Topic: [2021-11-08] Crypto industry seeks to build momentum after losing Senate fight (Read 124 times)

Agreed, how will the government stop a community of developers on Github who work on different open source cryptocoin projects? I reckon the foundations and the companies behind these projects can use a different model based on privacy and no coin offerings.

But this bill would give the government reason and permission to shake them down, if they want to. Running a service they don't like, or perhaps working on a project they don't like? Then you must now present thr tax records of all your users, and if you can't, then you are acting illegally.

If you want to run a service, and have to choose between a country which forces you to collect unnecessary KYC or risk a criminal charge and a country which does not do this, it's obvious which one you'd choose.

I don't see how this is going to stint private cryptocurrency development?

Sure if you're a crypto company registered in the US and you file for something, you will definitely run into problems related to this, but Random J. Hacker merging blockchain code or running a crypto website service? They'll just ignore the legislation and the gov does not have any way to shake them down.

Too late for that - it's already through the Senate. And sure, politicians might not be completely dumb, but they are bought and paid for by banks and Wall Street, which, is has emerged, was likely the reason behind Senator Shelby objecting to every cryptocurrency amendment proposed in the Senate.

It has passed the Senate, and now it is headed to the House of Representatives. "Congress" refers to the entire legislature, both the Senate and the House together.

There are already some Representatives in the House talking about proposing new amendments to the cryptocurrency provisions. The House won't be back in session until the 23rd August, so you've got a little bit of time to contact your Representative and express you concerns: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

It's off the senators' hands now, the bill is headed to congress. The article that OP shared is all about optimism despite defeat because people actually got some of the senators off their asses, which was definitely surprising.


I personally interpreted that as concern about the US falling behind as other countries embrace more welcoming regulations (i.e. the industry leaders that were speaking could relocate themselves), not necessarily that it's been within the US all along.

Yet another ego-centric us centric statement.

It was never inside the U.S.
U.S. has always simply been a (small) part of it.

Let's hope things are sorted out without causing too much damage to innovation. Even if one wants to focus on military, a strong military without a strong economy doesn't make sense. Crypto will be bigger than the internet. Ultimately will benefit all

I am being pessimistic on this situation, that's why I said that it's a defeat for crypto and even if it's being revised, I am sure that the bill won't be favoring the many. Plus, I don't know how these old fossils in the senate will be able to understand that? Pretty sure that anti-crypto groups and individuals are lobbying for this to pass or don't have any revisions.

What defeat in crypto?The bill is going to be revised,I guess.
It's great that the crypto supporters all over the USA can unite and work as a coalition,in order to stop this legislation(or at least the part that threats crypto miners and developers as brokers).
Putting cryptocurrency/blockchain developers and cryptocurrency miners in the "brokers" category is simply wrong.I'm sure that the senators will remove this mistake.Politicians are usually ignorant,when it comes to new technology and innovation,but they aren't that dumb.

This defeat in crypto is going to hurt a lot of people in my opinion because people are the one's that will be affected by this bill. Also, I think that this fight won't be over, hopefully there will be more voice that will speak out as to how bad this bill is and other future bills that involve a strict regulations.

Cryptocurrency leaders say that even though they failed to change language related to the regulation of their industry in the Senate's bipartisan infrastructure bill, the heated floor fight over it underscores their growing power in Washington.

They're gearing up to use that momentum to push back on the bill in the House and take the lead on future cryptocurrency rules.

"I think we were an unexpected force to be reckoned with," said Kristin Smith, executive director of the BlockChain Association.

The industry group, along with cryptocurrency companies and digital rights advocacy groups, created a joint front to push back on a provision in the bill that they argued included an overly broad definition of "broker" that would sweep in regulations for software developers and so-called miners.

"We were able to sort of work outside of some of our traditional allies and build a bigger coalition, and one that we think, despite not getting it across the finish line in the end, was actually pretty effective," Smith said.

The provision on cryptocurrency regulation helps fund the roughly $1 trillion bill, which cleared the Senate on Tuesday. The reporting requirements could raise $28 billion over 10 years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.

Industry leaders, however, warned the broad definition might lead to unintentionally requiring software developers and miners to report data they wouldn't even have access to, which could stifle innovation and push the industry outside of the U.S.

After 40,000 calls to legislators and more than 10,000 tweets with the hashtag #DontKillCrypto, led by digital rights group Fight for the Future, the cryptocurrency community won over support from a bipartisan group of senators who offered amendments to redefine brokers in a way aimed to keep it from sweeping in the developers and transaction validators.

Readmore https://thehill.com/policy/technology/567460-crypto-industry-seeks-to-build-momentum-after-losing-senate-fight