Trump crypto ventures invade House market structure hearings

Coin Geek

2 days ago

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Congress is trying to discuss digital asset legislation but keeps getting derailed by President Donald Trump's endless parade of crypto ventures—even the ones he claims not to be involved with.
On June 4, the House of Representatives held not one but two committee hearings on the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, the update to the FIT21 market structure bill that the House passed last year but the Senate failed to take up before Congress adjourned for the 2024 election.
CLARITY aims to clearly demarcate which assets/activities will be overseen by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). CLARITY aims to hand the bulk of that responsibility to the CFTC, but since the two regulators report to two different House committees, two simultaneous hearings were required to get this ball rolling.
The hearings generated controversy even before they got underway, as staff for Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee (FSC) raised a ruckus the day before the hearings. The staffers accused the SEC of sharing its written analysis of CLARITY with Republicans but not with Democrats, politicizing what was previously a purely technical process.
The Dem staffers further alleged that SEC officials refused to answer certain questions during a 'truly infuriating' phone call last week, with the SEC reportedly claiming the information was privileged. The Dems added that it appeared that the SEC staff on the call didn't understand aspects of the bill, nor had they bothered to read questions submitted by the staffers in advance of the call.
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), the FSC's ranking member, later sent a letter to newly confirmed SEC chair Paul Atkins requesting 'fulsome answers' to Dems' CLARITY questions. Aside from demarcating crypto oversight, the Dems are concerned that CLARITY could have unforeseen impact on the broader securities market, so they want to know more before it comes up for a vote.
Hearings resolve little
Given the preamble, Wednesday's FSC hearing was an at-times combative affair, with Dems—particularly Waters—raising the impropriety of Trump's various crypto ventures at every opportunity.
Republicans mostly steered clear of any Trump talk, although Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) went full scorched earth, calling Dems' corruption claims a 'red herring' and accusing them of being 'so obsessed with their political hatred of the President' that they're mounting a 'baseless, politically motivated attack' against him.
The invited witnesses largely echoed GOP talking points regarding the urgent need to bring 'regulatory clarity' to the digital asset sector. Ex-CFTC Chair Timothy Massad, a regular on these types of panels, struck a different note, asking the committee to 'step back and consider what we are trying to build' with this legislation rather than simply ask, 'what do we need to do to make it easier for people to invest in this technology?'
The day's other hearing was hosted by the House Agriculture Committee, with ranking member Angie Craig (D-MN) taking a slightly softer approach than Waters. Craig said she supported establishing rules of the crypto road but added that the fact that the president is 'hawking memecoins' was 'making this debate a lot more difficult.'
Craig later asked the witnesses whether they thought the president and vice-president should be included in CLARITY's prohibition on members of Congress using non-public information to profit from crypto activity. The witnesses basically dodged the issue, saying CLARITY's prohibitions as written were 'appropriate,' although former SEC Commissioner Michael Piwowar gave himself an even easier out by noting that the SEC recently washed its hands of memecoin oversight; therefore, he had no opinion.
The FSC has scheduled a CLARITY markup session for June 10, but Waters sent Chairman French Hill (R-AR) a letter requesting a second hearing 'this week' to call additional witnesses—selected by Democrats this time—and kick CLARITY's tires a little harder. Waters also wants to give the public 'the opportunity to consider and discuss additional perspectives on President Trump's crypto conflicts of interest and corruption.'
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Senate not moving fast enough for some
The Senate will have its own market structure bill to contend with later this month, as Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) told Politico this week. Lummis said the Senate's version could 'look very much like' CLARITY, although senators might 'tweak it a smidge.'
As for the Senate's stablecoin legislation (GENIUS), there were some expectations that the bill might come up for debate on the Senate floor after it passed a couple of procedural motions late last month. But the growing number of proposed amendments to GENIUS—there were 53 such suggestions as of May 26, a number that has since grown to 71—are complicating Senate leadership's plans.
On June 2, Politico reported that one of the more consequential amendments—an entirely separate bill dealing with credit card swipe fees that some veteran senators on both sides of the aisle have been trying to pass for years—has some senators threatening to change their vote to 'no' if that language makes it into GENIUS's final text.
