Activity tagged "crypto"

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Issue 110 – The Clarity Act collapses

Senator Gillibrand votes “no” on the motion to invoke cloture for the Clarity Act

Regulators race to reassure the crypto industry as the industry’s flagship legislation collapses, SBF tries his luck with the Supreme Court, and crypto PACs unleash $30 million against Sherrod Brown

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The Clarity Act cloture vote has failed by a 49–50 margin; well short of the 60 votes needed. No Democrats crossed over to vote for the bill, and three Republicans voted against.

Senator Collins’ (R-ME) NO vote on Clarity was the most surprising today. She was defending the bill to constituents as recently as last week. My guess is she did not believe the bill had a chance to pass, and was more worried about defending a yes vote as her re-election prospects look slimmer.

Thank you for contacting me to share your concerns about the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025.I appreciate your taking the time to do so.The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025 was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on July 17, 2025, and a companion bill in the Senate received bipartisan approval from the Senate Banking Committee on May 14, 2026, advancing toward a full Senate vote. Both bills seek to create a regulatory framework for digital commodities, prohibit the Federal Reserve banks from offering certain services directly to individuals, and forbid the use of central bank digital currency.Proponents believe that the bills create a clear regulatory framework for digital assets, the rules and regulations of which are currently determined by a series of regulatory actions and court decisions.I recognize the need to provide regulatory clarity with how the digital assets should be treated by regulatory authorities.Any actions taken should be for the benefit of the general public and strengthen the overall health of our regulatory system.Congress first addressed digital assets with the GENIUS Act, passed by the Senate and subsequently signed into law by the President on July 18, 2025. The new law provides clarity on stablecoins, a particular type of digital asset.After the bipartisan passage of the GENIUS Act, members of the House and Senate have expressed interest in further addressing digital assets, including cryptocurrency. As the Senate continues to work on digital asset market structure legislation, I will keep your perspective in mind.Again, thank you for contacting me.Sincerely,Susan M. CollinsUnited States Senator

Senators Hawley (R-MO) and Moran (R-KS), neither of whom are up for re-election, were the other NOs. They had already pledged to vote against the previous version of the bill, citing concerns from farmers over loan availability from local banks competing with stablecoins.

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The Senate must reject the Clarity Act’s ethics charade

Senator Cynthia Lummis speaks into a microphone on a stage, holding up a paper

The supposedly “unprecedented” ethics restrictions exempt Trump’s crypto businesses and leave enforcement to his loyalists

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Issue 109 – Reg Crypto

A screenshot of a Trump press conference where he is flanked by crypto executives. Boxes around the border show who they are and how much they’ve contributed to his campaign.

The SEC’s “Reg Crypto” aims to carve out exemptions, the CFTC wields emergency powers to shield prediction markets from state regulators, and a Trump family crypto firm gets a bank charter

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Spotted in Coinbase’s most recent 10-Q: Coinbase has stopped using trading volume as a key metric, which is I’m sure completely unrelated to the 38%/48% decrease in spot trading volume they reported over the past three/six months

Beginning in the second quarter of 2026, we no longer include Trading Volume as a key metric. As our business has evolved to support multiple asset classes, we believe the prior Trading Volume metric which focused on spot crypto volume no longer reflects the breadth of our business. Additionally, we do not believe that a total trading volume metric would fully represent the business given the differences in economics across our diversified trading products. We believe that net income (loss) and Adjusted EBITDA best reflect the financial health of our business, and we believe that metrics focused on users and assets are better operational indicators as they measure the trust customers place in Coinbase and our ability to attract and retain users. See the section titled Non-GAAP and Other Measures for definitions of Adjusted EBITDA, AOP, and MTUs, as well as a reconciliation of net income (loss) to Adjusted EBITDA.

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Issue 108 – In a word, applesauce

A spoon lifting a spoonful of applesauce from a glass bowl

Firms close up shop amid a continued crypto winter, a Trump venture ditches its crypto plans, and the Clarity Act fails to reach a vote before August recess

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This article is a great deep dive into some of the shady characters behind World Liberty Financial — Justin Sun among them, despite his recent efforts to distance himself from the project. (He likely hoped this interview would help, and it is a little friendly, but rightly points out his shadiness.)

Published an issue of Citation Needed:

Issue 107 – An unserious offer

Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) speaks at a podium labeled with “Stop Trump’s Crypto Corruption”. Behind him stands Senator Van Hollen (D-MD) and a group of other people.

The crypto industry has spent $200 million to get a bill too corrupt for Democrats to pass and a president too corrupt to sign anything that might meaningfully limit his grift.

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Just had to patch a bug on the Tech Influence Watch Michigan House District 13 election page, stemming from Shri Thanedar reporting -$1.1 million in receipts.

Why is Thanedar reporting negative receipts? He put $3.7 million of campaign funds into crypto.

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fascinating economic discovery from Fidelity: houses actually are cheaper now than in 2020!*

* if you denominate them in an arbitrary asset that has appreciated over that time frame

The average U.S. home has appreciated by over $100,000 since 2020, reflecting the broader inflationary environment across fiat-denominated assets. However, when priced in bitcoin, the average home has declined significantly in value, becoming approximately 10 times less expensive over the same period. This divergence raises a key question: Is housing becoming more expensive, or is the purchasing power of fiat currency steadily eroding?

Chart showing average home prices in dollars from 2020–2026 (rising about $100k over that period), and on the second axis the price in bitcoin (dropping by about 50BTC)

next up from Fidelity: groceries aren't getting more expensive**

** if you denominate their price in World of Warcraft gold

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