06/13 update below. This post was originally published on June 11
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The bitcoin price has climbed back to its previous all-time high of around $70,000 per bitcoin—and could be poised to go “parabolic” after traders spotted a surprise price pattern—while ethereum, XRP and other cryptocurrencies are braced for a Wall Street earthquake of their own.
Now, as Trump and Biden hurtle toward a bitcoin showdown, a potentially game-changing bill with a surprise crypto provision has been passed by a Senate committee, which could be the most important U.S. crypto policy ever if it becomes law.
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Bitcoin and crypto have become a major political issue ahead of the showdown this year between U.S. … [+]
The U.S. Senate select committee on intelligence’s funding package was recently waved through with an almost unnoticed crypto provision that would force crypto companies to collect more information about users or face being caught up in sanctions designed to prevent terrorism financing.
The passage, spotted by eagle-eyed reporters at Coindesk, would reportedly “speed and automate the process to sanction ‘foreign digital asset transaction facilitators’—including crypto exchanges—that are linked to users who support terrorism groups.”
The Intelligence Authorization Act (IAA) cleared the committee in a unanimous 17-0 vote though its crypto section wasn’t mentioned when senator Mark Warner, a Democratic lawmaker from Virginia and the committee’s chairman, announced the vote in a press release.
“This year’s bill enhances the IC’s [U.S. intelligence community] ability to identify and counter emerging technological threats posed by adversarial nations,” senator Warner wrote. “The IAA also designates foreign ransomware organizations as hostile cyber actors and ensures the IC has the tools it needs to counter economic coercion and illicit technology transfer.”
Bitcoin and crypto are often demanded by hackers as part of ransomware attacks.
However, crypto industry insiders polled by Coindesk say the provision is unlikely to survive the budget process.
06/13 update: U.S. president Joe Biden’s campaign team has held talks with crypto companies about accepting crypto donations via major exchange Coinbase, it was reported by The Block, citing anonymous sources, as the battle for the orange vote heats up ahead of November’s presidential election.
“They’re paying attention to issues around crypto and are trying to find quick wins to show that they’re supportive of the industry,” one of The Block‘s sources, who reportedly works with politicians and crypto industry leaders, said. “[They want] to show that they’re not the enemy.”
The Biden campaign’s sudden stance shift on bitcoin and crypto comes after Biden’s rival in this year’s race for the White House Donald Trump issued his full-throated support for bitcoin, crypto and the U.S. mining industry.
Earlier this week, after meeting with crypto mining companies at his Mar-a-Lago home, Trump said bitcoin mining could be “our last line of defense against a CBDC [central bank digital currency],” and warned what he called Biden’s “hatred of bitcoin” is an aid to “China, Russia, and the radical communist left.”
Trump himself began accepting bitcoin and crypto donations via Coinbase last month.
Traders on the crypto-based Polymarket prediction platform reckon Trump has a 56% chance of retaking the White House this year, with Biden currently on 35%. Polymarket users may skew toward crypto, however, and Coindesk points to a number of recent polls that Polymarket users called correctly but over-egged.
Crypto companies, tired of the political and regulatory limbo they’ve found themselves in over recent years, have poured around $100 million into so-called super political action committees (pacs), with major crypto companies like XRP developer Ripple and crypto exchange Coinbase giving large donations to the super pacs that can spend on their preferred candidates’ behalf.
“I think it likely does get zapped out of the NDAA [National Defense Authorization Act] process given the immediate push back from the industry,” Cody Carbone, chief police officer for the Digital Chamber, told Coindesk.
Last month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act known as Fit21 which split up responsibility for cryptocurrency regulation between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and was broadly supported by crypto companies and pro-crypto lobby groups.
The Biden administration has sought to soften its attitude toward bitcoin and crypto in recent weeks after 2024 White House hopeful Donald Trump pledged his support to the crypto industry.
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The bitcoin price has rocketed higher over the last year, thrusting bitcoin, ethereum, XRP and other … [+]
Last week, Trump reportedly went on a crypto charm offensive during a Silicon Valley fundraiser hosted by investors David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya, it was reported by Reuters.
The fundraiser, which sold top tickets for $250,000, was reportedly sold out and bagged Trump around $12 million.
“He said he would be the crypto president,” Trevor Traina, a San Francisco-based tech executive and former Trump ambassador to Austria, was quoted by the newswire, while Jacob Helberg, an adviser to data analytics company Palantir, said: “President Trump made clear that the Biden-Gensler crusade against crypto will grind to a halt within one hour of a second Trump administration,” referring to SEC chair Gary Gensler.
Trump has leaned into bitcoin and crypto in recent weeks after making millions from a series of crypto-based digital trading card non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and putting him starkly at odds with the Biden administrations anti-crypto stance. Trump declared support for crypto in late May and began accepting campaign donations in bitcoin, ethereum, solana, dogecoin and shiba inu.
“Crypto is such an obvious win,” Jason Calacanis, an investor who hosts the All In podcast alongside Sacks, Palihapitiya and David Friedberg, said on last week’s show, recorded ahead of the fundraiser.