Latest news with #GaryGensler
Fast Company
3 days ago
- Business
- Fast Company
Will crypto replace banking? The Trump administration can't decide
Last year, Donald Trump took the stage of the Las Vegas Bitcoin Conference to worship at the altar of cryptocurrency. He said he would fire Gary Gensler, the former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission who led a yearslong crackdown on crypto fraud. The audience roared. He ended on a rousing note: 'We will make America and Bitcoin bigger, better, stronger, richer, freer, and greater than ever before.' Some crypto activists were perturbed. Sure, Trump rallied behind Bitcoin as a source of industrial growth, but why wouldn't he commit to outright replacing banking with digital currencies? Trump failed to comment on the traditional banks, which crypto advocates thought were discriminating against them by shutting down their accounts, or fiat currency, which some crypto boosters hope to replace entirely. One year later, President Trump skipped out on the Bitcoin Conference, but he sent his envoys. The administration's crypto message has become even more muddled. While Vice President JD Vance emphasized that stablecoins regulated by the administration's new crypto proposal (the GENIUS Act) don't 'threaten the integrity of the U.S. dollar,' Eric Trump said that he'd like to see some major banks 'go extinct.' It seems no one will decide whether crypto is a strength to—or a replacement for—the U.S. financial system. Mixed signals at the 2025 Bitcoin Conference Vice President Vance headlined the conference, where he struck a similar tone to Trump's 2024 speech. He emphasized that Bitcoin is part of the 'mainstream economy,' calling it a digital asset—but not a currency. Vance also promoted the GENIUS Act, which would set regulations for currency or commodity-backed stablecoins (crypto currencies pegged to fiat currency or other reference asset) so they could flow more freely. The bill has already passed through the Senate, and is waiting for a House vote. Vance promised that these coins wouldn't threaten the dollar. 'Dollar-pegged stablecoins, particularly once GENIUS is enacted, are only going to help the American economy and [are] only going to help the American dollar,' he claimed. Central to Trump's crypto strategy was the establishment of a Bitcoin reserve, allowing the government to collect and hold cryptocurrency from criminal or civil asset seizures. But whether this stockpile operates alongside, or in competition with dollar spending remains blurry. Bo Hines, the executive director of Trump's digital assets advisory, spoke of Bitcoin as something the government could grow endlessly. 'We want as much of it as we can possibly get,' he said at the conference. 'We're not going to sell any Bitcoin that we have in the U.S. government, period.' On the other hand, Trump's crypto czar David Sacks was more measured in his words. He said that he 'can't promise anything,' but that he hoped the government would be able to buy more Bitcoin. 'If either the Commerce Department or the Treasury Department can figure out how to fund it without adding to the debt, then they are allowed to create those programs,' he claimed. 'Maybe find the money from some other program that's not using it.' While they struck different tones, Vance, Hines, and Sacks all spoke of Bitcoin as an asset class. Whether it could constitute a new financial system—the currency's original mission —was outside the question. But Eric Trump—while not an administration official, is certainly influential on Trump policy—claimed that crypto could replace banking entirely: 'It makes everything cheaper, it makes it faster, it makes it safer, it makes it more transparent.' He said that he'd 'love to see some of the big banks go extinct.' What does the Trump administration really think about Bitcoin? Trump has backed crypto expansion forcefully, but his rationale remains slippery. At the recent Blockworks Digital Asset Summit, Trump told the audience that they will 'unleash an explosion of international growth,' but didn't explain how, other than a brief reference to stablecoins supporting the dollar. 'It is exciting to watch as you invent the future of finance,' Trump said, while not venturing to explain whether that future included traditional banks. Why is Trump so into crypto? Much of it is likely for personal gain. Trump has raked in millions on his memecoins and NFTs, sending cash directly to his wallet. Crypto advocates also helped Trump reach the White House in the first place. Their lobby has political heft: According to a New Yorker report, they tanked Katie Porter's California Senate bid after she expressed mere glimmers of anti-crypto rhetoric. But there's a political tension underlying Trump's crypto push. If he says that crypto will replace banking—or even fiat currency—traditional financiers could riot. But, if he claims that Bitcoin is merely an asset class and not the future of finance, he could anger the crypto community. For now, Trump and his administration will try to sit on both sides of the fence.
