That said, Wall St. in general has been inadequately regulated since at least Pres. Clinton's tenure, when Glass-Steagall was repealed and the decision was made not to regulate credit derivatives imho, those two decisions alone made the Great Financial Crash of 2008 inevitable.
And Wall St. is still one of the biggest sources of funding for both Republican & Dem candidates, which is sure to make getting good financial regulation of crypto or anything else passed difficult.
But crypto isn't going away; and there are at least one or two versions that I see as more beneficial than not, such as Bitcoin held in a hard wallet.
We need good crypto regulation, but the Dems so far seem to have remained behind the curve in formulating it.
Celerity
(50,958 posts)
