Latest news with #GENIUSACT
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
With Trump's backing, GOP pushes for sweeping crypto regulations
WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – Backed by President Donald Trump, Republicans are ramping up efforts to pass sweeping regulations on the cryptocurrency industry but skepticism from both Democrats and some Republicans is clouding the path forward. While cryptocurrencies still represent a small portion of the U.S. economy, lawmakers from both parties say digital assets are poised to become a dominant force in global markets. 'This is about the blockchain technology and every single industry over the course of the next 20 or 30 years, the back end of that industry is going to be transformed by blockchain,' said Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.). Johnson is leading a Republican push to establish clearer regulatory guidelines for the crypto industry a push he says will unleash innovation domestically and give the U.S. an advantage over China. 'We need basic rules of the road to make sure that innovators have predictability and consistency,' he said. Crypto markets have long been susceptible to fraud and criminal misuse. Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.) says the lack of regulation leaves consumers vulnerable and stifles innovation. 'We don't have regulation right now,' Huizenga said. 'It's vital.' Last week, the Senate failed to advance a measure, dubbed the GENIUS ACT. The bill is aimed specifically at regulating stablecoins, digital currencies pegged to the U.S. dollar that are used for transactions and transfers. 'The question is, does this bill actually regulate anything? And the answer is no,' said Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.). Merkley and other Democrats argue the bill doesn't go far enough and have raised ethical concerns about potential conflicts of interest. President Trump and members of his family recently launched their own digital coin, prompting accusations of self-dealing. 'Self-dealing. Pure and simple,' Merkley said. President Trump, speaking in Qatar, dismissed questions about foreign investment in the coin. 'I don't know anything about it,' Trump said. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) also opposes the GENUIS Act but for different reasons. He says it could give major tech corporations too much influence over the financial system. 'If you're concerned about what one private individual is doing, how much more should you be concerned about the biggest corporations in the world issuing their own currencies?' Hawley asked. 'Is that really what we want?' Despite the disagreements, there is bipartisan momentum for broader crypto regulations. Johnson says he expects a compromise bill to reach Trump's desk within the next six months. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Business Mayor
07-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
Democrats push back against Trump's growing crypto empire
Jonathan Raa | Nurphoto | Getty Images Democrats turned up the pressure on President Donald Trump's cryptocurrency ventures this week and the fortune that he and his family are making off the efforts as a vote rolls forward on a key crypto bill. Thursday's vote on the GENIUS ACT, a bill to establish federal rules for stablecoins, will be a test of how far the crypto lobby's influence goes after it heavily backed Trump's 2024 presidential campaign. Even with limited power, Democrats are calling for probes into Trump-connected coins and backers, seeking financial records and blocking legislation. On Capitol Hill Tuesday morning, California Rep. Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, walked out of a hearing on digital asset allocation flanked by fellow Democrats, effectively shutting it down. That same morning, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., sent letters announcing an initial inquiry into the Trump family's expanding crypto empire, calling the Trump meme coin dinner contest a 'pay-for-play scheme.' Blumenthal, the ranking member of the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, demanded records from Fight Fight Fight LLC. — the company behind the $TRUMP meme coin — and World Liberty Financial, a family-run crypto venture that recently announced plans to launch a stablecoin. He called for documentation on ownership, revenue flows, and all communications with the White House, citing what he described as 'unprecedented conflicts of interest and national security risks.' Last month, the project ran a promotion offering top $TRUMP holders a dinner with the president and a 'VIP White House tour,' a promise that sent the token's price soaring after weeks of decline. 'President Trump's financial entanglements to the $TRUMP coin, as well as the attempted use of the White House to host competitions to prop up the value of $TRUMP, represents an unprecedented, pay-to-play scheme to provide access to the Presidency to the highest bidder,' Blumenthal wrote. Roughly 80% of the $TRUMP token supply is controlled by the Trump Organization and affiliates, according to the project's website. One of Blumenthal's letters was addressed to Bill Zanker, the entrepreneur behind Fight Fight Fight, which controls a large portion of the $TRUMP token supply. With the White House and both chambers of Congress controlled by Republicans, Democrats have little ability to push a legislative agenda or to lead investigations into potential malfeasance. But they're betting that a coordinated effort to call out what they view as corruption in a formerly niche corner of the financial markets will resonate with a voter base that's already souring on the president's economic policies. The White House responded to Blumenthal's inquiry with a short statement from Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly to CNBC's 'Crypto World.' 'President Trump's assets are in a trust managed by his children. There are no conflicts of interest,' she wrote. Waters on Tuesday convened a Democrat-only session focused squarely on Trump's meme coin and World Liberty Financial. Her decision to derail the primary hearing came after Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., chair of the House Financial Services Committee, rejected her request to include provisions in the Digital Asset Market Structure Bill aimed at blocking Trump from further profiting off digital assets while in office. 