Conservatives are formulating a plan to revamp cryptocurrency regulation and rescind President Joe Biden’s climate finance measures as part of a project – “Project 2025” – headed by the Heritage Foundation, a wide-ranging presidential transition roadmap.
The agency-by-agency plan calls for the SEC and the CFTC to introduce a joint rule defining when a digital asset will be regulated as a security or a commodity. This could be advantageous for the crypto industry, which has long sought to avoid the SEC’s “regulation by enforcement” and its leadership’s belief that many digital tokens are de facto investment products requiring stricter oversight. Additionally, the plan would prevent the Federal Reserve from issuing a government-run central bank digital currency.
According to Stephen Moore, a Heritage Foundation fellow and former Trump Federal Reserve candidate, “There is a legitimate role for regulation of cryptos, but we don’t want the government using regulation to crowd them out.”
Project 2025 also wants the next GOP Treasury secretary to annul initiatives that address economic policies related to global warming. It calls for shutting down the Treasury’s “climate hub,” which Secretary Janet Yellen set up to coordinate climate-related work across Treasury, and restraining the Fed’s incorporation of environmental and social factors into its work, including on financial stability.
Whether Project 2025’s vision becomes reality will depend on personnel, and the focus is broader than just influencing a GOP president’s nominees for top jobs. Former President Donald Trump and his allies are seeking ways to concentrate power at the White House and control independent agencies, including by making it easier to remove career civil servants.
Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Institute, has an idea for how President Biden can break through and receive more recognition for his handling of the economy: identify villains and pick fights. Green’s group is working with the administration and Democratic lawmakers to organize a series of local-focused events in which officials, backed by stories from consumers, expose Biden’s war on “junk fees.”
The House Judiciary Committee has subpoenaed Citigroup to investigate how banks shared data with the FBI surrounding the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021.
The average mortgage rate has risen to its highest level in over 20 years; it is forecasted to slow the housing market, pricing buyers out and dissuading potential sellers.
CoinDesk reports that the former president had $2.8 million in a cryptocurrency wallet as of early August, per filings. He also earned nearly $4.9 million in licensing fees from his NFT collection.
The Fed is encouraging the closure of a small Washington bank which was partly owned by Sam Bankman-Fried’s hedge fund, Alameda Research. The Fed alleges that Farmington State Bank was part of an effort to issue stablecoins but didn’t obtain approval from regulators. Bank of Eastern Oregon is buying its loans and deposits.
Bloomberg reports that Goldman Sachs is recruiting hundreds of new staff to address concerns from authorities, including the Federal Reserve. Goldman executives have privately described growing pressure from the Fed over the past year.
The U.K. government is preparing to impose fines on banks that don’t give customers access to deposits and withdrawals within a three-mile radius. Economic Secretary to the Treasury Andrew Griffith said, “People shouldn’t have to trek for hours to withdraw a tenner to put in someone’s birthday card — nor should businesses have to travel large distances to deposit cash takings.” These measures are designed to benefit those living in rural areas, the elderly and those with disabilities.
