Latest news with #HouseFinancialServicesCommittee
CNBC
23-05-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Rep. French Hill on Pres. Trump's tariff threats, crypto dinner and stablecoin legislation
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss President Trump's tariff threats against the EU and Apple, U.S. trade policy, President Trump's crypto dinner, stablecoin legislation, and more.
Politico
22-05-2025
- Business
- Politico
Memecoin mania, $TRUMP style
Presented by Editor's note: Morning Money is a free version of POLITICO Pro Financial Services morning newsletter, which is delivered to our subscribers each morning at 5:15 a.m. The POLITICO Pro platform combines the news you need with tools you can use to take action on the day's biggest stories. Act on the news with POLITICO Pro. QUICK FIX Dogecoin. Dogwifhat. Fartcoin. These were once the dominant players in the penny stock-like corner of the cryptocurrency markets that plays home to memecoins — a risky type of digital asset that, unlike its big brother counterparts bitcoin and ether, has no inherent value. And then came President Donald Trump's $TRUMP. Memecoins have long been associated with online jokes. (The Elon Musk-beloved Dogecoin was famously launched as one.) But the $TRUMP token — now the fourth-most valuable memecoin in the world, per CoinMarketCap — has set off outrage in Washington. And the uproar is reaching new highs as dozens of its biggest investors head to Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, this evening for a private dinner and reception with the president himself. Lawmakers, including Sens. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Rep. Sam Liccardo of California, plan to call on Trump today to release the guest list. Rep. Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, is set to roll out a proposed ban on presidential memecoins, the latest addition to an already long line of similar bills. And several critics will be protesting the dinner tonight. 'This is the Mount Everest of American corruption,' Sen. Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, told your host for a new piece out this morning. 'This isn't about raising money for a campaign. This is about personal profit, and what he's selling is influence on himself and his Cabinet and the U.S. government.' Open to the top 220 $TRUMP holders, assuming they passed a background check, the dinner is the latest manifestation of Trump's still relatively recent embrace of cryptocurrencies — a breed of financial product whose value he once warned was 'based on thin air.' Among its expected attendees are a former online poker player, crypto billionaire Justin Sun and dozens of other traders. His crypto pivot — or his come-to-Satoshi moment, one might say — has been welcome news to the industry. Following the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX, the crypto industry became a pariah in Washington whose future was clouded by a series of lawsuits, some existential, from the Gary Gensler-led SEC. But Trump has become crypto's unexpected savior, as our own Jasper Goodman presciently wrote last January. And while crypto lobbyists and officials worried that his personal forays into the market could hurt the industry's policy agenda, the reality appears to be that crypto may be able to have its cake and eat it, too. Case in point: The Senate now appears to be preparing for a final vote on stablecoin legislation in the coming weeks, after a bipartisan group of lawmakers advanced the bill earlier this week. Yet, even then, the memecoin is quickly becoming a leading front in the swirl of concerns over Trump's business empire. And the concerns aren't dying down. 'When Hunter Biden was trying to profit off of his family's name, people legitimately raised questions,' former House Ethics Committee Chair Charlie Dent told your host. 'I'm not saying Hunter Biden did anything illegal or that any of the Trump family members are doing anything illegal, but it all has a stench to it that turns off a lot of people.' IT'S THURSDAY — Are you heading to the $TRUMP dinner tonight? Let me know, I can keep you anonymous! dharty@ And as always, send your tips, suggestions and personnel moves to Sam at ssutton@ Driving the day Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler speaks at a Punchbowl event at 9 a.m. … Senate Banking holds a hearing on the Defense Production Act at 10 a.m. … Existing home sales data out at 10 a.m. Identity crisis — Trump and the GOP may be adopting a more populist tone, and considering a series of similarly minded proposals. But Megan Messerly reports that the numbers inside the president's big, beautiful bill 'are showing that for all the nods the GOP has made to its new populist base, its biggest policy swing remains weighted toward helping higher earners and businesses pay fewer taxes.' — Almost there: 'Republicans stayed overwhelmingly united on a test vote to advance the massive domestic-policy measure shortly before 3 a.m., paving the way for a vote on final passage later in the day — just in time to meet Speaker Mike Johnson's Memorial Day deadline,' Katherine Tully-McManus reports. — And they got there: Early Thursday, House Republicans pushed through the megabill with a 215-214 vote, Katherine reports, noting it's 'a major victory for Speaker Mike Johnson, who largely kept his conference together after days of around-the-clock negotiations with holdouts.' One reason Wall Street is sweating BBB? It could hit big donors— A provision of the GOP tax bill imposes new taxes on large private foundations that would potentially slap the philanthropic efforts of industry heavyweights. 