Crypto
Analysis: U.S. crypto lobbyists court Democrats in fresh legislative push
WASHINGTON, July 10 (Reuters) – Embattled by a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) crackdown, crypto companies are making a renewed push on Capitol Hill to drum up support for legislation they hope will rein in the agency and provide regulatory clarity for the industry.
The Blockchain Association, Chamber of Digital Commerce, Crypto Council for Innovation, and Coinbase Global (COIN.O) are among the groups knocking on doors in Congress to build bipartisan support for a draft bill ahead of a key vote in coming weeks, said half a dozen executives and lobbyists.
While crypto companies have been expanding in Washington over the past two years to combat growing regulatory scrutiny, the latest industry scramble shows how recent high-profile SEC enforcement actions are galvanizing the crypto lobby.
“It’s another motivating factor to get up there and educate” Congress, said Cody Carbone, vice president of policy at the Chamber of Digital Commerce.
Crypto companies started out in a regulatory gray area, but the SEC has steadily asserted its authority over the industry, arguing most cryptocurrencies are securities and subject to its investor protection rules. That effort escalated last month when the SEC sued crypto exchanges Coinbase and Binance for failing to register some crypto tokens. The pair deny the allegations.
Most crypto companies dispute the SEC’s jurisdiction. They argue cryptocurrencies are more like commodities than securities, and want Congress to write laws making that clear.
Lobbyists are focused on a discussion draft bill by the Republican chairs of the House Financial Services and Agriculture committees, Patrick McHenry and Glenn Thompson respectively, which would define when a cryptocurrency is a security or a commodity. It would expand the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) oversight of the crypto industry, while clarifying the SEC’s jurisdiction.
It is the most comprehensive of several crypto bills floated in recent years, with the greatest chance of becoming law, lobbyists say. That is because of the close cooperation between the committees that oversee the CFTC and SEC, which are often accused of vying for crypto oversight. With Democrats’ support, the bill could have a shot in the Senate.
“For anything to really get traction, it has to have bipartisan support. So we’re very focused on how we as an organization, and as the industry, can help facilitate that,” said Brett Quick, head of government affairs at the Crypto Council for Innovation. “It’s not a perfect bill, but it’s a really good starting point.”
McHenry and Thompson are discussing the proposal with crypto companies, regulators and Democrats, and hope the committees will vote on it before the August recess, senior Republican policy staff said. A spokesperson for Thompson said they are “coordinating closely.”
Democrats, though, are skeptical about crypto after several major players collapsed last year, including FTX. It is unclear if Maxine Waters and David Scott, the top Democrats on the Financial Services and Agriculture committees respectively, will back the bill. Both have raised concerns it would weaken the SEC’s powers.
“It proposes a cumbersome framework with inherent structural issues that will undermine the ability of our federal financial regulators to properly regulate and oversee an industry already rife with instability and fraud,” Scott said in a statement.
Still, crypto lobbyists believe other Democrats on the committees who have yet to take a stance on crypto could be persuaded that the bill would help protect American innovation and jobs, including Vicente Gonzalez and Sylvia Garcia.
“That’s where we are recommending that our members, other members of the industry, really target their advocacy efforts,” said Carbone.
Spokespeople for the SEC,
CFTC, Waters and Gonzalez did not provide comment. A spokesperson for Garcia said she is paying close attention to the bill.
‘MASSIVE SETBACK’
Lobbyists acknowledge they are on the backfoot after the FTX scandal and indictment of its high-profile founder Sam Bankman-Fried badly hurt the crypto industry’s credibility.
“It was certainly a massive setback, particularly because Sam Bankman-Fried was so personally active in Washington,” said Kristin Smith, CEO of the Blockchain Association.
The industry has been trying to repair the damage. It spent around $6 million on federal lobbying in the first quarter, putting it on track for another record year after spending $21.6 million in 2022, according to OpenSecrets. Coinbase was the biggest spender during the first quarter at $700,000.
The company is also running a grassroots campaign, encouraging crypto users to contact lawmakers, said Kara Calvert, head of U.S. policy at Coinbase. “It’s not just Coinbase that cares about crypto; it’s hundreds of thousands of people across the United States.”
Reporting by Michelle Price; Additional reporting by Hannah Lang and Douglas Gillison; Editing by Richard Chang
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Crypto
Ripple CTO Received 40,000 ETH. Here's the Story
David Schwartz, the Chief Technology Officer of Ripple Labs, recently shared details about his investment in Ethereum during the project’s initial coin offering (ICO) in 2014.
The disclosure came in response to a community inquiry regarding Schwartz’s past involvement with Ethereum. Schwartz clarified that his decision to participate in the ICO stemmed primarily from his friendship with Vitalik Buterin, a co-founder of Ethereum. He explained that Buterin invited him to contribute to the ICO, and Schwartz, wanting to support his friend’s venture, sent 20 BTC.
Schwartz emphasized that his investment was made without extensive research or a focus on potential financial returns. His primary motivation was to support Buterin’s vision for Ethereum, a project he believed held promise for the future of blockchain technology. In exchange for his 20 BTC, Schwartz received 40,000 ETH tokens.
A Look Back at the Ethereum ICO
Public records support Schwartz’s account. The Ethereum ICO took place over 42 days in mid-2014. Early investors were able to acquire 2,000 ETH for 1 BTC, which at the time translated to roughly $0.31 per ETH. However, the exchange rate between ETH and BTC fluctuated throughout the ICO, with the price per ETH increasing as the token sale progressed.
