WHOA! What a speech by @CynthiaLummis (almost certainly about to become a US Senator) re why #bitcoin is a store of value, which may rise to be an alternative to the US dollar."I bought my first #bitcoin in 2013 bc I believe in the economic power of scarcity...now I'm a HODLer"🤠
HOLY COW--this is a stunning speech!
She just attacked the Bank Secrecy Act!
Oh my--she just advocated for a repeal of many of these regulations, which are also choking community banks that are so important to the local #Wyoming economy
I think we just heard the most powerful speech in #crypto in months, folks! I'll try to find a replay link to will post
I particularly loved her point about the real innovation coming from the states ("living laboratories"), & why states need an advocate in DC to ensure the feds don't steamroll them. WOW, just wow!
UPDATE -- the replay of @wyohackathon should be available tomorrow, so stay tuned!🤠
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1/ CALLING OUT A DOUBLE STANDARD: I chewed on @CampbellJAustin's great🧵about selective enforcement against #crypto while protecting #tradfi, which prompted me to review the FTX fraud. Lo & behold, there seems to be ANOTHER pattern of selective enforcement
2/ The FDIC's Inspector General disclosed that 11 US banks "may have had involvement in alleged wire transfer fraud," & I tweeted the below screenshot of it on February 22, 2023:
1/ I'M STILL THINKING abt the bombshell Silvergate court filing. Here's the Warren crowd's #crypto bank scorecard:
❌Silvergate--suicided
❌Signature--suicided
❌Protego--OCC approval "expired"
〰️Paxos--ditto, but its non-bank is still going
✅ @custodiabank--survived & fighting
2/ Until the court filing, I didn't know the Fed "suicided" Silvergate by forcing it into an untenable choice👇: make #crypto <15% of its deposits (impossible in a short period of time) or throw in the towel. This touched off a bank panic the next day, costing the FDIC ~$40bn.🤦♀️
3/ @BarneyFrank et al made clear at the time that the FDIC "suicided" Signature, but we now know the Fed "suicided" Silvergate too. The timing lines up with the Fed blindsiding @custodiabank with a denial (w/ the White House). It was all coordinated--more than even I realized.
1/ I DUG INTO the Fed's latest master account list, released last night. The big news is what's happening with OCC-chartered trust companies--2 new ones applied for Fed master accounts. This is noteworthy for several reasons, explained below. Data here: federalreserve.gov/paymentsystems…
2/ But first, among the ~430 Fed master account holders that are not FDIC insured (or equivalent), 11 are trust companies chartered by the OCC:
3/ And 4 applicants for new Fed master accounts are OCC-chartered trust companies (of which two were crypto custodians whose applications went inactive amid #OperationChokePoint2.0👇--Paxos "withdrew" in Jan 2024; & Protego's charter approval "expired" in Feb 2023, per the OCC).
🚨 1/ BOMBSHELL REVELATION that Silvergate was liquid & solvent when the Fed forced it to close changes EVERYTHING when analyzing the March 2023 bank failures. Look at the dates:
* Mar 8: Silvergate voluntarily liquidates
* Mar 10: Silicon Valley fails
* Mar 12: Signature fails
2/ Stop & think about that timeline.
Think.
Would Silicon Valley Bank have failed had Silvergate not been forced by the Fed to close just 2 days earlier?
Recall the bank run at Silicon Valley really got started on Mar 9--the day after Silvergate announced it would liquidate.
3/ Reminder: Silvergate cost the FDIC's deposit insurance fund (DIF) nothing.
But the subsequent bank failures cost the FDIC's DIF dearly--Silicon Valley cost it ~$20bn, Signature cost it $2.4bn and First Republic (which failed weeks later, on May 1) cost it $15.6bn.
QUIET PART OUT LOUD: they're rightly worried abt Hong Kong via USD stablecoins becoming a hub for USD clearing that's outside US's reach, while the US dithers. But it's not just HK. Obvious fast path for Milei to dollarize Argentina is via USD stablecoins. ft.com/content/39f101…
2/ 👇But the US (under Sen Warren's control of the Biden Admin's financial svcs policy) is blocking everyone working on regulatory-compliant USD stablecoins, while letting big banks continue to build their own versions.😡 But the world already blew past the walled-garden versions
3/ And Warren has admitted what she's really up to: she wants a retail #CBDC in the US. And since she controls the Biden Administration's financial services policy, the US is heading toward a CBDC as long as Biden remains in power.