Copyright buffalonews
President Trump once dismissed bitcoin, the most popular crypto, as “based on thin air” that can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity. These words echo the views of many Americans, a majority of whom view crypto dimly. Now, Trump self-proclaims as the crypto president. And perversely, because of an unprecedented tsunami of political spending by a handful of crypto “bros,” or promoters, a politically intimidated Congress already approved one crypto law and prepares to approve another as early as September. New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand may join the bros again in the September vote as she did for the first law, the Genius Act. Crypto mining today absorbs more energy than the entire nation of Argentina. In crime, stablecoins make for fast, cross-border, largely anonymous transactions. Georgetown researchers reported that in 2024, illicit transactions with stablecoins passed $51 billion, up from $46 billion in 2023. The pending vote in September on the smugly named Responsible Financial Innovation Act concerns all the other cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin. All bitcoin put together is worth $2 trillion, and the tens of thousands of other cryptocurrencies are worth more than $1 trillion collectively. Dependent on the “greater fool” theory, buying bitcoin doesn’t get the purchaser a dividend, an interest payment, a piece of a goods, or service-producing enterprise. An owner must find a buyer willing to pay a higher price than he did. Already, the crypto bros have amassed a $100 million war chest for the mid-term elections in 2026 . Some senators may calculate that it’s safer to vote with crypto. Constituents may hold crypto in low esteem, but it doesn’t drive their vote in elections that way that wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, reproductive rights, tax fairness, and health care costs so often do. Voting against crypto brings the deluge of oppositional ads during election season but may not win many votes. Ideally, Sen. Gillibrand will stop harmful legislation, demand that Trump be expelled from crypto ventures, which are blatantly illegal conflict-of-interest law violations, and insist on meaningful consumer and investor safeguards from this law. Bart Naylor is financial policy advocate for Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy organization.
