Crypto Week’s Corruption Gets Big Bipartisan Votes

This week has been branded “Crypto Week” in the US House of Representatives, as the House teed up two of the cryptocurrency industry’s priority bills.

And, sadly, the support for money laundering and financial instability is broadly bipartisan, as the industry has become a major elections spender.

The House voted 308 to 122 for the GENIUS Act, the corrupt crypto industry bill to set the stage for the next financial crisis, encourage money laundering, and bless Trump’s corruption.

It’s worth revisiting Senator Elizabeth Warren’s remarks opposing the bill:

First, corruption. It is fitting that we are voting on the GENIUS Act just a few days before President Trump hosts a “private intimate dinner” and a VIP White House tour for the top investors in his meme coin–many of whom remain anonymous. Buyers, including some apparently foreign investors, reportedly spent an estimated $148 million in the contest, enriching Donald Trump and his family. And yet, this pay-to-play scheme is only the tip of the iceberg of the President’s crypto corruption.

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That’s wrong. The GENIUS Act will accelerate Trump’s corruption by supercharging the size of the stablecoin market and the reach and profitability of USD1. And, for the first time in American history, it also makes our president — Donald Trump — the regulator of his own financial product.

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Second, financial stability. I am deeply concerned this bill will directly lead to the next financial meltdown.

This is not the first time Congress listened to the financial industry and created a weak regulatory regime for a new, innovative financial product. We’ve seen this story before, and we know how it ends.

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Make no mistake. We are likely to see another financial crisis in the coming years. And we are virtually certain to see another set of wild swings in cryptocurrency values. And it will be the American people who will bear the costs of a massive financial crash facilitated by the stablecoin market if Congress passes this bill.

Third, if this bill passes, it will mean easier access to money for terrorists and cartels. Even today, the crypto industry’s own analysts are calling stablecoins “the new kingpin of illicit crypto activity.” According to Chainalysis, a blockchain analytics firm, stablecoins account for more than 60% of all illicit crypto transactions. They are an ideal payment mechanism for cartels, terrorists, sanctions evaders, and human traffickers to finance crime. Unfortunately, the GENIUS Act massively expands the marketplace for stablecoins while failing to address the basic national security risks posed by them. The bill fails to apply anti-money laundering safeguards to exchanges and intermediaries that facilitate the movement, obfuscation, and custody of stablecoins.

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Fourth, if this bill passes, it will allow Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg to issue their own money. The bill still permits Big Tech companies and other conglomerates to issue their own private currencies. Community banks have warned us that by creating a parallel, lightly regulated banking system, the stablecoin market will drain deposits from our local communities. There will be less funding available for small businesses and households across our country. So if this bill becomes law, Congress will be responsible if a handful of giants take control of our money and then access and abuse troves of valuable consumer spending data. We will be responsible if small businesses struggle to access credit and more community banks disappear.

Finally, if this bill passes, main street investors will be at greater risk of getting robbed and scammed. The bill jeopardizes CFPB oversight and the suite of consumer protections people enjoy when using their Venmo app or bank account. If you get cheated using a stablecoin, you may be out of luck. Our constituents will be reaching out to our offices because they’ve fallen victim to a stablecoin scam or have been saddled with junk fees when they redeem their stablecoin, only to discover that in many cases there is no recourse.

Nonetheless, 102 Democrats voted yes, including 4 out of the 5 memberships of House Dems’s Leadership Team.

The House voted 294 to 134 to pass the crypto industry’s CLARITY Act, which creates a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies without any meaningful consumer or investor protections. Basically, it’s a pro-fraud, pro-corruption bill.

Here’s Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) from the floor debate:

This bill gives a green light to self-enriching crypto schemes where officials at the highest levels of power, including in the White House, have generated hundreds of billions of dollars in personal profit.

We need legislation that stops financial abuse, not encourages it, especially during a time when the SEC has dropped enforcement actions against major crypto firms and undermined investor safety.

Across our country, millions of working families are battling rising costs, our elders are targeted by financial scams, and investors are trying to recover from volatile markets, but Republicans are ignoring all of that to prioritize the crypto industry’s wish list.

To be clear: the people deserve crypto legislation that is fair, transparent, and accountable — not a bill that opens the floodgates to conflicts of interest and weakens investor protections.

Nonetheless, 78 Democrats voted yes.

The third bill, which was less bipartisan, was the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act, which would ban the Federal Reserve from issuing a digital currency. The bill was opposed by Public Citizen and Americans for Financial Reform.

It passed 219 to 210, with only Jared Golden and Shri Thanedar joining Republicans.