#Tag · bonfire.cafe

Newsletter: Coinbase calls the shots in the Senate, former New York City Mayor Eric Adams faces rug pull allegations, and a crypto executive is breaking up with Trump

https://www.citationneeded.news/issue-99/

#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics #CitationNeededNewsletter

Citation Needed

Issue 99 – They’ve bought themselves a Congress

Coinbase calls the shots in the Senate, former New York City Mayor Eric Adams faces rug pull allegations, and a crypto executive is breaking up with Trump

Molly White

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io · 22 hours ago

The Senate has confirmed the CFTC’s new Chairman, Michael Selig. He has very minimal regulatory experience, and is now the only Commissioner on what is supposed to be a five-person bipartisan Commission.

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The CFTC has a new Chairman now that the Senate has confirmed Michael Selig. Selig’s background is primarily in private practice representing crypto clients like Paradigm and eToro.20 In 2025, he briefly served as chief counsel for the SEC’s crypto task force, but besides that, Selig has extremely minimal regulatory experience — particularly in the many non-crypto markets the CFTC is expected to regulate.

Selig is also the only commissioner at the normally five-person CFTC, as Trump has seized control of regulators by appointing his own loyalists without appointing replacements for departing commissioners. Acting Chair Caroline Pham had previously announced she planned to leave when a chairman was appointed, and she has followed through on that promise. She immediately rocketed through the revolving door right into the lap of the crypto firm MoonPay, where she is now chief legal and administrative officer.21 You might recognize MoonPay as a frequent Trump crypto partner, helping process payments for both the $TRUMP memecoin and for Melania Trump’s 2021 NFT projects. You also might remember that they snagged that lucrative Trump memecoin partnership only weeks after attempting to make a $250,000 contribution to Trump’s inaugural committee, but got scammed instead [I88]. — The CFTC has a new Chairman now that the Senate has confirmed Michael Selig. Selig’s background is primarily in private practice representing crypto clients like Paradigm and eToro.20 In 2025, he briefly served as chief counsel for the SEC’s crypto task force, but besides that, Selig has extremely minimal regulatory experience — particularly in the many non-crypto markets the CFTC is expected to regulate. Selig is also the only commissioner at the normally five-person CFTC, as Trump has seized control of regulators by appointing his own loyalists without appointing replacements for departing commissioners. Acting Chair Caroline Pham had previously announced she planned to leave when a chairman was appointed, and she has followed through on that promise. She immediately rocketed through the revolving door right into the lap of the crypto firm MoonPay, where she is now chief legal and administrative officer.21 You might recognize MoonPay as a frequent Trump crypto partner, helping process payments for both the $TRUMP memecoin and for Melania Trump’s 2021 NFT projects. You also might remember that they snagged that lucrative Trump memecoin partnership only weeks after attempting to make a $250,000 contribution to Trump’s inaugural committee, but got scammed instead [I88].

Molly White

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io replied · 22 hours ago

The SEC is in a similar situation, having just lost its last Democratic and crypto-cautious Commissioner, Caroline Crenshaw. In her last speech as a Commissioner she warned of “dire repercussions” from the SEC’s deregulatory pivot, drawing comparisons to the period prior to the Great Depression.

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Trump’s strategy to control the regulators is also playing out over at the SEC, where the single remaining Democratic and crypto-cautious Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw has departed after her renomination vote was canceled in December 2024 after complaints from the crypto industry.22 In her last speech, she expressed concern that the SEC is “shrouding its policymaking in darkness, shunning public comments and, instead, relying on hidden voices to drive its agenda.”22 She summarized the past year:

