@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io
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molly0xfff

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io

crypto researcher & critic, software engineer, wikipedian • https://indieweb.social/@web3isgreat creator • subscribe to my newsletter at http://citationneeded.news/
she/her • :QueerCat_Bisexual:

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molly0xfff, to RSS
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see ya, feedly. shameful stuff.

"Cancel Pro+ subscription" screen. In the "Anything else you'd like to add?" text field: "The 'track protests and strikes' tool is shameful. I can't support a company helping union busting and strikebreaking."

molly0xfff, to random
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"it's not like we can put the genie back in the bottle! 🤷" – VC who stands to profit massively from the release of the genie, and who has worked tirelessly to release said genie

molly0xfff, to random
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Starting in 30 minutes: a Senate hearing titled "Crypto Crash: Why Financial System Safeguards are Needed for Digital Assets".

Livestream at https://www.banking.senate.gov/hearings/crypto-crash-why-financial-system-safeguards-are-needed-for-digital-assets

Witnesses will be:
• Lee Reiners (policy director at the Duke Financial Economics Center, crypto skeptic)
• Linda Jeng (crypto lobbyist)
• Yesha Yadav (law prof at Vanderbilt, pro-crypto, big on crypto self-regulation)

Written testimonies linked at same URL above.

#SenateHearing

molly0xfff,
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Reiners urges Congress to recognize cryptocurrencies as security and give SEC full jurisdiction over the crypto industry. Argues that SEC has more resources, and critically, has a consumer protection mandate.

molly0xfff,
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On to Linda Jeng. "Technological innovation enhances people's lives in meaningful ways", says Jeng, shortly after Reiners said that we need to realize that "technological innovation" is not inherently a good thing.

molly0xfff,
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Jeng urges Congress to "establish a federal regulatory framework for digital assets, addressing securities and non-securities". Argues that there's a risk that strong regulation could push crypto companies offshore and weaken US financial dominance.

molly0xfff,
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Yesha Yadav is up now. Yadav says that the crypto collapse in 2022 should be taken as an indictment of the failed crypto companies but also of regulators.

Begins her argument for a "self-regulatory regime", where crypto companies should be the ones to oversee the space.

😂 god help us

molly0xfff,
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She specifically calls out serious flaws in her proposed plan, which she acknowledges exist in self-regulation in traditional finance also, but says that it's needed to get the industry up and running quickly.

[screaming]

molly0xfff,
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Reiners says that the crypto industry's criticism of "regulation by enforcement" by the SEC is simply a deflection from the industry's repeated and widespread choice to operate in contradiction to SEC regulations.

molly0xfff,
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Sen. Scott (R-SC) is up now. Continues to denigrate US regulators for "muddying the waters", repeats that he wants to get SEC Chair Gensler in front of congress before his scheduled hearing in September.

molly0xfff,
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Sen. Scott: "Let's be clear: had the SEC provided anything besides hostility to the crypto industry, we may have been able to save investors from losing billions of dollars on FTX, Celsius, BlockFi, and the list goes on."

molly0xfff,
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Reiners says he agrees with Gensler that most cryptos are securities, but that some (like Bitcoin) are "sufficiently decentralized" to the point that they're more like commodities, which splinters the regulatory environment.

He argues that to address that, Congress should carve out cryptos to be placed under SEC jurisdiction to provide a unified regulator.

molly0xfff,
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Sen. Menendez (D-NJ) asks if the US is ahead or behind the curve compared to other countries' crypto regulation.

Yadav says behind, praises EU's proposped MiCA legislation.

Jeng praises other countries' approaches to not only crypto regulation but data privacy.

Reiners says he doesn't think the US is falling behind, argues it is better to get regulation right than to prioritize "not falling behind".

#SenateHearing

molly0xfff,
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Says a lot of countries are jumping to embrace crypto, including countries like The Bahamas that were burned by it.

molly0xfff,
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Hoo boy, Sen. Vance (R-OH) — crypto booster and holder — is up now. He says he owns crypto, then goes on to say "we don't really know what [crypto] is yet".

molly0xfff,
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Vance pulls out the ol' argument about "isn't this like the dawn of the Internet?"

Reiners asks why it's taken fourteen years for value to emerge. Says that most people buying crypto are simply looking to speculate.

molly0xfff,
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Linda Jeng is not covering herself in glory here... I'm having a really hard time following her train of thought as she bounces from topic to topic.

molly0xfff,
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Yadav cites two examples of "innovation for as long as we can remember in this economy": ATMs and "all of the financial engineering that we saw pre-crisis".

molly0xfff,
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Sen. Van Hollen (D-MD) asks about thoughts on Professor Hilary Allen's testimony in a previous hearing, where she urged for a sort of "Glass–Steagall 2.0" for crypto.

molly0xfff,
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Reiners calls for transparency from banks to customers as to their crypto exposure.

Reiners cites the recent Silvergate crypto bank run, a bank that likely only survived because of emergency liquidity from the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco. "[This] of course is not the reason we have federal home loan banks. They exist to support home ownership, not to bail out banks that gamble on crypto".

molly0xfff,
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Sen. Britt (R-AL) and Jeng are arguing that crypto will allow "more people in the US to achieve the American dream", they pull out stats on adoption of crypto by people of color, women.

molly0xfff,
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Reiners: "There is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that crypto promotes financial inclusion. In fact, there is overwhelming evidence to suggest the exact opposite is happening. Most people who've invested in cryptocurrency have lost money. Of those people, a plurality are minorities and low-income Americans. This is an example of predatory inclusion..." 1/2

molly0xfff,
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"... We saw the same thing with subprime loans leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, where low-income and minority communities are being explicitly targeted with very, very risky products. And unfortunately they have lost, in many cases, everything." 2/2

molly0xfff,
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Sen. Tillis (R-NC) tries to argue for proof-of-reserves, Reiners shuts him down by saying that POR "aren't worth the paper they're written on", and what we need are audits.

molly0xfff,
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Sen. Warren (D-MA), as to be expected, starts out with a statement about crypto enabling crime, terrorism, ransomware, etc. focuses on the use of crypto for money laundering.

molly0xfff,
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Warren: "If they couldn't use crypto, would ransomware gangs even exist?"
Reiners: "No."

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