Cryptocurrency

The Revolving Door Project, A Government Ethics Watchdog, Alerts Media Of Possibility That CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam Is Considering Leaving Government To Cash Out In Private Industry

Revolving Door Statement on Crypto proponent Larry Summers joining the board of Sam Altman’s OpenAI

The prominent centrist economist was affiliated with the disgraced crypto firm DCG for over half a decade.

This week’s newsletter discusses a wolf in a moderate’s clothing, opposition to healthcare revolvers, and new polling suggesting widespread support for the CFPB.

Revolving Door Project Executive Director Jeff Hauser released the following statement in response to Southern District of New York Judge Jed Rakoff’s court order demanding Genesis Global Trading comply with the SEC subpoena:

If we were to agree to the industry’s demand that policy experts should be precluded from regulating issues they have spent significant amounts of time developing expertise in, we would be setting a precedent that severely undermines any kind of public-minded enforcement. In fact, banning experts such as Gensler would leave the public with a pool of potential regulators who are either already corporate-aligned or unqualified to adequately opine on pressing issues.

Despite this, Janet Yellen’s Treasury Department has yet to formalize the regulations that would usher in this new reporting regime. The initial expectation was to have Treasury provide the new guidance by the end of 2022, allowing reporting changes to begin with transactions completed in 2023. However, despite approval of the proposed regulations by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in February (the usual stumbling block in this sort of proceeding), the department has yet to publish the regulations.

Despite venture capitalists, investment pundits, and other crypto firms alike all acknowledging that the jig is up, regulatory revolvers remain undeterred in their willingness to lend their reputations, expertise, credibility, and relationships to keep the crypto con alive.

Coinbase’s establishment of a new advisory council comprising former members of Congress is the latest example of the crypto industry’s embrace of Washington’s revolving door.

How two ‘Masters of Disaster’ helped Hollywood execs break the last writers strike