“The appetite to deregulate has been rapacious; the analysis of the costs and benefits of our policies has been non-existent; and, the repercussions, I would argue, could be dire. We live in an echo chamber where politicians and policymakers make their own truth through repetition. But, the markets have a way of correcting themselves—not always immediately, but over time. So, I think the true advisability of these policies will reveal themselves eventually. I certainly wouldn’t be alone in analogizing the trend toward deregulation in the current environment to the period prior to the stock market crash in 1929.” — Trump’s strategy to control the regulators is also playing out over at the SEC, where the single remaining Democratic and crypto-cautious Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw has departed after her renomination vote was canceled in December 2024 after complaints from the crypto industry.22 In her last speech, she expressed concern that the SEC is “shrouding its policymaking in darkness, shunning public comments and, instead, relying on hidden voices to drive its agenda.”22 She summarized the past year: “The appetite to deregulate has been rapacious; the analysis of the costs and benefits of our policies has been non-existent; and, the repercussions, I would argue, could be dire. We live in an echo chamber where politicians and policymakers make their own truth through repetition. But, the markets have a way of correcting themselves—not always immediately, but over time. So, I think the true advisability of these policies will reveal themselves eventually. I certainly wouldn’t be alone in analogizing the trend toward deregulation in the current environment to the period prior to the stock market crash in 1929.”

Molly White

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io · 22 hours ago

The Trump family’s World Liberty Financial crypto project has applied for a national trust bank charter. If approved, the Comptroller of the Currency — who serves at the pleasure of the President — will be expected to enforce the law against Trump’s own company and its competitors.

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The Trump family’s World Liberty Financial crypto company has announced that they have applied for a national trust bank charter with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, through a proposed entity called World Liberty Trust Company. Senator Elizabeth Warren quickly sent a letter to Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould to urge him to delay the review of World Liberty Financial’s application “until President Trump divests from WLF and eliminates all financial conflicts of interest involving himself or his family and the company.” She wrote:27

“If the application is approved, you would promulgate rules that influence the profitability of the President’s company. You would also be responsible for directly supervising and enforcing the law against the President’s company—and its competitors. You would be in charge of these functions while serving at the pleasure of the President. In effect, for the first time in history, the President of the United States would be in charge of overseeing his own financial company.” — The Trump family’s World Liberty Financial crypto company has announced that they have applied for a national trust bank charter with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, through a proposed entity called World Liberty Trust Company. Senator Elizabeth Warren quickly sent a letter to Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould to urge him to delay the review of World Liberty Financial’s application “until President Trump divests from WLF and eliminates all financial conflicts of interest involving himself or his family and the company.” She wrote:27 “If the application is approved, you would promulgate rules that influence the profitability of the President’s company. You would also be responsible for directly supervising and enforcing the law against the President’s company—and its competitors. You would be in charge of these functions while serving at the pleasure of the President. In effect, for the first time in history, the President of the United States would be in charge of overseeing his own financial company.”

Molly White

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io replied · 22 hours ago

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Molly White

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io · 22 hours ago

Trump has claimed “the leaker” has been jailed, seemingly referring to a group of wallets that made large profits from Polymarket bets with apparent advance knowledge of US military action against Venezuela. One such wallet profited around $410,000.

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In prediction markets
After the US military kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, observers were quick to notice that several Polymarket accounts had all placed large bets on a market pertaining to whether Maduro would be removed from power by the end of January, and other Venezuela-related markets. One account began placing bets in late December, and continued to add thousands of dollars to its positions right up to the day Maduro’s capture was announced, ultimately purchasing $32,000 in shares. The trader profited $410,000 when their predictions came to pass, leading many to believe they had access to inside information.29 — In prediction markets After the US military kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, observers were quick to notice that several Polymarket accounts had all placed large bets on a market pertaining to whether Maduro would be removed from power by the end of January, and other Venezuela-related markets. One account began placing bets in late December, and continued to add thousands of dollars to its positions right up to the day Maduro’s capture was announced, ultimately purchasing $32,000 in shares. The trader profited $410,000 when their predictions came to pass, leading many to believe they had access to inside information.29

Table of closed Polymarket bets Maduro out by January 31, 2026? 436,759.6 Yes at 7¢ Total bet $32,537.28 Amount won $436,759.61 $404,222.33 (1,242.34%) Trump invokes War Powers against Venezuela by January 31? 5,371.7 Yes at 5¢ Total bet $249.99 Amount won $2,714.64 $2,464.65 (985.91%) Market icon Will the U.S. invade Venezuela by January 31, 2026? 17,857.9 Yes at 6¢ Total bet $999.99 Amount won $3,143.26 $2,143.27 (214.33%) US forces in Venezuela by January 31, 2026? 1,197.8 Yes at 12¢ Total bet $146.00 Amount won $1,197.77 $1,051.78 (720.4%)