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A Missed Opportunity, But Still a Profitable Investment
Schwartz ultimately sold his 40,000 ETH tokens when their combined value reached $40,000. This transaction represented a successful 222.58% return on his initial investment after a two-year holding period.
However, the story could have been significantly different. Had Schwartz held onto his ETH tokens for an additional year, they would have appreciated considerably. By 2015, the value of Ethereum had skyrocketed, and Schwartz’s initial investment of $12,400 could have been worth a staggering $4 million.
Schwartz’s experience serves as a reminder of the unpredictable nature and inherent volatility of cryptocurrency investments. While his early involvement in Ethereum proved to be profitable, it also highlights the potential for significant missed gains. The story he shared also underscores the role that personal relationships can play in investment decisions.
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Crypto
If You Bought Your Mom $100 In Bitcoin, Dogecoin And Ethereum Last Mother's Day, Here's How Much She'd Have Today
Roses are red, violets are blue, flowers are overrated, does Mom want crypto from you?
If you’re struggling with what to get your mom for Mother’s Day, a gift of cryptocurrency is an option.
Here’s a look back at the historical returns of several cryptocurrencies on Mother’s Day last year.
What Happened: The approval of Bitcoin ETFs by the SEC earlier this year has brought more attention to the cryptocurrency sector and led to rebounding prices.
This means that, if you bought you mom crypto for Mother’s Day last year, she might be extra happy to see you this year.
Certainly, flowers and a card are always a thoughtful option for Mother’s Day and offer a more stable gift choice compared to the periods of high volatility often seen in the cryptocurrency market.
Mother’s Day was designated an official holiday by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914 and is celebrated on the second Sunday of May. Last year, Mother’s Day was celebrated on May 14, 2023. Here’s a look at how an investment and gift in three leading cryptocurrencies at that time would be worth now.
Related Link: Mother’s Day 2024: Heartfelt Ways To Make Mom’s Day Special, No Matter The Distance
Investing $100 in Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Ethereum: Here’s how much a $100 investment in each of Bitcoin BTC/USD, Dogecoin DOGE/USD and Ethereum ETH/USD could have bought on May 14, 2023.
Bitcoin: 0.0037 BTC
Dogecoin: 1,377.75 DOGE
Ethereum: 0.0548 ETH
Investing $100 in each cryptocurrency last Mother’s Day would be worth the following based on prices at the time of writing:
Bitcoin: $226.33
Dogecoin: $199.60
Ethereum: $160.67
A $300 gift consisting of the three well-known cryptocurrencies would be worth $586.60 today, a gain of 95.5%.
Compare that return to a loss of 33.4% from Mother’s Day 2022 to Mother’s Day 2023 and a loss of 51% from Mother’s Day 2021 to Mother’s Day 2022.
Of course those who bought their moms cryptocurrency back on Mother’s Day 2020 would have a different story to tell.
A $100 investment each in Bitcoin, Dogecoin and Ethereum on Mother’s Day 2020 would have been able to buy the following amounts and now would be worth the following:
Bitcoin: 0.0104 BTC, $636.16
Dogecoin: 38,270.19 DOGE, $5,544.28
Ethereum: 0.4727 ETH, $1,385.89
The $300 investment or gift to mom on Mother’s Day 2020 would be worth $7,566.33 today and up 2,422.1%.
This article was previously published by Benzinga and has been updated.
Read Next: If You Invested $1,000 In Bitcoin When Donald Trump Said The Crypto’s Value Was ‘Based On Thin Air,’ Here’s How Much You’d Have Now
Photo: Shutterstock
Crypto
Power of Patience: The secret to crypto investment success
But this basic truth of investing seems to be getting lost in today’s world of short attention spans and instant gratification.
Nowhere is this more prominent than in the risky (yet rewarding) world of crypto assets, where speculative trading overpowers fundamentals-based investing and drives up overall volatility across the asset class.
Crypto Tracker
Most view crypto as a means of getting rich quickly and are on the lookout for the next BTC, ETH, SOL, or even DOGE and SHIB, with the promise of multi-bagger returns, and over-compressed timeframes.At the very core of this greed for quick exponential returns from crypto, is the difference in mentality of evaluating the asset with the lens of an investor vs a trader. The same user might have the “patience of an investor” when deploying capital in equities for the long term but would seek quick returns from his “trading bets” in crypto. This approach is being fuelled due to the lack of knowledge about the underlying fundamental value that a crypto asset might hold. Just like equities have various valuation models, even crypto assets can be valued based on novel metrics like using network fees as a proxy for cash flow. But most users continue to trade crypto like “penny stocks” and do not view it as an investment for long-term wealth creation.In fact, investing in crypto for a longer time horizon could be akin to early-stage venture investing, where the upside potential on investments can grow exponentially over time. Great examples would be Ethereum (in 2014) and Solana (in 2020), which had their public token launches at less than $1 and are currently trading above $3,000 and $140. The other approach is to let time do its magic because just like other asset classes, the power of compounding can create outsized returns and reward the patience of crypto investors. There’s a term for this amongst Crypto Natives: HODL or Hold On for Dear Life. The idea is that if you have taken a high conviction position in a fundamentally strong project and continue to hold that position over periods of high price volatility, you will be rewarded with exponential gains.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views, and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)
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