blockchain tipsheet

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today's tips for June 11, 2024

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quick tips:

The crypto sanctions legislation inserted into the Senate Intelligence Committee's Authorization bill by Sen. Mark Warner (D, VA) likely will not make the final print of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

Industry org Coin Center came out with its opinion on Sen. Warner's bill and urged revisions.

SEC Chair Gary Gensler and CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam will appear in front of Senate Appropriations on Thursday regarding their agencies' 2025 budgets.

A Wall Street analyst worried aloud that - although stablecoin legislation seems likely - broader industry regulation could get sticky with self-interest.

DeFi Education Fund will provide its state of the decentralized finance world in D.C. today. More here.

Former President Donald Trump has apparently committed to a "presidential rountable" on bitcoin mining. No date is set.

| crypto sanctions bill

Senator Mark Warner's (D, VA) efforts to add his Terrorist Financing Prevention Act [S.3441], which includes crypto sanctions, into a Senate Intelligence must-pass is receiving more attention from industry this week.

Speaking to CoinDesk's Jesse Hamilton by email about the crypto sanctions elements of the bill, Digital Chamber's Cody Carbone says, "We’ve chatted with Warner staff on this, and they’re open to broader engagement here from industry. (...) I think it likely does get zapped out of the NDAA process given the immediate pushback from the industry." Read more.

The Senate intel bill "hitches a ride" on the NDAA must-pass explained Paradigm policy executive Alexander Grieve in a recent tweet.

more tips:

• Is Congress softening on crypto? Not really - DL News

what you should know: Sources say that Sen. Warner may have earned the ire of committee colleagues such as "pro-crypto" Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D, NY) and Ron Wyden (D, OR) by trying to "sneak" the bill through. This likely occurred due to the closed nature of this Committee which is staffed by people with clearances - which means they can't talk, or won't talk, to the rest of the Senate offices.

| crypto sanctions bill - trap

Taking inspiration from the Senate Intel bill, Peter Van Valkenburgh of crypto industry association Coin Center dissects the Terrorist Financing Prevention Act and warns that the bill "threatens crypto freedom with new sanctioning powers" and needs "urgent revisions."

Van Valkenburgh suggests a list of improvements, but concludes, "Even with these improvements it is unclear why the President needs additional sanctioning power beyond the already broad authority granted by IEEPA (International Emergency Economic Powers Act). Without these improvements the proposed law is a trap for innocent Americans who simply want to use and build cryptocurrency technologies for good."

Read the whole post.

| regarding your budget

Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chair Rostin Behnam and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler will appear at Thursday's Senate Appropriations hearing on 2025 budget. See the hearing page.

more tips:

• Chairman Behnam to Testify Before the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations’ Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government on June 13 - CFTC.gov

what you should know: Highlights of expansion of agency budgets in the recent past, and especially for the SEC, has had to do with enforcement and digital assets. Depending on the depth Senators probe, next year's budget plans could be revealing. 

| legislative pitfalls

Wall Street analysts have taken note of digital assets' legislative progress in Washington D.C. But, Jaret Seiberg, an analyst at TD Cowen, says there's still plenty of room for concern.

Paraphrasing a recent analyst note from Seiberg, The Block reports, "The crypto industry is on track to see stablecoin legislation this fall and broader crypto market regulation within the next two years. However, legislation that moves from the bigger picture to specific company interests can 'derail' the industry, as seen previously with the cannabis industry." 

Read more about the crypto-cannibis link.

| state of the DeFi

The DeFi Education Fund (DEF), a non-profit supporting decentralized finance policy efforts in Washington, D.C. is producing its DEF "State of the Union Address" today beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET today.

Sign up info is here including a link to X's "Spaces."

DeFi Education Fund's Max Bernstein tells blockchain tipsheet that much like DEF's mission of explaining decentralized finance (DeFi) to policymakers and regulators among others, the "State of the Union" will provide the latest "insights to the community about what is going on and what DEF is doing to protect DeFi’s immense potential."

| roundtable on mining

Trump Campaign Crypto Aide Announces Presidential Roundtable on Domestic Bitcoin Mining (no date announced, yet) - Bitcoin.com News

| still more tips

What Crypto Investors Should Know As Tokenization Comes For All Assets - Forbes

Opinion: Yes, now is the right time to teach Wall Street about decentralized oracles - Blockworks

Anthony Scaramucci is backing President Joe Biden in the general election - Politico

Uniswap Labs acquires Crypto: The Game—'It's ballooned into this 24/7 crypto reality show' - Fortune

Video: There's 'definitely' a political shift related to crypto: VanEck's digital assets research chief (June 7) - CNBC

| DC events

Tomorrow - House Financial Services Committee Hearing Entitled: "Oversight of the FDIC’s Failed Leadership and Toxic Workplace Culture" - financialservices.house.gov

June 13 - A Review of the President’s Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Requests for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission - Senate Committee on Appropriations

Congressional Calendar 2024 - Roll Call

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John Ebbert

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john@blockchaintipsheet.com

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