'I object to this joint hearing because of the corruption of the president of the United States — and his ownership of crypto and his oversight of all the agencies,' Waters said. Kelly responded to Waters, saying that Trump was working to make America the 'crypto capital of the world.' 'Cultivate influence' Waters introduced a discussion draft that would ban the president and members of Congress from owning crypto assets or financially benefiting from them. In the Senate, Democrats on Tuesday unveiled the 'End Crypto Corruption Act,' spearheaded by Sens. Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Chuck Schumer of New York, meant to prohibit elected officials and senior executive branch personnel and their families from issuing or endorsing digital assets. 'Currently, people who wish to cultivate influence with the president can enrich him personally by buying cryptocurrency he owns or controls,' Merkley said. 'This is a profoundly corrupt scheme. It endangers our national security and erodes public trust in government.' 'Our democracy shouldn't be for sale,' said Schumer, the Senate minority leader. The bill has already garnered backing from key Senate Democrats and endorsements from watchdog groups including Public Citizen and Democracy Defenders Action. Merkley and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts sent a letter this week to the Office of Government Ethics, demanding an urgent review of a reported deal between World Liberty Financial, crypto exchange Binance and a UAE state-backed fund called MGX. The senators warned that the deal could represent a 'staggering conflict of interest,' violate federal bribery laws and raise national security concerns. Abu Dhabi-based MGX is using the Trump stablecoin for a $2 billion investment in Binance, Reuters reported. Warren also sent a letter to the OGE questioning a White House waiver granted to David Sacks, the White House AI and crypto czar. Sacks, a venture capitalist who co-hosted a $1.5 million-a-head fundraiser this week for a Trump-aligned super PAC, reportedly splits his time between advising the president on crypto policy and running a firm with active investments in the digital asset space. Under federal ethics law, such financial entanglements would typically bar him from shaping policy in the same sector. But the Trump administration issued an ethics waiver asserting that Sacks' holdings were 'not so substantial' as to compromise his judgment — a claim Warren called unverifiable. In her letter, Warren demanded clarity from the OGE on whether it reviewed the waiver and whether Sacks still holds crypto-related financial interests that pose a conflict of interest. Sacks said he sold over $200 million worth of digital asset-related investments personally and through his firm, Craft Ventures, before starting the job, according to a memo from the White House in March. Read More A 'critical year' for the UK's carbon capture ambitions Legislation is becoming harder The GENIUS Act was moving toward a Senate floor vote with bipartisan support until the weekend, when nine Senate Democrats pulled back, citing weakened anti-money laundering safeguards and new fears that Trump's inner circle could financially benefit from the policy shift. Democratic Sens. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, Mark Warner of Virginia, Andy Kim of New Jersey, and Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware, among others, said in a statement that they remained open to negotiation but wouldn't support the bill in its current form. 'We are eager to continue working with our colleagues,' they wrote, but noted 'we would be unable to vote for cloture should the current version of the bill come to the floor.' Chris Dixon, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, discusses cryptocurrency during the TechCrunch Disrupt forum in San Francisco, October 2, 2019. Kate Munsch | Reuters The crypto industry is lobbying to push it forward. 'The GENIUS Act will protect consumers and increase transparency — a significant improvement on the status quo,' said Chris Dixon, managing partner in Andreessen Horowitz's crypto practice, in a post on X. 'Moving quickly on this and a market structure bill would provide long-overdue clarity for consumers and the industry so that we entrench dollar dominance and the U.S. remains the leader in blockchain technology.' Stripe, which recently acquired stablecoin infrastructure startup Bridge Network for $1.1 billion, has also backed the bill. The company said as part of a press release on Tuesday that it 'supports the development of a clear, consistent regulatory framework for stablecoins and welcomes the growing bipartisan interest in this issue.' WATCH: Jack Mallers looks to rival Strategy with new bitcoin company backed by Tether and SoftBank
CNBC
07-05-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Democrats push back against Trump's growing crypto empire
Democrats turned up the pressure on President Donald Trump's cryptocurrency ventures this week and the fortune that he and his family are making off the efforts as a vote rolls forward on a key crypto bill. Thursday's vote on the GENIUS ACT, a bill to establish federal rules for stablecoins, will be a test of how far the crypto lobby's influence goes after it heavily backed Trump's 2024 presidential campaign. Even with limited power, Democrats are calling for probes into Trump-connected coins and backers, seeking financial records and blocking legislation. On Capitol Hill Tuesday morning, California Rep. Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, walked out of a hearing on digital asset allocation flanked by fellow Democrats, effectively shutting it down. That same morning, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., sent letters announcing an initial inquiry into the Trump family's expanding crypto empire, calling the Trump meme coin dinner contest a "pay-for-play scheme." Blumenthal, the ranking member of the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, demanded records from Fight Fight Fight LLC. — the company behind the $TRUMP meme coin — and World Liberty Financial, a family-run crypto venture that recently announced plans to launch a stablecoin. He called for documentation on ownership, revenue flows, and all communications with the White House, citing what he described as "unprecedented conflicts of interest and national security risks." Last month, the project ran a promotion offering top $TRUMP holders a dinner with the president