Forbes
6 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
What Executives Need To Know About The State Of Sustainability Reporting In June 2025
In recent years, sustainability has dominated the conversation in the corporate world. Sustainability reporting; environmental, social, and governance reporting; and climate related-risk reporting were poised to be new standards alongside other financial reporting requirements. However, in 2024, elections around the world shifted political leadership to the right, resulting in a"green backlash." As a result, the future of sustainability reporting is being reevaluated and debated. With so many moving pieces in jurisdictions around the world, it is difficult to know what to watch. Below are key developments that occurred leading up to May and to watch for in June. In March 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission adopted the Climate-Related Disclosure Rule to require large publicly traded companies to disclose climate action, greenhouse gas emissions, and the financial impacts of severe weather events. The rule was immediately met with legal challenges and was delayed while the court heard the cases. The lawsuits came from both sides. Opponents claimed that the SEC overstepped the authority delegated to them by Congress. Given the current opinions of the Supreme Court, this was most likely a winning argument. Supporters of the regulation brought legal action claiming the SEC did not go far enough. Under SEC Chair Gary Gensler, the SEC was vigorously defending their stance. Everything changed after President Trump took office. In February, acting SEC Chair Mark Uyeda began the process to permanently end the rule. At the time, he asked the court for a delay in the proceedings while the SEC takes action to rollback the Climate-Related Disclosure Rule. In March, the SEC officially voted to end their legal defense of the rule. The new chair of the SEC, Paul Atkins, shares the same approach as Uyeda. Do not expect a revival of the rule under the current administration. The SEC may chose to let the courts decide if the rule is within the SEC's authority. They may also choose to reverse the rule through the normal rulemaking process. For now, the rule is effectively dead. Companies should shift focus to the state level, while keeping an eye on any developments from the SEC. Be wary of advocates pushing for voluntary disclosure under the guise that the SEC rule may be revived. The legal risks of voluntary disclosures is increasing as climate activists bring litigation against businesses for the impacts of climate change. With the collapse of sustainability reporting at the national level, focus has shifted to state level requirements. Conservative states, like Florida and Texas, have limited the ability of fund managers and directors to consider sustainability factors in the decision making process. However, those restrictions do not prevent the creation of sustainability reports. Democrat led states are still pushing forward with sustainability reporting requirements that may impact businesses with a presence in those states. In September 2023, California approved the Climate Accountability Package, a pair of bills aimed at creating sustainability reporting requirements. Senate Bill 253 required companies that do business in California and have an excess of $1 billion in revenue, defined as 'reporting entities', to submit an annual report for Scope 1 and Scope 2 starting in 2026, for FY 2025. Scope 3 reporting will begin in 2027, for FY 2026. Senate Bill 261 required companies that do business in California and have an excess of $500 million in revenue, defined as 'covered entities', to submit a biennial climate-related financial risk report. The responsibility of drafting specific regulations and implementing the reporting standards was delegated to the California Air Resources Board. CARB was initially given until January 1, 2025 to draft the rules and processes. That was delayed until July 1. Given the amount of time required for companies to ramp up reporting, and the reality that CARB would not release reporting standards until midway through the reporting year, CARB announced they were using their discretion to not enforce reporting in 2026. Companies are only required to report based on their current practices. On May 29, CARB held a virtual town hall to discuss their progress. Over 3,000 people from five continents attended the presentation. In the meeting, it became clear that CARB will not meet the July 1 deadline. CARB is still in the informal pre-rulemaking stage. At this point, CARB is still debating what standards will be used to determine what companies fall under the reporting requirements. They are working the definitions of 'doing business in California', revenue, and corporate relationships between parent and subsidiary companies. For now, if your company meets the revenue requirements in SB 253 or SB 261 and has over $735,000 in annual sales in California or $73,500 in property in California, keep a close eye on this process. Surprisingly, CARB received only 261 responses to the first round of open comment. However, they have made it clear they will engage with interested stakeholders throughout the informal stage. CARB wants to release the rule by the end of the year. A fast-track approach still takes about three months, so I expect CARB will shift to the formal stage by