WTF? 18 Democratic Senators vote with GOP to advance Trump's crypto bill

[orangecrush]

.

?si=BdyHUwEr4divYPUh

[cadoman]

1. crypto is probably going to end up like defense/wall street/pharma

And both parties are going to eat from that trough. There's just too much money there that a candidate can go against it and remain competitive.

Also keep in mind that money flows both during the primaries and the general. So it gives a big step up to a candidate who takes the money.

There are increasingly few issues where money doesn't flow to both sides, pretty much assault weapons and women's health.

[Johonny]

24. Most crypto is worthless

And the vast majority of it will remain a complete scam. A legal, for now, scam. I avoid it completely.

[cadoman]

28. how can something that is worthless trade for billions of dollars in value every day?

Unless dollars, euros, pesos, etc. are worthless as well?

What is your definition of the term "worthless"? Is it "worthless" to impoverished peoples in Africa who don't have access to stable banking systems?

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-role-of-cryptocurrencies-in-sub-saharan-africa/

https://www.weforum.org/stories/2021/09/what-are-the-implications-of-widespread-cryptocurrency-adoption-in-africa/

Is it worthless to freedom fighters in Ukraine who use it to fund their resistance to fascism?

https://www.elliptic.co/blog/live-updates-millions-in-crypto-crowdfunded-for-the-ukrainian-military

Is it worthless to women who don't have equal access to the financial system in their countries?

https://www.coinbase.com/learn/community/women-and-crypto

Is it worthless to Black Americans who suffer the worst outcomes of our current financial system, which is built to enable white privilege?

https://www.coinbase.com/learn/community/black-americans-and-crypto

https://peopleofcolorintech.com/front/the-black-folks-spearheading-the-crypto-revolution/

It seems pretty clear now that crypto is here to stay. It makes sense to have a Democratic vision for crypto and how it is regulated, rather than bury our heads in the sand about its "worth" just because we don't prefer it.

[Hey Joe]

2. Because red or blue

Money is still green.
Fuck these people

[Celerity]

3. list of all 18 Dems who voted for cloture

https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1191/vote_119_1_00305.htm#position



YEAs

Alsobrooks (D-MD)
Booker (D-NJ)
Cortez Masto (D-NV)
Fetterman (D-PA) Manchin's ghost
Gallego (D-AZ)
Gillibrand (D-NY)
Hassan (D-NH)
Heinrich (D-NM)
Hickenlooper (D-CO)
Kelly (D-AZ)
Kim (D-NJ)
Lujan (D-NM)
Padilla (D-CA)
Rosen (D-NV)
Schiff (D-CA)
Slotkin (D-MI) Sinema's ghost
Warner (D-VA)
Warnock (D-GA)

Not Voting

Ossoff (D-GA)

NAYs

Baldwin (D-WI)
Bennet (D-CO)
Blumenthal (D-CT)
Blunt Rochester (D-DE)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Coons (D-DE)
Duckworth (D-IL)
Durbin (D-IL)
Hirono (D-HI)
Kaine (D-VA)
King (I-ME)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Markey (D-MA)
Merkley (D-OR)
Murphy (D-CT)
Murray (D-WA)
Peters (D-MI)
Reed (D-RI)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schatz (D-HI)
Schumer (D-NY)
Shaheen (D-NH)
Smith (D-MN)
Van Hollen (D-MD)
Warren (D-MA)
Welch (D-VT)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wyden (D-OR)

[et tu]

4. right on

well stated and to the crux of it all-
and d hogg is trying to correct course
so he gets tossed soooo frustrating

[markpkessinger]

5. Fetterman and Slotnik don't surprise me . . .

. . . but names like Schiff, Warnock, Gillibrand do! WTF, indeed!

[Bettie]

12. Follow the money

isn't that always the answer to these questions?

[RandomNumbers]

32. Just imagine if people had voted Dem long enough

to prevent the takeover of the SC by Republican appointees

and maybe we wouldn't have Citizens United

and maybe we would still have something resembling campaign finance law

oh well

[Mossfern]

6. Disgusting .....

I'm losing faith in the universe at this point.
Thank goodness I can take solace in my garden - for the time being.



Yeah deer - I'm looking at you.

[orangecrush]

17. Good luck with the deer

I lived in the country, and fully sympathize!

[a kennedy]

7. Damn, Senator Warnock???

[milestogo]

25. And Booker

And Kelly

[BlueKota]

30. Surprised by Adam Schiff.

Sadly not surprised by "I can be bipartisan," Gillibrand. I wish she'd realize that making nice with the dictator and his minions isn't her job, but standing up for the rights of her constituents is. Unfortunately she was just re-elected so she won't have to be facing a primary opponent anytime in the near future.

What part of you don't aide a dictatorial con artist doesn't she get?

[Tribetime]

27. My thoughts too can't see a preacher doing that

[awesomerwb1]

8. Crypto is here to stay - Tens of millions in US like and own it

Especially the younger people.

Anyone who doesn't understand crypto/blockchain technology should at least make an effort to understand what it is and how it works.

Unless you think IBM, Microsoft, Visa/Mastercard, JP Morgan, FedEx Walmart, Siemens, Shell, Coca Cola, Samsung, gold man sachs, Fidelity, Amex, Pfizer, Mayo Clinic, HUmana, Roche to name but a few, are dumb.

