Policy Expert Scott Johnson

Scott Johnsson What the Dems/Biden admin are STILL doing:

• OCC refuses to enact Brian Brooks' "fair access" banking rule to prohibit federally chartered banks from denying financial services such as lending to would-be clients on political or ideological grounds.
  
• Enforcement actions against Coinbase, Binance and Kraken based on an unimaginably expansive definition of security and without clear guidance
  
• SEC refuses Coinbase petition for rulemaking
  
• SEC Wells Notice to Consensys
  
• SEC Wells Notice to Uniswap Labs
  
• SEC Wells Notice to Paxos for issuing the BUSD stablecoin; forcing wind down.
  
• SEC incorporates DeFi into expansive "dealer rule" w/o faithfully applying the requirements of the administrative procedures act (APA)
  
• SEC incorporates crypto trading systems, including DeFi, into exchange amendment, requiring registration as exchanges / compliance with Reg ATS -- and explicitly doubts the ability for a system to be decentralized
  
• Treasury inserts "broker" language in the dead of night into "must-pass" legislation w/o debate. Assures Congress it only intends to apply the rule to traditional brokers. IRS then promulgates rule that contemplates expansive requirements violating 1st and 4th amendments, and risks de facto banning DeFi in the US -- ie, not traditional brokers;
  
• FBI issues a warning to crypto wallet users suggesting that they may lose their funds due to criminal seizures and investigations if they don’t move them to a regulated entity;
  
• DOJ violates 5 years of FinCen guidance to shut down Tornado Cash/Samurai Wallet and allege its founders engaged in money transmission, subjecting to the threat of an extensive prison sentence;
  
• Biden maintains veto threat on SAB 121, a guidance that GAO has said was improperly promulgated and should have been subject to notice and comment rulemaking;
  
• Biden admin proposes a bill that singles out crypto miners for onerous tax treatment;
  
• OCC let crypto bank Protego’s application for a national trust charter expire without approval;
  
• FHLB refuses to come clean as to whether they had refused to roll Silvergate’s loan facility (the loans were month to month), causing their collapse;
  
• FDIC verbally messages 15 percent thresholds for crypto deposits;
  
• FDIC requires banks to individually run all new crypto business by them before they do any onboardings;
  
• Federal Reserve continues to deny crypto bank Custodia’s application to become a member of the Federal Reserve system, citing “safety and soundness” risks;
  
• Kansas City Fed branch denies Custodia’s application for a master account;
  
• Federal Reserve promulgates policy statement discouraging banks from holding cryptoassets or issuing stablecoins, and broadens authority to cover non-FDIC insured state-chartered banks (a reaction to Wyoming Special Purpose Depository Institutions (SPDIs) like Custodia, which can hold crypto alongside fiat for its banking customers);
  
• Federal Reserve, FDIC, and the OCC release a joint statement on the risks to banks engaging with crypto;
  
• National Economic Council releases a policy statement not explicitly banning banks from serving crypto clients, but strongly discouraging banks from transacting with cryptoassets directly or maintaining exposure to crypto depositors;
  
• 103 Dems + 2 Reps sign Warren letter falsely exaggerating terrorist financing crypto sources, no retraction;
  
• Warren still pushing DAAMLA, effectively a complete crypto ban;
  
• Blocking stablecoin legislation;
  
• Blocking CBDC ban; and
  
• Maintaining ALL of the personnel that allowed the above to occur (save maybe 2 junior SEC attorneys that became falls guys in the Debt Box fiasco; and Marty ain't out yet)
  

This is not an exhaustive list, nor inclusive of "water under the bridge" acts that clearly cant be rectified (eg, killing Signature/Signet). But walking back on nearly all of these issues/items would JUST get us back to neutral and close to where the Trump admin left us. At that point, the apologists can go off about how Trump/Biden admins are both 'pro-crypto' or whatever adjective they're using to equivocate. Biden is still threatening devs with prison sentences and still willing to destroy any bank or business that gets in the way.

What they've done so far:

• SAB 121 - Just ~10% of House Dem caucus votes to overturn a clearly improper SEC staff accounting bulletin; little more than 20% of Senate Dem caucus. (vs 95% of Reps). Biden still maintaining veto threat. House minority leader votes against. Senate majority leader votes for.
  
• FIT21 - ~1/3 of House Dem caucus votes for (flawed but symbolic) market structure bill (vs 95% of Reps); House minority leader votes against.
  
• ETH spot ETF - approval (good, but this shouldn't have even been close -- and by all accounts, Gensler was about ready to bring ETH behind the shed and he's still running the show)
  
• "Reaching out" (lol, ignore our current positions... we can be the good guys)
  

There's a LOONG way left to go before anyone in this space trusts that Dems are actually turning the corner, at least to a meaningful degree...