September. Now is the time for interested parties to weigh in. Once the formal process begins, the template will be set and changes are hard to argue. While the bill sponsors are still strong advocates for the 2026 start date, Governor Gavin Newsom has advocated for delaying implementation. Watch how California reacts to the international backlash on green policies. As the European Union looks to rollback their sustainability reporting requirements, California is finding themselves out of alignment with international standards. New York has been toying with climate risk disclosure requirements for years. A version of the reporting requirement has been revived this year in Senate Bill 3697, sponsored by Senator James Sanders Jr., and Senate Bill 3456 sponsored by Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal. The proposal mimics the California requirement. The current language states that businesses with 'total annual revenues in excess of five hundred million United States dollars ($500,000,000) and that does business in New York' will be required to file biennial reports starting in 2028. Businesses with revenues over $1 billion will be required to file Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions starting in 2027, for FY 2026. and Scope 3 starting in 2028, for FY 2027 SB 3456 unanimously passed the Environmental Conservation Committee on April 2 and was sent to the Finance Committee. SB 3697 followed on May 13. The bills will need to be out of Committee, pass a fully vote of the Senate, and receive the approval of the Assembly before the June 12 end of session. With only seven sessions days remaining, passage looks unlikely. At the beginning of the legislative session, it appeared that Colorado may adopt climate reporting requirements in line with California's. However, that bill died before it left the committee. The speed at which the proposal died indicates a lack of appetite for this sort of requirement, even from a Democrat led state. The most vigorous debate on the future of sustainability reporting is unfolding in the European Union. The EU was the world leader in the establishment of sustainability reporting requirements. They are now rolling back those requirements. As part of the European Green Deal, a trilogy of directives were passed to force businesses to address climate change and report GHG missions. The Taxonomy for Sustainable Activities created a classification system for business and investors to know what activities are considered green or climate friendly. The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive created requirements for businesses to report GHG emissions and other ESG actions. The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive created additional reporting requirements, as well as legal liability, for companies in relation to their supply chain. However, the cost of these proposals on businesses and the broader impact on the EU economy became a theme during the 2024 elections. The shift to the right in EU politics embolden opponents to the European Green Deal directives. As a result, the Commission proposed a package of new directives to 'reduce the burden' on businesses. The Omnibus Simplification Package was officially adopted by the Commission in February. The proposal is being debated in the Council and the Parliament. In the interim, the EU has delayed reporting requirements by two years to allow the political process to unfold. Sustainability advocates are fighting to save the directives, but it is a losing battle. Changes are coming to both the CSRD and the CSDDD, the debate is over the scope of those changes. The Commission proposal effectively removes 80% of businesses in the EU from having to report. It also eliminates nearly all non-EU based businesses. Once the Parliament and Council approve their final proposal, representatives from the three bodies will meet in a 'trialogue' to negotiate the final language. The EU is pushing to adopt the reforms by the end of 2025, so the process is moving quick. The Parliament will publicly debate the proposals throughout the summer as it works through committees. Expect the Parliament to finalize their sustainability reporting proposal by mid-October. Trialogue negotiations will begin soon thereafter, with final votes in December.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Last year, Trump promised bitcoin bros a seat at the table. For better or worse, he wasn't lying
A version of this story appeared in CNN Business' Nightcap newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here. Last July, Donald Trump made a campaign stop that served as his crypto coming out party. Trump, a guy who has an aide follow him around with a portable printer so he can read the internet, got onstage at the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville and promised the moon to a crowd of extremely online crypto-Libertarians. 'Oh, you're going to be very happy with me,' he said, before vowing to make America the 'crypto capital of the planet.' With the zeal of the converted, he rattled off crypto shibboleths, promising to 'fire' Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler (the Biden-era bogeyman the industry loved to blame for its problems), to create a 'strategic national bitcoin stockpile' and even pardon Ross Ulbricht — the creator of the Silk Road digital marketplace used primarily for selling drugs on the dark web, who was serving a life sentence. Since retaking office, Trump has kept all of those promises (technically — Gensler stepped down before Trump could fire him). And he's gone even further. 