'They're looking at the elites versus the non-elites. There's a lot of money in foundations who would be defined as the elite, and therefore they like to see that money go elsewhere,' said Lawson Bader, the president and CEO of DonorsTrust, a donor-advised fund and 501(c)(3) that's a powerful force in Republican fundraising circles. This 'seems to be really nothing more than a money grab that is — I think — tinged with some political DNA that has me uncomfortable.' 'The time would seem to be right' — Trump said Wednesday that he is weighing taking mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac public after more than 15 years of government control, Victoria Guida reports. — 'Such a move would be a massive shift for the housing market, where Fannie and Freddie play a key role by buying mortgages from lenders and selling them as securities to investors. They back roughly half the $16 trillion mortgage market,' Victoria writes. Wall Street Bad day — Stocks fell and bond yields soared after a weak auction for 20-year Treasury notes, according to The Wall Street Journal. Worries about the U.S. fiscal outlook — which have been exacerbated by turmoil around the GOP budget bill — also weighed on investors. The dollar fell. 'The soft 20-year auction fueled additional weakness,' said Michael O'Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading, per Bloomberg. 'It has been a theme all week, starting with the Moody's downgrade. Additionally, there is the deficit/budget debate being fought in the background of this environment.' No way — The Trump administration is brushing aside calls from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to ease restrictions on chip exports to China, Bloomberg's Michael Shepard and Edward Ludlow report. 'When it comes to inside China, I do think there is still bipartisan and broad concern about what can happen to these GPUs once they're physically inside' the country, said Sriram Krishnan, White House senior policy adviser for artificial intelligence. International Players Banff-em — Provisions of the tax bill would punish global companies headquartered in 'discriminatory foreign countries,' providing U.S. tax authorities broad discretion over what that means. At the G7 meeting in Banff, that bill language could reignite a battle over the global minimum tax rate that was agreed upon during President Joe Biden's administration, The NYT's Alan Rappeport reports. Golden age of systemic risk — Federal Reserve Bank of Boston economists are warning that the banking sector's ties to private credit could pose a risk to the U.S. financial system, according to The FT's Eric Platt. Crypto Stablecoin bill forges ahead — A landmark bill that would create a regulatory framework for dollar-pegged stablecoins garnered the support of three more senators during a procedural vote on Wednesday, Jasper Goodman reports. The motion to proceed passed 69-3. A vote on final passage is expected after the Memorial Day recess. — The bill's sponsors — Sens. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Tim Scott(R-S.C.) and Kirsten Gillibrand(D-N.Y.). — filed an amendment that would incorporate negotiated changes sought by pro-crypto Democratic holdouts, as well as a ban on interest-bearing stablecoins. Bitcoin bulls rejoice — The original cryptocurrency hit a new all-time high of more than $110,000 Wednesday. Per CNBC's Tanaya Macheel, crypto exchange Nexo's cofounder, Antoni Trenchev, attributed the jump to 'an array of favorable ingredients in the macro cauldron.' At the regulators New slate — Kristin Johnson became the last of the Biden-era Commodity Futures Trading Commission members to announce their intention to step down from the derivatives regulator, Declan reports. Her eventual exit will likely leave the Wall Street regulator with just one person on its usually five-member commission. Big lawsuit — Fidelity National Financial is suing over a Biden-era rule that requires people involved in real estate closings to report to Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network about all-cash sales or transfers of residential property to trusts or other legal entities, Michael Stratford reports. ODDS AND ENDS First in MM: New bond council — The Bond Dealers of America are launching a new Council on Bond Market Structure that's intended to advance market-driven solutions to market structure challenges facing both the institutional and retail bond markets. The initiative 'will focus on direct engagement with policymakers to ensure that regulatory policies keep pace with market evolution,' said the organization's CEO, Michael Nicholas. On The Hill Loeffler's congressional debut — Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler told the Senate Small Business Committee on Wednesday that she is committed to staffing field offices as the agency goes through a major restructuring and expects to lay off 2,700 employees, Katherine Hapgood reports. During Loeffler's first appearance before a congressional committee since her nomination, Democrats tore into her over SBA's comparison of the Biden administration and Trump administration's first 100 days in terms of small manufacturer loans, as well as tariffs and reducing staff while taking on the country's student loan portfolio. FIRM clears both committees — House Financial Services passed the FIRM act Wednesday, which Senate Banking passed in March, Katherine reports. The bill would eliminate reputational risk as a component of the supervision of depository institutions.
