These are the 6 U.S. Senators at fault for killing the crypto industry in the U.S. Vote them out!

You've probably heard by now that, despite our best efforts, the U.S. Senate failed to even vote on any alternative to the horrible cryptocurrency provision that may kill the crypto industry in the U.S. This means that wallet producers, miners, Dapp creators, and basically everyone else will now require KYC of their customers/users or face harsh penalties from the IRS (the U.S. tax collector). These are the 6 Senators (listed in no particular order) who are responsible for the cryptocurrency disaster in the Infrastructure Bill. We will remember their actions and vote them out!

Rob Portman (R-OH) – drafted the disastrous, original cryptocurrency provision. When Toomey, Wyden, and Lummis introduced an amendment to fix the provision, Rob Portman publicly supported their amendment before blindsiding everyone with his own, worse amendment. Portman has proved himself to be a puppet for Janet Yellen and Wall Street.

Mark Warner (D-VA) – wrote the worse crypto amendment with Rob Portman, creating chaos in the Senate and causing Portman to recant his previous support of the Toomey/Wyden/Lummis amendment. Because the Toomey/Wyden/Lummis was bipartisan and already widely expected to pass, Mark Warner’s co-authorship of the Portman amendment gave the Portman/Warner/Sinema amendment bipartisan sponsorship, giving it legitimacy to contend the Toomey/Wyden/Lummis amendment.

Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) – did not write the worse crypto amendment with Portman and Warner, but signed onto the amendment later to give it legitimacy. Kyrsten Sinema was one of the two leaders of the Senate Infrastructure Bill negotiations, along with Rob Portman. Once Sinema signed onto the Portman/Warner amendment, it became extremely difficult for other senators to publicly oppose the Portman/Warner/Sinema amendment, because it became a symbolic rejection of the Infrastructure Bill as a whole. This is why we only saw Republicans who already indicated they would vote against the Infrastructure Bill publicly commit to the better, Toomey/Wyden/Lummis amendment.

Bill Hagerty (R-TN) – 99 out of 100 Senators voted to expedite the Infrastructure Bill, which would have led to an opportunity for proper consideration, debate, and voting on the cryptocurrency amendments. Bill Hagerty was the ONLY Senator to vote against expedition. This forced the Senate to either take a vote to end debate and force a vote on the whole Infrastructure Bill within 30 hours, or to take a recess until September 13, 2021. Once the Senate voted to end debate, it meant that the cryptocurrency amendments would not even be voted on without unanimous consent of all 100 Senators. Hagerty effectively increased the number of Senators who needed to support a crypto amendment from 60 to 100.

Richard Shelby (R-AL) – 99 out of 100 Senators consented to vote on the mega-compromise Toomey/Lummis/Warner/Portman/Sinema amendment which was substantially similar to the good Toomey/Wyden/Lummis amendment. It was widely expected to pass, and we would have seen a resounding success. However, Richard Shelby was the ONLY Senator to refuse to consent, because he conditioned his consent on the Senate also approving $50 billion in military spending. When this idiotic ultimatum was rejected, Richard Shelby objected to the cryptocurrency amendment, leaving Portman’s disastrous, original cryptocurrency provision intact.

John Thune (R-SD) – the Senate Minority Whip. His ONE job is to make sure that the Republican senators vote with party leadership. He failed this TWICE by allowing Bill Hagerty and Richard Shelby to block the crypto amendments. How hard could it be to get corrupt politicians to vote with a corrupt party? Just promise to give the Republicans candy if they vote with the party. I used that strategy to win my middle school student government election in a landslide.

Also, fuck Janet Yellen. The unelected, 74-year-old Secretary of the Treasury was the person behind the cryptocurrency provision in the first place, as well as the Portman/Warner/Sinema amendment. It’s no surprise that the woman who took $7.2 million in speaking fees over the last two years (almost entirely from banks) was behind this attempt, at every step of the way, to systematically destroy cryptocurrency and DeFi. And of course, because she was unelected, we have no way to vote her out.