Tommy Andrews

Not the best Day 1 for The Syndicate at the NHC. We go again tomorrow.

Like clockwork, as soon as Congress gets ready to make progress on any crypto legislation, the clarion call from the nonprofit industrial complex (also known as "The Groups") goes out to their media allies to run sensational anti-crypto articles with cherry-picked facts and convenient elision. In one of these two articles (both written and released by same author on same day), former Sherrod Brown and Gary Gensler staffer (and current "consumer advocacy" nonprofit employee) Corey Frayer is cited no less than four times. Almost like a ready-made article pitch was delivered to the NYT's doorstep.

Some pretty bad-faith and narrow-minded characterizations in here. ~”DeFi = bad, so stablecoins = bad” The Bank Policy Institute seems to have taken the “if you can’t beat them, destroy them” approach. The great inventions of the world very frequently started with different purposes: - velcro was designed for astronaut suits in the 60s - the zipper was invented in the 1910s as an industrial closure - bubble wrap was originally a wallpaper - ETFs were designed originally for institutional portfolio hedging. They became the most popular global product for passive money management. Stablecoins started out as tools to store stable value in onchain trading. Today — supercharged by the GENIUS Act — they are room temperature superconductors for global money movement. Reading this, it seems like many of former SEC Chair Gensler’s colleagues and confidants have taken up residency at BPI (or are involved in its policymaking) — where they’re continuing old petty grudges and antiquated political agendas against crypto. Perhaps they should talk to their member banks — many of whom are working with stablecoins or looking at issuing their own. They’d tell a different story. And perhaps trade groups downtown should consider whether platforming radioactive political operatives is a good strategy for the long term viability and influence of their organizations.