Activity tagged "crypto"

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Trump is seeking to direct Americans' retirement funds to a sector in which he and his family are heavily invested.

“Donald Trump set to open US retirement market to crypto investments”.
Jamie John, Stephanie Stacey, and Antoine Gara in Financial Times.
Donald Trump is preparing to open the $9tn US retirement market to cryptocurrency investments, gold, and private equity in a move that would spur a radical shift in the way Americans’ savings are managed.
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The House has passed the GENIUS Act stablecoin bill, sending it to Trump's desk where he will sign it. They've also passed the CLARITY Act crypto market structure bill and the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act, both of which still need to go to the Senate.

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It's no coincidence that the Fairshake crypto super PAC has timed its press release announcing they have $140 million ready for the midterms as Congress is considering three crypto bills during "Crypto Week". Pass our bills, or we will spend millions against you in the midterms.

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A couple of years ago I wrote a tweet thread about how I'd begun to see people in the crypto and finreg spaces expressing excitement about the traceability of cryptocurrencies.

Thinking back to it as I watch Senators and crypto industry executives talk about how delightfully traceable public blockchains are. No pesky warrant required!

Molly White @molly0xFFF 1:33 PM · Feb 14, 2023 the past ~month or so i've suddenly started seeing a bunch of people in crypto and in the financial regulatory/enforcement world who are unironically excited about crypto because of the financial surveillance it could empower, and that scares the shit out of me the other day i was listening to a conversation about how "algorithms" could detect criminal activity occurring on public ledgers in real time to automatically alert law enforcement, or be programmed into the money itself to stop transactions. [Screenshot of a text message: "or I'm going to move to a cabin in the woods with a faraday cage built around it"] anyone know any good welders? i run into people somewhat regularly who think that because i don't like crypto, i support unfettered government/LEO surveillance of personal finances. like, no, that's part of WHY i don't like crypto
Senator Tim Scott: And let's set the record straight. Crypto isn't lawless, it's traceable. In fact, crypto companies are helping law enforcement track illicit activity with greater precision than traditional finance allows. Jonathan Levin, Chainalysis CEO: But the unprecedented visibility offered by the public blockchain has to be factored into the assessment of both activity and risk. With the right tools, the public ledger becomes a powerful resource for market participants, regulators, and law enforcement to protect financial integrity. ... Getting the right regulations in place will ... require the government to leverage the transparency and available real-time information for effective supervision. Senator Tim Scott: There's a common belief that money laundering is easy with crypto, but the truth is it's not. Blockchain technology creates a permanent traceable ledger that can help law enforcement catch those bad actors. I've said it before, so I'll say it again: It's far easier to track something that has a digital footprint than something that does not. Senator Britt: And transactions on the blockchain offer a unique ability for tracing and tracking, including analyzing trends on the ledger. Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple CEO: I think the good news has been in many cases they don't often understand how traceable and trackable that actually is and it's more trackable than, obviously, cash.
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Proposal: Make $WLFI Token Tradable General Jul 4 1m WLFI_Team 1d Summary This proposal is presented to solicit community input and formally initiate the tradability of the token. This would mark a major milestone in the development of the World Liberty Financial ecosystem and opens the door for broader community participation, access, and protocol development. ⸻ Proposal Objectives • Make $WLFI transferable, thereby enabling broader community access to governance participation, whether through peer to peer transactions or secondary markets • Transition the WLFI ecosystem from closed to open participation • Enable greater token utility access • Begin the next phase of community ownership and engagement • Align long-term token incentives with protocol adoption and success ⸻ Early Supporter Unlocking • A portion of WLFI supply was sold to early supporters • A portion of these tokens will be eligible to be unlocked upon launch of tradability • The remainder of the tokens will be subject to a second vote by the community to determine the unlock and release schedule • Founders, team, and advisor tokens will not be unlocked initially and will be subject to a longer unlock schedule than early supporters to demonstrate long-term commitment and alignment with the success of the protocol • Timing and any eligibility requirements for unlock to be determined subsequently.
Why Now? Over the last year, WLFI has made significant progress across product development, ecosystem partnerships, and brand awareness. With strong demand from community members and partners, many community members have said that the timing is right to make WLFI tradable and initiate this next chapter in our collective journey. ⸻ Governance & Community Role Following the vote to make the token tradable, WLFI’s governance framework will enable more token holders to participate directly in protocol decisions. This includes voting on emissions, ecosystem incentives, and future treasury actions. This proposal is the first step in handing greater influence to the community. ⸻ Next Steps (If Approved) • Execute and enable transferability • Initiate distribution for eligible early supporters • Begin community governance with a second vote on remaining unlocks • Continue ecosystem expansion and partner integrations ⸻ Voting Options • YES: Proceed with WLFI tradability • NO: Maintain current token non-transferability and closed network status ⸻ Final Note This is a defining moment for World Liberty Financial. The foundation has been laid, the community is growing, and we’re ready to move forward. Launching WLFI as a tradable token brings us one step closer to building a more open, transparent, and powerful financial system. Let’s build it together. — The WLFI Team

