As the bloated infrastructure bill makes its way through the US Senate, a donnybrook has ignited about regulation on cryptocurrency.  The initial bill had an amendment that was agreed on by everyone, or so the world thought.  Then uber-Washington Machine politician Democratic Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, and retiring Machine politician Republican Rob Portman threw a wrench into it.  Democratic Senator Kristin Sinema of Arizona also joined in sponsoring the amendment.  The White House and US Treasury signed on to the Warner Amendment.

The competing amendment sponsored by uber-liberal Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, RINO Pat Toomey, and Republican (Trumpish) Senator Cynthia Loomis of Wyoming is the one the crypto industry would like to see passed.

Lost in the noise, Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas offered up the idea that the US shouldn’t regulate crypto at all. Cruz is probably right if you want to see competition and innovation pick winners and losers in the crypto industry.  Unfortunately, once a pen has been put to paper by a government bureaucrat, there is no shortage of paper or ink.  They are often ideological and driven by their pursuit to control outcomes rather than for the good of the people.  I fought a transaction tax on trading for years and they are still fighting it.

I have some experience with government regulation as it pertains to commodity markets.  I was a part of the CME Board when we engaged in the CFMA in 2000.  At the time, OTC derivatives didn’t have (Read more...)