Politico
22-05-2025
- Business
- Politico
‘What life is this?': The crypto investors who bought a dinner with Trump
President Donald Trump, who in March hosted a White House summit for some of cryptocurrency's biggest names, is poised to sit down with another type of digital asset fanatic: the top investors in his personalized memecoin. Among his guests: A crypto billionaire who was sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission. A former online poker player-turned-crypto entrepreneur. A software engineer who converts most of his paychecks into bitcoin. And a cybersecurity expert who conceals his face in public. More than 200 global investors in the $TRUMP memecoin — a collectible token with no underlying value — are expected to arrive Thursday at the president's golf club in Virginia after scoring invitations to an exclusive dinner with Trump himself. The investors recently bought $148 million worth of the memecoin, generating millions of dollars in trading fees for the Trump family and its partners behind the venture, who also control most of the token. The top 25 buyers, including crypto mogul Justin Sun and a Singapore-based startup called MemeCore, will even get the chance to meet with Trump beforehand at a private reception. 'The whole week I was talking to my wife and father, 'Wouldn't it be insane if I get to meet the president of the United States based on a memecoin competition?'' said Morten Christensen, the 39-year-old onetime poker player who now runs a crypto website and will be attending the dinner. 'What life is this?' The memecoin dinner — billed as the 'most EXCLUSIVE INVITATION in the World' — is the latest example of the president's stunning pivot from crypto scourge to evangelist, an evolution that has been put on stark display since he took back power in Washington. But the gathering has set off an uproar among Democrats, ethics experts and even a few Republicans already alarmed by the Trump family's lucrative and growing ties to digital asset businesses, many of whom contributed millions of dollars to Republicans in the 2024 elections. Concerned about the blurring lines between Trump the president and Trump the business mogul, many critics say the event is a pay-to-play scheme. Investors, they say, had to buy piles of $TRUMP during a two-and-a-half-week-long window to win an invite — sending the price higher and generating a bonanza of trading fees for the Trump family and its partners. Democrats want to ban presidents from offering memecoins in the future, with the House Financial Services Committee's top Democrat, Rep. Maxine Waters of California, set to roll out her own proposal Thursday. A number lawmakers, including Sens. Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, will call on Trump to release the list of attendees. And several groups and critics, led by progressive watchdog group Public Citizen, are planning to protest the dinner outside. 'This is the Mount Everest of American corruption,' said Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, who will attend the protest. 'This isn't about raising money for a campaign. This is about personal profit, and what he's selling is influence on himself and his Cabinet and the U.S. government.' The White House rejected the memecoin concerns, with officials saying the token has nothing to do with the administration and that Trump only acts in the American public's best interests. In a statement, spokesperson Anna Kelly said Trump is 'working to secure GOOD deals for the American people, not for himself.' The Trump Organization, an affiliate of which controls 80 percent of the memecoin along with another entity called Fight Fight Fight LLC, did not respond to a request for comment. An email listed on the memecoin's website also did not respond to an inquiry. Trump, who once derided crypto as 'a scam,' has consistently gone to bat for the upstart industry in the four months since