The team behind Trump's World Liberty Financial project has proposed lifting restrictions on the WLFI "governance token" to make it tradeable. I predicted shortly after its launch that if Trump succeeded in gutting the SEC, he would do this.

This would lift the substantial restrictions on the token (non-US or accredited investors only, locked tokens with no secondary sales) that were aimed at sidestepping attention from the previous SEC, and could be enormously lucrative for Trump.

It could also be enormously lucrative for early buyers like Justin Sun or the Emirati Aqua 1 Foundation, who hold $75 million and $100 million worth of WLFI, respectively.

Prior to the Trump administration, a token like this would likely have been considered an unregistered security by the SEC, and its sales illegal offerings.

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Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte: “After significant studying, and in keeping with President Trump’s vision to make the United States the crypto capital of the world, today I ordered the Great Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to prepare their businesses to count cryptocurrency as an asset for a mortgage” 

Order Issuing Directive to Consider Cryptocurrency as an Asset for Single-Family Loans Delivered to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac WHEREAS, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) maintain a pivotal role in the U.S. housing finance system by providing stability and liquidity to the secondary market for residential mortgages through prudent standards to help ensure sustainable, long-term homeownership. WHEREAS, cryptocurrency is an emerging asset class that may offer an opportunity to build wealth outside of the stock and bond markets. WHEREAS, cryptocurrency has not typically been considered in the mortgage risk assessment process for mortgage loans delivered to the Enterprises, without converting the cryptocurrency to U.S. dollars prior to loan closing. WHEREAS, U.S. Federal Housing FHFA has now determined that the consideration of additional borrower assets in the Enterprises' single-family mortgage loan risk assessments may enable the Enterprises to assess the full spectrum of asset information available for reserves and to facilitate sustainable homeownership to creditworthy borrowers. NOW THEREFORE, U.S. Federal Housing FHFA, as conservator, hereby directs each Enterprise to prepare a proposal for consideration of cryptocurrency as an asset for reserves in their respective single-family mortgage loan risk assessments, without conversion of said cryptocurrency to U.S. dollars. Each Enterprise is directed to consider only cryptocurrency assets that can be evidenced and stored on a U.S.-regulated centralized exchange subject to all applicable laws. Additionally, each Enterprise is directed to consider additional risk mitigants per their own assessment, including adjustments for market volatility and ensuring sufficient risk-based adjustments to the share of reserves comprised of cryptocurrency. Prior to implementing any changes, each Enterprise must submit and receive approval from its Board of Directors prior to submitting to U.S. Federal Housing FHFA for review. This Order is effective immediately and should be implemented as soon as reasonably practical.

Notably, at this point they are merely directed to “prepare a proposal for consideration”.

Also notable: “Each Enterprise is directed to consider only cryptocurrency assets that can be evidenced and stored on a U.S.-regulated centralized exchange”.

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To provide political cover for supporting the crypto industry’s legislative giveaway, group chat members suggested pro-crypto allies in the Democratic caucus could introduce symbolic anti-corruption amendments to the final bill prohibiting President Donald Trump and elected officials from profiting from cryptocurrencies knowing the effort would be “doa,” or dead on arrival, since the language would likely be voted down by Republicans.
– “Dems’ Crypto Schemers Have Entered The Chat”, The Lever
Tweet by Adam Schiff: Donald Trump and other senior administration officials have made a fortune off of crypto schemes. Today, I'm introducing the COIN Act to put a stop to this corruption in plain sight.

Less than a week ago Schiff voted for the GENIUS Act crypto bill, which Trump has urged Congress to pass.

“Dems' Crypto Schemers Have Entered The Chat”.
Freddy Brewster in The Lever.
A secret group chat reveals that Democratic strategists plan to support the pro-crypto GENIUS Act for political gain, despite acknowledging it's a Trump corruption giveaway.