and a "VIP White House tour," a promise that sent the token's price soaring after weeks of decline. "President Trump's financial entanglements to the $TRUMP coin, as well as the attempted use of the White House to host competitions to prop up the value of $TRUMP, represents an unprecedented, pay-to-play scheme to provide access to the Presidency to the highest bidder," Blumenthal wrote. Roughly 80% of the $TRUMP token supply is controlled by the Trump Organization and affiliates, according to the project's website. One of Blumenthal's letters was addressed to Bill Zanker, the entrepreneur behind Fight Fight Fight, which controls a large portion of the $TRUMP token supply. With the White House and both chambers of Congress controlled by Republicans, Democrats have little ability to push a legislative agenda or to lead investigations into potential malfeasance. But they're betting that a coordinated effort to call out what they view as corruption in a formerly niche corner of the financial markets will resonate with a voter base that's already souring on the president's economic policies. The White House responded to Blumenthal's inquiry with a short statement from Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly to CNBC's "Crypto World." "President Trump's assets are in a trust managed by his children. There are no conflicts of interest," she wrote. Waters on Tuesday convened a Democrat-only session focused squarely on Trump's meme coin and World Liberty Financial. Her decision to derail the primary hearing came after Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., chair of the House Financial Services Committee, rejected her request to include provisions in the Digital Asset Market Structure Bill aimed at blocking Trump from further profiting off digital assets while in office. "I object to this joint hearing because of the corruption of the president of the United States — and his ownership of crypto and his oversight of all the agencies," Waters said. Kelly responded to Waters, saying that Trump was working to make America the "crypto capital of the world." Waters introduced a discussion draft that would ban the president and members of Congress from owning crypto assets or financially benefiting from them. In the Senate, Democrats on Tuesday unveiled the "End Crypto Corruption Act," spearheaded by Sens. Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Chuck Schumer of New York, meant to prohibit elected officials and senior executive branch personnel and their families from issuing or endorsing digital assets. "Currently, people who wish to cultivate influence with the president can enrich him personally by buying cryptocurrency he owns or controls," Merkley said. "This is a profoundly corrupt scheme. It endangers our national security and erodes public trust in government." "Our democracy shouldn't be for sale," said Schumer, the Senate minority leader. The bill has already garnered backing from key Senate Democrats and endorsements from watchdog groups including Public Citizen and Democracy Defenders Action. Merkley and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts sent a letter this week to the Office of Government Ethics, demanding an urgent review of a reported deal between World Liberty Financial, crypto exchange Binance and a UAE state-backed fund called MGX. The senators warned that the deal could represent a "staggering conflict of interest," violate federal bribery laws and raise national security concerns. Abu Dhabi-based MGX is using the Trump stablecoin for a $2 billion investment in Binance, Reuters reported. Warren also sent a letter to the OGE questioning a White House waiver granted to David Sacks, the White House AI and crypto czar. Sacks, a venture capitalist who co-hosted a $1.5 million-a-head fundraiser this week for a Trump-aligned super PAC, reportedly splits his time between advising the president on crypto policy and running a firm with active investments in the digital asset space. Under federal ethics law, such financial entanglements would typically bar him from shaping policy in the same sector. But the Trump administration issued an ethics waiver asserting that Sacks' holdings were "not so substantial" as to compromise his judgment — a claim Warren called unverifiable. In her letter, Warren demanded clarity from the OGE on whether it reviewed the waiver and whether Sacks still holds crypto-related financial interests that pose a conflict of interest. Sacks said he sold over $200 million worth of digital asset-related investments personally and through his firm, Craft Ventures, before starting the job, according to a memo from the White House in March. The GENIUS Act was moving toward a Senate floor vote with bipartisan support until the weekend, when nine Senate Democrats pulled back, citing weakened anti-money laundering safeguards and new fears that Trump's inner circle could financially benefit from the policy shift. Democratic Sens. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, Mark Warner of Virginia, Andy Kim of New Jersey, and Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware, among others, said in a statement that they remained open to negotiation but wouldn't support the bill in its current form. "We are eager to continue working with our colleagues," they wrote, but noted "we would be unable to vote for cloture should the current version of the bill come to the floor." Chris Dixon, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, discusses cryptocurrency during the TechCrunch Disrupt forum in San Francisco, October 2, 2019. The crypto industry is lobbying to push it forward. "The GENIUS Act will protect consumers and increase transparency — a significant improvement on the status quo," said Chris Dixon, managing partner in Andreessen Horowitz's crypto practice, in a post on X. "Moving quickly on this and a market structure bill would provide long-overdue clarity for consumers and the industry so that we entrench dollar dominance and the U.S. remains the leader in blockchain technology." Stripe, which recently acquired stablecoin infrastructure startup Bridge Network for $1.1 billion, has also backed the bill. The company said as part of a press release on Tuesday that it "supports the development of a clear, consistent regulatory framework for stablecoins and welcomes the growing bipartisan interest in this issue." WATCH: Jack Mallers looks to rival Strategy with new bitcoin company backed by Tether and SoftBank