'Maybe the most important thing that we did for this community, we reject regulators and we fired Gary Gensler, and we're gonna fire everybody like him,' said Vice President JD Vance at a crypto conference on Wednesday. It's hard to overstate how much the president has changed his tune on crypto, which he criticized in his first term as 'highly volatile and based on thin air.' Now, Trump's personal wealth is estimated to include $2.9 billion tied to his digital asset projects — representing some 37% of his total fortune, according to an April report from the left-leaning State Democracy Defenders Fund. Bitcoin, a bellwether for crypto, has shot up 67% since Trump spoke in Nashville last year. This week, Trump deepened his financial ties to the alternative financial industry that his administration is tasked with regulating. His two oldest sons and Vance took his spot headlining this year's Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas, where they reassured supporters that Team Trump is, in Don Jr.'s words, 'seriously long crypto.' On Tuesday, Trump's media company said it would raise $2.5 billion to buy bitcoin — a move that mimics a corporate cash-management strategy popularized by MicroStrategy (now known as Strategy) and Tesla. Two things to know about what's going on here. First: Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), which owns the president's social media platform, Truth Social, is not a company in a traditional sense of, like, a business that makes money. It is a perpetually unprofitable entity that generates almost no revenue, but public interest in Trump keeps the company's stock market value elevated — much like a meme stock. By becoming more of a bitcoin holding company, TMTG offers traditional investors exposure to bitcoin's gains (and losses) without the hassle of actually buying bitcoin and managing it in a digital wallet themselves. 'Holding bitcoin on a balance sheet is part financial strategy, part cultural signaling,' said Temujin Louie, CEO of blockchain platform Wanchain. 'TMTG's move is more politically charged. Given its ties to President Trump, any decision must inevitably align with the current administration's rhetoric and embrace of cryptocurrencies as a populist tool.' Second: The bitcoin play adds another halo of legitimacy around an asset that investors are still afraid of. The appearance of credibility has long eluded crypto because, well, it's just so useful for doing crimes, and its advocates haven't done a great job articulating mainstream use cases for digital money that you can't actually buy much with. But having an evangelist in the West Wing seems to be changing that. Bitcoin hit an all-time high of over $111,000 last week, fueled in part by the advancement of legislations that would create the first federal rules around stablecoins, a subcategory of crypto, a key step the industry has been lobbying for. 'I'm here today to say loud and clear with President Trump, crypto finally has a champion and an ally in the White House,' Vance said Wednesday at the Bitcoin Conference. He also implored crypto fans to carry last year's voting momentum forward for the 2026 midterms, and boasted that he personally still holds 'a fair amount of bitcoin today.' Lawyers and ethics experts aren't mincing words when they say Trump's crypto ventures open the door to all kinds of potential corruption. 'The only reason this isn't a crime is because the criminal conflict-of-interest statute does not apply to the president or the vice president,' Richard Painter, a former White House ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush, told CNN. 'The president and his family are investing in crypto — riding a bubble that may someday burst. The systemic impact on the economy could trigger another financial crisis.' The White House has repeatedly said the president has no conflicts of interest, and lashed out at the media for even asking. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt recently said it was 'frankly ridiculous that anyone in this room would even suggest that President Trump is doing anything for his own benefit.' CNN's Matt Egan contributed reporting. Sign in to access your portfolio
CNN
28-05-2025
- Business
- CNN
Last year, Trump promised bitcoin bros a seat at the table. For better or worse, he wasn't lying
Last July, Donald Trump made a campaign stop that served as his crypto coming out party. Trump, a guy who has an aide follow him around with a portable printer so he can read the internet, got onstage at the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville and promised the moon to a crowd of extremely online crypto-Libertarians. 