The post Empire Newsletter: Crypto’s day in Congress appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

What’s in a vote? Meet the US Senate’s new Democratic crypto caucus — sort of. Yesterday saw Congress’ upper chamber side with the House on a measure aimed at scuttling crypto accounting guidance created by the Securities and Exchange Commission. As Blockworks’ Casey Wagner reported Wednesday, the vote resulted from a behind-the-scenes lobbying campaign involving Republicans and industry advocates. In the end, a dozen Democrats crossed the aisle for the 60-38 vote. When the House voted last week to undo Staff Accounting Bulletin 121, 21 Democrats joined Republicans.  What to make of this group, and the relatively swift speed at which this effort took shape?  Some of the group have been public about their crypto positions for some time. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, of course, co-authored legislation with Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming. Others, including Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, have expressed support for the US crypto industry in the past.  On the other hand, some yes-voting members have taken positions less popular with the industry; Sens. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Mark Kelly of Arizona and John Hickenlooper of Colorado have all scored “very anti-crypto scores” from Stand With Crypto’s political rankings.   Read more: Stand With Crypto PAC launches as industry interest in campaign funding ramps up  One has to wonder how much the Biden White House’s veto threat factored into the Democrats’ decision to “vote their conscience” — that is, not align behind a particular yea-or-nay group strategy.  Remember, several of the votes in question were cast by senators up for reelection this fall: Gillibrand, Casey and Tester. For these members, at least, the vote provides a way to create some daylight between them and an unpopular incumbent.  The glass-half-empty interpretation: Biden’s stated plan to veto the bill made it a somewhat “safer”…

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Filed under: News - @ May 17, 2024 5:16 pm