Cryptocurrency brawl bogs down infrastructure bill, as Yellen and White House fight changes

[brooklynite]

Source: Washington Post

The Biden administration is pushing back against a last-minute effort by a bipartisan group of senators to limit a proposal in the infrastructure bill to increase federal regulation of cryptocurrencies. The fierce lobbying push helped stall plans to finish voting on the bill Thursday night, and now it appears debate will stretch into the weekend.

Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen spoke with lawmakers Thursday to raise objections to the effort led by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and two Republican senators to weaken the legislation’s proposed cryptocurrency overhauls, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share details of private conversations. Yellen lobbied Wyden about the matter, the people said.

Last month, the White House and Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) agreed to a proposal to require increased tax compliance for cryptocurrency brokers as a way to help pay for the bipartisan infrastructure bill. The deal came under intense criticism from cryptocurrency investors, who have argued it would give the Biden administration sweeping powers to virtually cripple the growing field of cryptocurrencies.

It was also rebuked by Wyden, Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.), and Sen. Cynthia M. Lummis (R-Wyo.), who are pushing an amendment to the infrastructure bill intended to prevent the Biden administration from applying the new rules to a wide swath of actors in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/08/06/crypto-bitcoin-infrastructure-senate/

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Purely by coincidence, my wife is still working late into the evening.....

[PatSeg]

1. What?!?!?

[Justice matters.]

2. Cryptocurrencies are adding fuel to the climate crisis.

The U.N. Security Council should go ahead and call for a global ban on these pyramidal schemes.