Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, Representatives Brad Sherman (D-CA), Stephen Lynch (D-MA), Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-MO), Juan Vargas (D-CA), Sylvia Garcias (D-TX), and Melanie Stansbury (D-NM), held a press conference urging a “NO” vote on the upcoming Republican-led crypto bills, the so-called GENIUS and CLARITY Acts set to be considered on the House floor later this week.
The press conference comes as part of Congresswoman Waters’ ongoing “Anti-Crypto Corruption Week” to sound the alarm on the dangers of the Republican-led crypto bills, including the CLARITY and GENIUS Acts, which she has dubbed the CALAMITY and UNSTABLE Act. During the event, the Members outlined several concerns with the legislation, including:
- Failure to address Trump’s growing crypto corruption: Despite overwhelming evidence of conflicts of interest, both bills ignore Donald Trump’s growing crypto empire. In fact, they would make it even easier for him to continue profiting especially through his shady memecoin ventures, which have already ripped off investors out of millions while boosting his net worth by at least $1.2 billion.
- Weakens and worsens consumer protections: The crypto industry is already a playground for fraud and abuse due to weak federal oversight but instead of strengthening consumer safeguards, these Republican crypto bills would make things worse. They fail to ensure proper oversight of third-party vendors used by stablecoin companies, leave customers vulnerable to the comingling of their funds in digital wallets, and offer no clarity for consumers if a stablecoin issuer fails. The bills also do nothing to preserve the authority of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, continuing the Trump’s efforts to undermine the CFPB. Additionally, they deny the Federal Reserve any meaningful authority over state-regulated digital wallets, leaving everyday consumers exposed to significant risk.
- Jeopardizes national security: Fails to address the illicit finance and other crimes commonly seen in the crypto space since it does not provide nearly enough direction to agencies for the level of financial crimes and noncompliance expected for companies that bring significant risk of money laundering, terror finance, and fraud. Moreover, CLARITY does not provide funds for Federal agencies to examine and enforce our national security laws.
Congresswoman Waters concluded by emphasizing the urgent need for Congress to reject these bills and instead support her “Stop Trump in Crypto Act,” legislation that would prevent the President, Vice President, Members of Congress, and their immediate family members from profiting off their positions of power through crypto. n