White House blog post on crypto treats it like a culture wars issue

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The 80-year-old President Biden, like his 76-year-old predecessor, has arguably never bought Bitcoin, used a stablecoin, or tried Web3.But that didn’t stop Biden’s underlings in the White House from issuing a blog post on Friday denouncing crypto as predatory and dangerous. like, as if Biden Reefer Madness To turn their attention to digital currency.

Meanwhile, the post questionable decision Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass), a staunch supporter of Biden, praised SEC Commissioner Gary Gensler for cleaning up a cryptocurrency chaos allegedly created by President Trump, 2nd. The Federal Reserve later decided to deny primary accounts to stablecoin banks in Wyoming. The fact that all these events occurred in the same week suggests a coordinated effort by the White House.

Meanwhile, Republicans in the House responded to the Biden administration’s increasingly anti-crypto stance with a salvo of their own, accusing Democrats of stifling innovation, and seemingly friendly to Gensler and its many ranks. I’m trying to distract myself from the fact that it looked like With Sam Bankman-Freed of the Ponzi scheme.

All of this indicates that cryptocurrency is the new flashpoint in America’s endless culture wars, alongside immigration, education, and the environment. These are all important policy issues calling for bipartisan solutions, but both Democrats and Republicans are interested in galvanizing their supporters to fight along tribal lines.

Many Americans who have never used cryptocurrencies may consider them trivial compared to other policy issues. But this would be wrong. As I have written before, cryptography is the most basic technology, and like the internet, the question for US lawmakers is not whether it should exist, but how to regulate it in a way that reduces fraud and fraud. am. Enable the country to benefit from a strong new financial system.

Democrats should be especially vigilant about how the cryptocurrency debate progresses. Republican leaders in their 70s and in his 80s want to keep technology in check, but the same isn’t true for younger members, including rising star Rep. Rich Torres (D-New York). member of the Bronx. Meanwhile, young Americans of all kinds are unlikely to share the White House’s view that the culture war against cryptocurrencies is in the best interest of consumers. It is likely that you will conclude that no

Jeff John Roberts
jeff.roberts@fortune.com
@Jeff John Roberts

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