It remains to be seen whether Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) believes the chamber is ready for a floor debate on GENIUS this week. Multiple crypto lobbying groups issued a joint statement this week urging the Senate to 'remain committed' to GENIUS's 'central goal: providing a targeted and comprehensive approach to stablecoin oversight.'
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CFTC nominee gets closer to chair; SEC chair outlines digital asset plans
The CFTC offices might currently resemble a ghost town, but the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry committee has scheduled a confirmation hearing for Trump's nominee for the regulator's chairmanship, Brian Quintenz, on June 10 at 3pm.
As Quintenz awaits his grilling, the CFTC announced on June 2 that it had appointed Paul Hayeck as the new director of its Division of Enforcement. Hayeck, a 25-year CFTC veteran, has served as deputy enforcement director since 2013 and will continue to serve as acting chief of the division's Complex Fraud Task Force.
Meanwhile, SEC Chair Atkins testified before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services on June 3, offering insights into how the agency intends to approach digital assets under his leadership.
Atkins claimed to have witnessed 'firsthand how ambiguous or nonexistent regulations in [the digital asset] space created uncertainty and inhibited innovation.' So Atkins is prioritizing the development of 'a rational regulatory framework for crypto asset markets that establishes clear rules of the road for the issuance, custody, and trading of crypto assets while continuing to discourage bad actors from violating the law.' Echoing the crypto sector's mantra of having endured 'regulation by enforcement' under previous Chair Gary Gensler, Atkins said policymaking will now 'be done through notice and comment rulemaking,' utilizing the SEC's 'existing authorities to set fit-for-purpose standards for market participants.'
Atkins claimed the SEC has for too long been 'hindered by policymaking silos.' Atkins praised the SEC's new Crypto Task Force for engaging with crypto operators and expressed confidence that Commissioner Hester Peirce is 'the right person to lead the Crypto Task Force's effort.'
Noble sentiments notwithstanding, the post-Gensler SEC has signaled a hands-off approach to virtually all aspects of regulating digital assets, dropping numerous lawsuits while suggesting its focus going forward would be limited to policing clear cases of crypto-based fraud.
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Trump Wallet: it's complicated
We're not sure this technically counts as fraud, but on June 3, social media went agog on reports that the powers behind the $TRUMP memecoin were launching a Trump-branded digital wallet and trading application. However, the claims set off a comical series of denials, the fallout from which remains somewhat murky.
It started with crypto journalist Molly White breaking the news of a new TrumpWallet.com site that encouraged users to sign up for a waitlist of the 'Official $TRUMP Wallet.' The project is a partnership between GetTrumpMemes, the Bill Zanker-led company that issued President Trump's various non-fungible token (NFT) collections and also released $TRUMP in January, and Magic Eden, a crypto firm that runs an NFT marketplace.
The TrumpWallet site claimed that Magic Eden had partnered with GetTrumpMemes 'to create the first and only $TRUMP Wallet,' adding that this is 'The Official $TRUMP Wallet by President Trump.' The GetTrumpMemes official X account tweeted a 'coming soon' promo for TrumpWallet, urging people to '[j]oin the $TRUMP community!'
Magic Eden founder Jack Lu tweeted his own promo, claiming the wallet would allow users to trade prominent tokens like BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP 'and of course $TRUMP.' Lu also promoted the chance to share in '$1 million of $TRUMP in rewards' for individuals who referred other users to the waitlist.
However, Trump's sons, Don Jr. and Eric, quickly poured cold water on these claims, with Eric tweeting that the wallet 'is not authorized' by the Trump Organization. Eric warned Magic Eden to be 'extremely careful using our name in a project that has not been approved and is unknown to anyone in our organization.'
Don Jr. tweeted that the Trump Org 'has zero involvement with this wallet product' and that he and his brother 'know nothing about it.' Don Jr. added that the family's decentralized finance (DeFi) project World Liberty Financial (WLF) 'will be launching our official wallet soon.'
Even Trump's youngest son, Barron, got in on the denials via his first-ever tweet, stating that 'our family has zero involvement with this wallet.'
Eric later told The New York Times that there was 'no deal' and 'no agreement for this product. It has not been approved.' An X account bearing the name TrumpWalletApp that was linked with Magic Eden was suspended for as-yet-unknown reasons shortly after the brouhaha went public.
