Yellen angers crypto crowd

[bernorange 8348]

You folks might be aware that Congress (the Senate more specifically) was wrangling a bit on some crypto amendments to the Infrastructure bill.  The fight appears to be over, but there was an aspect to the story that caught my eye.

The Senate was debating the merits of two competing amendments to clarify some language on a provision related to taxes/"know your customer" rules for the crypto industry.  The bill's original language is vague.  The two competing amendments attempted to clarify what a "broker" is (who has to abide the rules).

Context:

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Initially, lawmakers proposed a provision that would impose stricter rules on how "digital assets" are taxed to help fund the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. The provision would require brokers to report gains in a type of 1099 form, in addition to reporting transactions of more than $10,000 to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which is already mandated. But the provision was met with backlash, as crypto advocates pushed for lawmakers to clarify the definition of a "broker."

Currently, the bill defines a broker as "any person who (for consideration) is responsible for regularly providing any service effectuating transfers of digital assets on behalf of another person," which advocates say is too broad.

In an effort to change the definition, Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Pat Toomey, R-Pa. and Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., introduced an amendment on Wednesday that explicitly excludes miners and developers. Their amendment has strong support from the crypto community.

But on Thursday, Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Mark Warner, D-Va. and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., submitted their own amendment. It reportedly changes the "broker" definition slightly, but not to the extent deemed necessary by those within the crypto space.
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More:  https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/06/competing-crypto-tax-amendments-to-the-senates-infrastructure-bill.html

News leaked out that Janet Yellen was lobbying behind the scenes against the Wyden-Toomey-Lummis amendment.  She is apparently anti-crypto.

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U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has been lobbying against cryptocurrency legislation being proposed by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and other senators as part of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, according to a Washington Post report published on Friday.
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https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/janet-yellen-has-been-lobbying-against-wyden-lummis-toomey-crypto-amendment%3A-report-2021

This sparked some backlash...

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The US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has been accused of corruption due to receiving $7.2 million in ‘speaking fees’ from just Citi bank and the Citadel hedge fund.

“Since much of America was locked down in 2020, those speeches are almost all Zoom calls, done from her home. $7.2 million total,” Bruce Fenton, a long time bitcoiner, says.

Yellen’s official limited disclosure reveals she received millions more from other banks like Barclays, BNP, UBS, and more.

That indicates that her incentives are completely misaligned because her government salary is just $221,400 a year, while just Citi has paid her more than $7 million.

Moreover while this sum might look like a small amount for an open bribe, Yellen’s wealth is estimated to be $20 million, so she has been given in one year almost half her net worth by just one bank.

She is now serving her real employers, the banks and not the United States government, as Ron Hammond, Director of Government Relations at the Blockchain Association, says:

“The public pressure is working as more Senators express concerns to us privately about the bill text, Treasury is pulling out all the stops to kill the Wyden amendment, general politics of the bill could force Sen. Schumer to say no amendments at all.”
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https://www.trustnodes.com/2021/08/08/janet-yellen-accused-of-banking-corruption?PageSpeed=noscript

I knew that she had made some money from speaking fees prior to her nomination to the Biden cabinet, but I didn't realize it was that much of her net worth.

[Neonmoon 38127]

8 minutes ago, bernorange said:

News leaked out that Janet Yellen was lobbying behind the scenes against the Wyden-Toomey-Lummis amendment.  She is apparently anti-crypto. realize it was that much of her net worth.

I would think so. The US Government will never allow crypto to become a legitimate digital currency. Why? Crypto is, by definition, decentralized. The whole point of having a national currency is so the government can can control how much currency is in circulation. The US will release its own digital dollar. 

[LABEVO 928]

Not surprising the gold bugs are the biggest crypto nerds 

[washparkhorn 9935]

1 hour ago, LABEVO said:

Not surprising the gold bugs are the biggest crypto nerds 

I have been following both for years. From my experience, they are related, but also in competition with one another. 

Both come from the "Fuck the Fed" tradition. The Gold Standard boys use economic theory. The Crypto says "fuck consequences." The Treasury and the Fed worry about consequences. 

Gold is already a store of value. The Crypto is an immature store of value. 

The Crypto Influencers are hurting its value.  That needs to be fixed quickly.  Horrible. Find a different approach.