Days later, Representative Ritchie Torres (D-NY) introduced a bill seeking to prohibit elected officials and other politicians and staff from participating in prediction markets connected to “government policy, government action, or political outcomes” when they possess or could obtain inside information.30

Then, on January 14, Trump said in a press conference that “The leaker [on Venezuela] has been found and is in jail right now” and would likely face a long sentence. He also noted that “there could be some others”.31 The identity of the leaker, how they gained access to sensitive information, and whether they were also the person who placed the bet has not been disclosed, nor has the charge on which they’ve been jailed. — Days later, Representative Ritchie Torres (D-NY) introduced a bill seeking to prohibit elected officials and other politicians and staff from participating in prediction markets connected to “government policy, government action, or political outcomes” when they possess or could obtain inside information.30 Then, on January 14, Trump said in a press conference that “The leaker [on Venezuela] has been found and is in jail right now” and would likely face a long sentence. He also noted that “there could be some others”.31 The identity of the leaker, how they gained access to sensitive information, and whether they were also the person who placed the bet has not been disclosed, nor has the charge on which they’ve been jailed.

Molly White

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io replied · 22 hours ago

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Molly White

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io · 22 hours ago

Former NYC Mayor Eric Adams is fending off rug pull allegations after a wallet connected to his “NYC Token” project extracted almost $1 million in liquidity less than an hour after launch, crashing the token price.

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Former New York City Mayor Eric Adams launched “NYC Token”: half memecoin, half social experiment to determine how many glaring red flags you can stuff into one pitch and still convince people to buy. A figurehead who Trump had to rescue from federal bribery and corruption charges: check. An unidentified team running the project: check. Massive quantity of tokens to be held back in “reserve” with no details around custody, access control, or planned use: check. Pointers to documentation that doesn’t exist: check.c Lofty and numerous promises — educating kids about crypto, combatting “antisemitism” and “anti-Americanism” in NYC, and providing financial aid to students seeking higher education — with no specifics whatsoever about how they will fulfill them: check.

With all those red flags flapping in the wind, it’s perhaps no surprise that the token launch quickly turned into disaster [W3IGG]. Almost immediately after the token was launched, the project’s liquidity providerd withdrew more than $2.4 million in USDC from the one-sided liquidity pool,e causing the token price to plummet by about 85%. Though the project team later claimed they had been “rebalanc[ing]” liquidity, they only returned $1.5 million to the liquidity pool, with more than $900,000 of it left sitting in the LP wallet. That same wallet then began making automated purchases of $NYC every minute, which the team claimed is part of a TWAP (time-weighted average price) buying strategy. This is a strange explanation that doesn’t address why the third-party liquidity was withdrawn, why it was only partially returned, or why the remaining USDC is now being used in a way that seems intended to create the appearance of sustained demand without any new money actually coming in.

Since then, Adams has been fighting off allegations that he “rug pulled” the token. It seems too early to tell on that front, as the unaccounted funds are still sitting in the crypto wallet — perhaps to be restored to the liquidity pool, or perhaps to be withdrawn once whoever controls the wallet thinks attention has moved elsewhere. Some have speculated that this was all a way for Adams to surreptitiously accept belated bribes, I guess by having a would-be briber purchase a large amount of the token, and then extracting the funds as we saw. This is certainly possible, I suppose — there are some wallets that spent tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to purchase the token. But with Adams out of office and no longer needing to file disclosures, I don’t see why he’d go about it this way rather than just quietly creating a wallet and having people transfer crypto to him directly.

Neither Adams nor the NYC Token team responded to questions about the removal of liquidity, the automated buying strategy, or details about the token, its team, or its plans to follow through on its promises. However, shortly after I sent the questions, the automated token buys stopped. — Since then, Adams has been fighting off allegations that he “rug pulled” the token. It seems too early to tell on that front, as the unaccounted funds are still sitting in the crypto wallet — perhaps to be restored to the liquidity pool, or perhaps to be withdrawn once whoever controls the wallet thinks attention has moved elsewhere. Some have speculated that this was all a way for Adams to surreptitiously accept belated bribes, I guess by having a would-be briber purchase a large amount of the token, and then extracting the funds as we saw. This is certainly possible, I suppose — there are some wallets that spent tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to purchase the token. But with Adams out of office and no longer needing to file disclosures, I don’t see why he’d go about it this way rather than just quietly creating a wallet and having people transfer crypto to him directly. Neither Adams nor the NYC Token team responded to questions about the removal of liquidity, the automated buying strategy, or details about the token, its team, or its plans to follow through on its promises. However, shortly after I sent the questions, the automated token buys stopped.