Inauguration Day. He nominated crypto-friendly regulators to oversee the industry. His SEC killed a nearly decade-long enforcement crusade against digital assets, while kicking off the process of writing new rules for the market. And on Monday, the Republican-controlled Senate — with help from 16 Democrats — advanced a landmark crypto bill that Trump has said he wants on his desk by August. Eleven weeks ago, Trump also signaled his support for the business by hosting a number of crypto executives, including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse and Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss of Gemini, for a summit. His memecoin — one of several recent crypto ventures that directly involve the Trump family — was launched just days before Inauguration Day, rattling some industry officials who worried that the token could undercut their push for legitimacy in Washington. The memecoin quickly rose after its unveiling, jumping to as high as $75. But the excitement died down, and by mid-April the price had plunged more than 90 percent. Then, on April 23, the dinner was announced, sparking a new frenzy among investors hoping to become one of the top 220 $TRUMP holders who would get the chance to meet the president. Who exactly is attending the dinner and why remains unclear. Neither the White House nor organizers have said whether they plan to release a guest list. But the investors likely hail from around the world: Blockchain analytics company Inca Digital found that nearly half have used exchanges that are not allowed to operate in the U.S. Some have revealed themselves already. Most notable is Sun, a Chinese-born crypto billionaire who on Tuesday said he is the top $TRUMP holder and will be attending the dinner. In a social media post, Sun said he is 'excited to connect with everyone, talk crypto, and discuss the future of our industry.' The dinner comes as his attorneys and Trump's SEC are deliberating over 'a potential resolution' to a lawsuit that the agency brought against him in 2023 alleging fraud. Zac, a New York-based software engineer who declined to provide his full name in an interview, said he spent about $110,000 buying the $TRUMP memecoin to get an invite. He doesn't have any specific hopes for the dinner but said it would be a 'good opportunity to meet the president.' Christensen has been brainstorming one-liners about his crypto site that he hopes will catch the president's attention. For critics, though, the gathering is a jarring sign of how Trump is bending historical norms. Ethics experts acknowledge that the dinner may be entirely legal, but they worry that some attendees are looking to influence Trump's policies, particularly around crypto regulations. Former Rep. Charlie Dent, a Pennsylvania Republican who chaired the House Ethics Committee, said that just 'because somebody can do something doesn't mean they should.' 'When Hunter Biden was trying to profit off of his family's name, people legitimately raised questions,' Dent said. 'I'm not saying Hunter Biden did anything illegal or that any of the Trump family members are doing anything illegal, but it all has a stench to it that turns off a lot of people.' But not everyone sees the dinner as all that unique. One attendee, a pseudonymous crypto founder and cybersecurity expert who goes by the name Ogle, said the gathering should be viewed no differently than the donor and lobbyist dinners that regularly happen in Washington. Ogle, who is also an adviser to World Liberty Financial, another Trump-backed crypto venture, admits that the memecoin is personally beneficial to Trump. But he said the benefit is 'indirect.' Ogle — who was No. 22 of the top 220 $TRUMP holders — said he mostly wants to know who else is attending. 'This is far more interesting than anything else I could do with a few bucks,' he said. 'It'll be an historic moment at the very least, whether good or bad.'