'Oh, you're going to be very happy with me,' he said, before vowing to make America the 'crypto capital of the planet.' With the zeal of the converted, he rattled off crypto shibboleths, promising to 'fire' Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler (the Biden-era bogeyman the industry loved to blame for its problems), to create a 'strategic national bitcoin stockpile' and even pardon Ross Ulbricht — the creator of the Silk Road digital marketplace used primarily for selling drugs on the dark web, who was serving a life sentence. Since retaking office, Trump has kept all of those promises (technically — Gensler stepped down before Trump could fire him). And he's gone even further. It's hard to overstate how much the president has changed his tune on crypto, which he criticized in his first term as 'highly volatile and based on thin air.' Now, Trump's personal wealth is estimated to include $2.9 billion tied to his digital asset projects — representing some 37% of his total fortune, according to an April report from the left-leaning State Democracy Defenders Fund. Bitcoin, a bellwether for crypto, has shot up 67% since Trump spoke in Nashville last year. This week, Trump deepened his financial ties to the alternative financial industry that his administration is tasked with regulating. His two oldest sons and Vice President JD Vance took his spot headlining this year's Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas, where they reassured supporters that Team Trump is, in Don Jr.'s words, 'seriously long crypto.' On Tuesday, Trump's media company said it would raise $2.5 billion to buy bitcoin — a move that mimics a corporate cash-management strategy popularized by MicroStrategy (now known as Strategy) and Tesla. Two things to know about what's going on here. First: Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), which owns the president's social media platform, Truth Social, is not a company in a traditional sense of, like, a business that makes money. It is a perpetually unprofitable entity that generates almost no revenue, but public interest in Trump keeps the company's stock market value elevated — much like a meme stock. By becoming more of a bitcoin holding company, TMTG offers traditional investors exposure to bitcoin's gains (and losses) without the hassle of actually buying bitcoin and managing it in a digital wallet themselves. 'Holding bitcoin on a balance sheet is part financial strategy, part cultural signaling,' said Temujin Louie, CEO of blockchain platform Wanchain. 'TMTG's move is more politically charged. Given its ties to President Trump, any decision must inevitably align with the current administration's rhetoric and embrace of cryptocurrencies as a populist tool.' Second: The bitcoin play adds another halo of legitimacy around an asset that investors are still afraid of. The appearance of credibility has long eluded crypto because, well, it's just so useful for doing crimes, and its advocates haven't done a great job articulating mainstream use cases for digital money that you can't actually buy much with. But having an evangelist in the West Wing seems to be changing that. Bitcoin hit an all-time high of over $111,000 last week, fueled in part by the advancement of legislations that would create the first federal rules around stablecoins, a subcategory of crypto, a key step the industry has been lobbying for. 'I'm here today to say loud and clear with President Trump, crypto finally has a champion and an ally in the White House,' Vance said Wednesday at the Bitcoin Conference. He also implored crypto fans to carry last year's voting momentum forward for the 2026 midterms, and boasted that he personally still holds 'a fair amount of bitcoin today.' Lawyers and ethics experts aren't mincing words when they say Trump's crypto ventures open the door to all kinds of potential corruption. 'The only reason this isn't a crime is because the criminal conflict-of-interest statute does not apply to the president or the vice president,' Richard Painter, a former White House ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush, told CNN. 'The president and his family are investing in crypto — riding a bubble that may someday burst. The systemic impact on the economy could trigger another financial crisis.' The White House has repeatedly said the president has no conflicts of interest, and lashed out at the media for even asking. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt recently said it was 'frankly ridiculous that anyone in this room would even suggest that President Trump is doing anything for his own benefit.' CNN's Matt Egan contributed reporting.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Memecoin Moo Deng, MEW Surges After Robinhood Listing
Robinhood has added two Solana-based memecoins, Moo Deng MOODENG and cat in a dog's world MEW, to its suite of cryptocurrencies available to trade for U.S. customers. Moo Deng, which is based on a baby pygmy hippo, has risen to a $230 million market cap this month after the meme went viral online in 2024. The token skyrocketed over 836% in May and jumped another 21% over the past 24 hours. Cat in a dog's world, on the other hand, is a token based on cats, which launched in March 2024 as part of a Solana meme coin frenzy. The token stands at a $368 million market cap after its price rose 52% in May. It is up nearly 20% over the past 24 hours. The latest inclusions add to Robinhood's list of meme coins, and the regulatory landscape is becoming much more flexible after the nomination of several pro-crypto government leaders and President Donald Trump's U.S. election win last year. In November, Robinhood added the trading of Pepe coin PEPE, another popular meme coin. The trading app currently offers over 20 cryptocurrencies after previously ending support for several tokens in 2023 amid a crackdown on crypto by the former Securities and Exchange Commission Chair, Gary Gensler. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
