12th December 2022 > > US politicians.

tl;dr

Sadly, you just cannot keep the politics out of cryptos.

Market Snap

Market Wrap

BTC is very tightly range bound though leveraged shorts are convinced there will be further fall-out from the fraudulent FTX fiasco. They might be right.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary — US politicians

Though the CCC remains unashamedly and robustly apolitical in outlook, it is not possible to divorce cryptos from the political arena. The philosophical divide between supporters of cryptos and the naysayers splits firmly along political lines, especially in the US.

First up we have Senator Raymond Jon Tester who made this statement yesterday:

"I see no reason why this stuff should exist."

In that simple and plain sentence Tester makes clear that he hasn’t done any homework, and that his antagonism towards cryptos derives from a deep-seated fear of losing control.

His justification is that cryptos are “… not able to pass the smell test” which is an overused excuse when someone takes a position based on emotions and not facts.

He supports either regulating or banning crypto, but that first option doesn’t appeal to him anyway:

“The problem is that if we regulate it - and I pointed this out to some of the regulators here a week or two ago - if we regulated it, it may give it the ability of people to think it's real.”

That is a mangled sentence, but I think we know what he means.

Which leaves the option of banning cryptos, which is simply not possible in any meaningful way, and amply demonstrates the depths of his ignorance.

And just in case anyone was left in any doubt, I leave you with his other meaningful quote:

“It’s all bull****”.

Using swear words when talking about cryptos is straight out of the Financial Times playbook. Perhaps he is thinking of embarking on an alternative career.

…

On the other side of the divide, Senator Tom Emmer has Gary Gensler, chair of the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) firmly in his sights. First reported in the CCC of 27th November 2022, Tom has doubled down on his efforts to hold Gensler to account:

“[Gensler] must testify before Congress and answer questions about the cost of his regulatory failures.”

Tom continues:

“He declined to provide Congress with the information requested in the letter, which would've informed Congress of the apparent inconsistencies in Gensler's approach that caused him to miss Terra/Luna, Celsius, Voyager, and FTX.”

The information that was requested relates to the methods and processes that the SEC has adopted in its approach to the crypto industry. In failing to provide answers to those questions, Tom publicly rebuked Gensler once more:

“Congress shouldn’t have to learn the details about the SEC’s oversight agenda through planted stories in progressive publications.”

I think we know which journals he is referring to.

And just in case anyone was left in any doubt:

“FTX's collapse is not a crypto failure. It's a failure with CeFi, @GaryGensler, and Sam Bankman-Fried. Decentralization is the point.”

…

No prizes for guessing which Senator supports which political party.