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump's Memecoin Dinner Draws Crowded Cast of Democratic Protesters from Congress
As President Donald Trump's biggest memcoin buyers such as Tron founder Justin Sun bask in his attention over dinner on Thursday, Democratic lawmakers and advocacy groups have arrayed a series of protests and complaint sessions to decry the president's crypto event as fundamentally corrupt. Trump will host his dinner for more than 200 of his leading memecoin investors, whose money will fill the coffers of the president's own business entities. They've reportedly been invited to his capital-area golf course, the Trump National Golf Club Washington, D.C., outside of which the memecoin buyers may encounter protesters. Some of the counter-programming for his dinner will start earlier in the day in front of the Capitol Building. At 12:45 p.m., Representative Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, will round up other lawmakers in front of the House steps to rail against Trump, accusing him of abusing his White House powers to "shamelessly promote and profit from a series of crypto ventures tied to himself and his family," according to a notice about the event. Waters will also introduce a new messaging bill "to block Trump's memecoin and stop his crypto corruption, once and for all." The legislation, which is unlikely to make headway in a Republican-majority Congress, would ban presidents, vice presidents, members of Congress and their families from "engaging in similar crypto crime." It's the same type of ban that Democrats had been seeking to insert into crypto legislation, but Republicans have declined to let Trump-targeting language into the current digital assets bills, including the Senate stablecoin effort getting close to the finish line. Later on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m., another press conference of Democratic lawmakers will feature Senators Chris Murphy and Elizabeth Warren, both of whom have been prominent in congressional criticism against Trump's crypto actions. Murphy had introduced his own bill with a similar aim to Waters', the Modern Emoluments and Malfeasance Enforcement (MEME) Act to stop federal officials from using their positions to profit from digital assets. That event — also outside the Capitol — will additionally feature Senator Jeff Merkley, who also intends to join an evening protest right outside Trump's golf course, hosted by progressive groups under the banner of Our Revolution. The message of the "America Is Not For Sale" rally is to push back on "a blatant example of political access being sold to the highest bidder," according to the group. The guest list for the memecoin dinner hasn't been made public, but analysis of the buying of those coins suggest that the biggest spenders devoted millions for the privilege of joining the president at the event. The attendees' anonymity is part of the problem, according to critics, who say that foreign buyers are gaining access to the president without the knowledge of the public. Debate over the president's crypto ties temporarily delayed progress on the U.S. stablecoin legislation meant to set up rules for domestic issuers, but the bill got back on track this week to clear an important procedural hurdle in the Senate on Monday. Trump's team has downplayed accusations of corruption. White House official Bo Hines said last week at CoinDesk's Consensus 2025 conference in Toronto that the Trump family's crypto ventures do not pose conflicts of interest, and they have "the right to engage in capital markets."
Barnama
19-05-2025
- Business
- Barnama
US Eyes Region-based Tariffs For Many Nations As Deadline Nears
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent testifies before a House Financial Services Committee hearing entitled "The Annual Testimony of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the International Financial System," on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 7, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard/File Photo WASHINGTON, May 19 (Bernama-Kyodo) -- The United States (US) is likely to introduce region-based tariffs instead of coming up with individual duty rates for many countries, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday, as time runs out to negotiate trade deals across the world. According to Kyodo News Agency, Bessent said the administration of President Donald Trump is now aiming to strike deals with select key trading partners on its sweeping so-called reciprocal tariffs imposed in April. While appearing on a CNN programme, the secretary said he expects to "do a lot of regional deals." bootstrap slideshow "This is the rate for Central America, this is the rate for this part of Africa, but what we are focused on right now are the 18 important trading relationships," Bessent said, when asked about how many trade agreements the administration may be able to announce in the coming weeks. Bessent's remarks came after Trump said on Friday that his administration will send letters to numerous countries over the next two to three weeks informing them how much they need to pay to do business in the United States. Under the so-called reciprocal policy, Trump unleashed a baseline tariff of 10 per cent for almost all nations in the world and additional, higher country-specific duties for about 60 major trading partners that have trade surpluses with the United States. Trump paused the country-specific tariffs for 90 days until early July to allow for negotiations, but his officials have struggled to make progress on so many deals in the time available. Trump said Friday there are about 150 countries that want to negotiate deals with the United States, but he did not offer details, including which countries may receive such letters, at the time. Countries such as India, Japan and South Korea are believed to be included in the 18 important trading partners as they have had talks with the Trump administration since the pause was set hours after its steep tariffs took effect on April 9.