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$TRUMP dinner guests get NFTs, WLF airdrops USD1
At least one GetTrumpMemes move this week was deemed to be officially blessed, as those who attended last month's gala dinner for the top 220 holders of $TRUMP were airdropped commemorative Solana-based NFTs on June 2. GetTrumpMemes congratulated the recipients, calling the NFTs 'historic collector's items that celebrate the Crypto President!'
There are three separate NFTs, all based around a variation of Trump's post-assassination attempt fist-pump. The lowest tier NFT sent to 1,049 addresses features a 'Power to the Holders' message, while the more rarefied 'Gold Gala Dinner' NFT was issued to 219 addresses. The rarest of all, the 'Diamond Hands' NFT, was issued to the 118 stalwarts who held their $TRUMP throughout the dinner instead of rushing to dump the tokens the moment they'd served their intended purpose.
The NFTs are already being flogged for resale, with one Diamond Hands recipient earning $16,000 from selling their collector's item to a member of the public. (Cubic zirconia hands, more like it.)
Also getting in on the Trump airdrop action was WLF, which on June 4 announced that 'every eligible' holder of WLF's governance token WLFI (except those in New York and other excluded jurisdictions) had been airdropped $47 worth of USD1, the stablecoin WLF issued in March. WLF claims a total of $4 million worth of USD1 has been sent to ~85,300 WLFI wallets.
Pleased with what it claimed was a test of its airdrop mechanism and to 'ensure smart contract functionality and readiness,' WLF asked whether it should now 'listen to the community and make $WLFI tradable?' Since its launch last October, WLFI holders have been unable to shift their tokens off the WLF platform, while WLF repeatedly promised that loads of DeFi functionality were just around the corner. It seems that magical day may finally be drawing closer.
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Trump Media applies for BTC ETF
Yet another Trump-controlled crypto project took a step closer to reality on June 3 as Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), the parent company of the Truth Social platform, filed its application with the SEC to launch a BTC spot-based exchange-traded fund (ETF).
The application was filed by NYSE Arca, an ETF-focused offshoot of the New York Stock Exchange. NYSE Arca filed on behalf of TMTG's partner Yorkville America Digital, a Florida-based 'America-First asset management firm.' that appears to be an offshoot of the New Jersey-based Yorkville Advisors. Another offshoot, Yorkville America Equities, has partnered with TMTG on its planned Truth Social-branded separately managed accounts (SMAs).
The 'Truth Social Bitcoin ETF' application defines the ETF's objectives as removing 'the obstacles represented by the complexities and operational burdens involved in a direct investment in bitcoin.' The ETF's shares 'provide investors with an alternative method of achieving investment exposure to bitcoin through the securities market, which may be more familiar to them.'
The Crypto.com exchange's broker-dealer arm, Foris Capital US, will custody the BTC held by the ETF. TMTG has also pledged to launch other ETFs using a 'basket of cryptocurrencies' that will include Crypto.com's native Cronos (CRO) token.
TMTG signaled its ETF plans in January, less than two weeks after Trump was sworn in as president for the second time. This week's ETF application oddly doesn't utilize one of the three ETF-focused trademarks that TMTG applied for in early February.
BTC-focused ETFs made their official U.S. debut in January 2024. These were soon followed by funds based on the Ethereum network's native token ETH, and countless applications have been filed for other prominent tokens. These ETFs have attracted hundreds of billions of dollars from investors disinclined to open digital asset exchange accounts to buy tokens directly, or who worry about the intricacies of crypto self-storage.
Blackrock's (NASDAQ: BLK) IBIT ETF alone custodies ~661,000 BTC worth around $70 billion. Given TMTG's late arrival to this party, it's unclear why investors would be attracted to its ETF, unless MAGA types are looking for new ways to show support for their president.
Earlier this week, TMTG announced that it had raised $2.44 billion from institutional investors for the purpose of following the 'BTC treasury' corporate strategy that is all the rage these days. Here again, fealty to the president appears to be the chief appeal, given that there are already well over 100 companies employing the same strategy and more firms are announcing plans seemingly every day.
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