Some Democrats sell out to the crypto crowd
Disgusting.
Less than a year after the trial of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, the Democratic Party’s leadership has lost any political will it briefly had to govern and regulate cryptocurrencies. All it took for an industry with countless pending lawsuits for securities violations to secure this turnaround was about $120 million in outside spending in this year’s elections.
At a virtual “Crypto4Harris” town hall fundraiser (August 14), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) put the final nail in the coffin by firmly embracing the digital currency and pledging to bring industry-preferred legislation to a vote on the Senate floor.
“Crypto is here to stay no matter what. So Congress must get it right … we all believe in the future of crypto,” Schumer said. Other attendees at the event included Mark Cuban, crypto-friendly Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), and Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), who chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee, which oversees markups for several crypto bills. The summit was co-hosted by Sheila Warren, CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation.
(The American Prospect)
– On the face of it letting Big Tech invent its own kind of money, and worse yet foist it on the rest of us, is a horrible concept. There’s no way of really knowing what could happen. What we do know is, when has anything from big tech ever come remotely close to the preposterously starry-eyed promises of the hype machine? Has just-in-time manufacturing really lowered the costs of practically everything for consumers? Has social media really led toward a more peaceful world by bringing people from all over the globe conveniently and happily together? Has the internet itself really improved everyone’s quality of life the way that, say, electricity and indoor plumbing did? As the saying goes, give me a break.
– Crypto flagrantly invites money laundering and other large-scale abuse.
The privacy-preserving properties of cryptocurrency have drawn illicit actors to use it for trading of illegal goods and services, for laundering money, and for demanding ransom. Cybercriminals are known to use several methods, such as crypto mixing and chain hopping, to move stolen funds.
(Techopedia)
That article goes on to note the five worst crypto money-laundering cases, so far. Imagine what will happen when the floodgates are really thrown open with mindless abandon.
– The environmental/climate costs are potentially atrocious.
But even if crypto has no real-world value, it absolutely has a real-world cost. Because finding the magic numbers for each currency requires solving mathematical equations that are purposely difficult to execute. Completing those calculations requires more and more dedicated computing hardware over time—and more and more energy.
As a new report from the Energy Information Administration warns, “mining” for cryptocurrency now consumes up to 2.3% of electricity produced in the U.S. What’s more, that power includes some of the dirtiest electricity in the nation. It’s also directly affecting the cost of electricity for consumers while putting money in the pockets of the companies mining for “digital gold.”
…But dipping into people’s pockets for a discount may be one of these crypto mining companies’ more benign activities. Across the country, crypto mining has bolstered failing coal and gas power plants and kept them running. According to Sierra, the magazine of the Sierra Club, some of these plants are using waste coal left over from previous mining specifically because it contains high levels of sulfur, mercury, lead, and other pollutants. Now it’s being burned for Bitcoin.
(Daily Kos)
These Democrats need to get their you-know-what together, fast. Banning crypto outright is what should be on their agenda. As should much stricter regulation, and much higher taxation, of Big Tech in general.
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