[ad_1]
Following the crash of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, Senator Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey) stated (“US lawmakers call for more cryptocurrency regulation after FTX collapse,” Financial TimesNovember 15, 2022):
This should be a renewed call for Congress to take a serious look at crypto exchanges and lending platforms, many of which engage in risky behavior while marketing themselves as safe for consumers.
We can say something similar with much more evidence and theory to support our statement: “It’s time to take a serious look at the government, which engages in risky behaviors while marketing itself as safe for citizens.” Just think of federal power and public debt, which increase with every emergency and in between, and very rarely recede.
The ingenuity expressed by state leaders is not limited to one side of the aisle. U Financial Times continues:
Cynthia Lummis – the Republican senator from Wyoming, who co-wrote a bipartisan bill that outlines a comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets in the United States – described the FTX turmoil as “terrible and simultaneously not so surprising”.
“It’s obvious that Congress needs to regulate digital assets,” he added.
That Sam Bankman-Fried, the entrepreneur who founded and ran FTX, was a major donor to the Democratic Party and allied groups does not make the episode any less revealing (“Sam Bankman-Fried’s downfall cuts off a major source of funds for US Democrats,” Financial Times, November 13, 2022):
Before the fall of the Bankman-Fried cryptocurrency exchange FTX, the entrepreneur had appeared as the second largest donor to the Democrats after George Soros. …
The businessman was the second largest donor to the groups of democratic tendency during the last midterm elections, spending $ 36 million.
He did hedge his rent-seeking bets, but apparently only with small amounts:
During the 2022 cycle, Bankman-Fried donated $155,000 to right-wing Pacs: the Alabama Conservative Fund, which supported Alabama Republican Senator-elect Katie Britt, a crypto supporter; and Heartland Resurgence, which supports Senator John Boozman of Arkansas, the top Republican on the Senate agriculture committee that oversees crypto.
That the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food and Forestry “oversees” cryptocurrencies is a rather hilarious feature of the story.
[ad_2]
Source link