[Passages]

9. Not at all dumb.

Joseph Stiglitz: Bitcoin ought to be outlawed

The World Economic Forum
https://www.weforum.org › stories › 2017/11 › joseph-...
Nov 30, 2017 — Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has said the cryptocurrency 'doesn't serve any useful function'.

Joseph Stiglitz: 'We should shut down the cryptocurrencies'
CNBC
https://www.cnbc.com › 2019/05/02 › joseph-stiglitz-w...
Joseph stiglitz on crypto from www.cnbc.com
May 6, 2019 — Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel-Prize winning economist, says cryptocurrencies should be shut down. He worries that they enable illicit activity by

[highplainsdem]

13. Gil Duran: Crypto's "a giant scam - a towering stack of Ponzi con fraudulence."

https://www.thenerdreich.com/fraud-king-donald-trump-goes-all-in-on-crypto-politics/

"Crypto is basically a pyramid scheme, with early investors dumping their tokens when the price rises," wrote Jonathan Taplin in The End of Reality: How 4 Billionaires Are Selling a Fantasy Future of the Metaverse, Mars and Crypto.

I have recently been doing a deep dive on cryptocurrency. Most of the books written so far appear to reach this stark conclusion.

By convincing people to pay "real money for fake money," the people at the top of the crypto pyramid have amassed tremendous wealth. And now these wealthy "cryptopians" want to translate that wealth into political power. They very openly seek to topple the US dollar and replace it with crypto.

And in 2024, these crypto guys are becoming a major force in American politics. A $200 million crypto-funded PAC has quickly become one of the major players in this election cycle. Its main goal is to stock Congress with crypto-friendly politicians and, of course, to influence the presidential race.

[Passages]

14. Yep.

[orangecrush]

16. Thank you

[oasis]

18. Excellent, informative post.

[Vinca]

19. Someday we'll have a repeat of Dubya's 2008 financial crisis thanks to this con.

[highplainsdem]

21. The generative-AI boom or bubble (ChatGPT etc.) is also a con job, with many of the same

people involved:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220066913

And they're trying to make sure not just our economy but our entire society will be subjugated and warped to support their delusions, which they want us to believe will bring utopia.

Con artists have found their ideal president with Trump.

[Passages]

10. Their donors.

[highplainsdem]

11. See these threads from last fall on how much the crypto industry spent on the 2024 election:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219542313

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219732996


From the second one:

The Crypto Industry Emerged As a 'Political Money Death Star' in 2024
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-moreno-congress-crypto-death-star-2024-1235168746/

Close your eyes and make a list of the most important issues in the 2024 election. Maybe you thought of the cost of living, abortion, immigration, democracy, climate change, gun violence, the war in Gaza, the Supreme Court. If you’re like the vast majority of voters, the word you probably didn’t think of is “cryptocurrency.”

But in the last year, the crypto industry quietly became the biggest corporate spender of the entire 2024 election. According to a report from the nonprofit watchdog Public Citizen, nearly half of the $274 million in corporate money contributed during this year’s elections came from crypto firms. For comparison, the second biggest spender, Koch Industries — the corporation made famous by Jane Mayer’s opus Dark Money — gave $40 million to its Super PAC, Americans for Prosperity Action. Koch’s firm and employee PAC only put around $6 million toward electing Republicans to Congress.

After its 2024 spending spree, crypto industry cash is poised to account for a staggering 15 percent of all known corporate contributions made since the Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in Citizens United, the watchdog group found.

The sheer scale of the spending “is unprecedented and unlike anything that we have seen before,” says Rick Claypool, who authored the report for Public Citizen. He likens it to a “political money Death Star that they’re just sort of aiming at the candidates and races.” The industry’s donations appear to be both about achieving its narrow policy agenda — a demand for light-touch regulation in Washington — as well as striking fear into candidates’ hearts about the possibility they’ll spend against them.

-snip-

[orangecrush]

15. Thank you

[oasis]

20. Crypto, klepto, gypto.

[Emile]

22. Crypto Bill is for money laundrying.

Who are these Democrats? Do they call themselves centrist?

[orangecrush]

23. Suprised

At some of the names.

"16 Senate Dems Join GOP to Advance Crypto Bill—A Gift to Trump's 'Reeking Corruption'
"No Democrats should be supporting Trump's self-enrichment," said one grassroots progressive group.


The industry-backed Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act passed a cloture vote, with support from Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), the original co-sponsor of the bill, Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Ben Ray Luján (N.M.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.). The bill is now teed up for Senate debate.


https://www.commondreams.org/news/senate-democrats-genius-bill-advance

[walkingman]

26. "Never trust politicians, lawyers, or ... priests"

[Hotler]

29. My Senator, John "What's the use of resisting." Hickenlooper.

You know John, you either stand for freedom and democracy or, you stand for fascism and dictatorship. There is no middle of the road, no common ground. I wonder what's the going rate of campaign donation a vote like that earns?

[LudwigPastorius]

31. The bill is concerned with a specific type of crypto issue, the stablecoin.

Stablecoins do not go up and down in value like other crypto assets. They are (supposed) to be pegged to the dollar or other real world asset.

This bill ensures that any entity that issues a stablecoin has those actual assets on deposit to back up them up. It is a good thing. This means that someone who cashes out what is advertised as a safe instrument will actually get their money in good old US dollars.

It prevents scammers from stealing from people.

https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IN12522