21st March 2026 > > Civil servants, the CLARITY Act, & gold.

tl;dr

Is there anything that civil servants can do competently? The CLARITY Act may be about to reach a breakthrough. Gold isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Market Snap

Market Wrap

Despite an escalation in the war with Iran, accompanied by three days of spot BTC ETF outflows, BTC price action may reasonably be described as resilient. I am losing confidence that my cheeky bids in the 50s are ever going to get hit, which is a shame.

Occasional Series – And you trust the government?

Once again, the technocrats – this time the ones that are charged with keeping company records accurate and safe – prove they are not up to the job:

Decentralised blockchain technology solves the ever-growing problem of incompetent civil servants who take no responsibility, can never get fired, and have full-fat pensions “working” mostly at home.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – The CLARITY Act

Politico reports that an agreement has been reached on the thorny issue of whether stablecoin issuers can pay yield to holders of stablecoins.

The TradFi stance with support from one side of the political divide is that no yield should be paid. There has been intense lobbying in support of the status quo of building barriers of entry to competition allowing the big banks to make outsized returns at the expense of all of us, increasing the cost of capital, and making all business less productive. The alternative stance – that of allowing greater competition to TradFi – is not only better for everyone but is also a moral imperative, is one that the CCC naturally supports. However, from a practical point of view, this issue should be conceded and returned to later. By that point TradFi will be all over stablecoins and will want to pay yield to holders to shore up their competitive moat once more.

Details of the “agreement in principle” have not yet been shared though it is rumoured that TradFi has gotten its wishes. If so, there is the tantalising prospect of rapid adoption of the CLARITY Act on a (mostly) bi-partisan basis, setting the stage for a dramatic acceleration for the adoption and use of cryptos within TradFi.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Turns out gold isn’t a safe-haven asset after all