Meanwhile, Edward Cullen — whose Innovate NY PAC spent nearly $100,000 on AI-generated flyers and other materials to back Andrew Cuomo last October after his last-minute crypto industry appeal — is back. Cullen claims that he pitched the NYC Token idea to Adams last year, and that Adams stole it from him, then “butchered” it for “short-term gain”. Cullen is now threatening to sue, although I’m not sure on what grounds.40

Molly White

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io replied · 22 hours ago

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Molly White

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io · 22 hours ago

But Coinbase’s flex may have caused something of a power struggle with the White House. “This is President Trump’s bill at the end of the day, not Brian Armstrong’s,” said a source close to the Trump administration.

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This brazen display seems to have caused something of a power struggle between Coinbase and President Trump, who was reportedly infuriated by Coinbase’s surprise “rug pull”. “This is President Trump’s bill at the end of the day, not Brian Armstrong’s,” a source close to the Trump administration told journalist Eleanor Terrett, adding that the White House was considering yanking its support for the bill if Coinbase can’t come up with a satisfactory compromise proposal on stablecoin yield.13 Armstrong later objected to Terrett’s reporting, claiming “The White House has been super constructive here”, but confirming that the White House had directed Coinbase to “go figure out a deal with the banks”.14

Molly White

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io replied · 22 hours ago

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Molly White

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io · 22 hours ago

The crypto lobby wrote their dream bill. Senators proposed some amendments. Coinbase tweeted their disapproval, and Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott immediately canceled the markup. When you spend $130M, you expect to get exactly what you want.

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Last Wednesday afternoon, Coinbase withdrew its support for the Senate’s draft market structure bill, citing concerns about limits on tokenized stocks and stablecoin rewards, burdensome requirements for defi protocols, and excessive authority granted to the SEC.1 Within hours, Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-SC) canceled the markup hearing scheduled for the following day.

While mainstream news sources are often hesitant to draw cause and effect between two suspiciously timed events, it was too overt even for them, with the New York Times writing that Coinbase had “scuttled” the vote.2 Coinbase further emphasized its degree of control over the Senate when CEO Brian Armstrong stated in an interview with CNBC, “We’ve got a chance to do a new draft and hopefully get back into a markup in a few weeks” — speaking as if Coinbase, not Congress, controlled both the drafting process and legislative calendar.

This is nothing new — just the latest demonstration of the crypto industry’s power over Congress after it spent over $130 million installing allies in the 2024 election. Within weeks, House Agriculture Committee Chair GT Thompson (R-PA) made the new power dynamic explicit when he said how crypto legislation was being drafted in “tripartisan” fashion, with the crypto industry forming the new third political wing of Congress [I76].

In an alternate universe, Congress might be focused on passing laws that don’t elevate the interests of corporations and oligarchs above the everyman. Ones that ensure the stability of the American financial system, protect consumers, address officeholder ethics concerns, and prevent financial crimes. Sadly, in this universe, lawmakers are primarily concerned with satisfying the demands of their newest and most generous campaign contributors. Senate Banking Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) told Politico, “These are folks who think that when they’ve bought themselves a Congress, then they expect it to behave the way they say.”3 After a year of this Congress, it would be hard to argue they’re wrong.

Molly White

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io replied · 22 hours ago

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Molly White

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io · 22 hours ago

Newsletter: Coinbase calls the shots in the Senate, former New York City Mayor Eric Adams faces rug pull allegations, and a crypto executive is breaking up with Trump

https://www.citationneeded.news/issue-99/

#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics #CitationNeededNewsletter

Citation Needed

Issue 99 – They’ve bought themselves a Congress

Coinbase calls the shots in the Senate, former New York City Mayor Eric Adams faces rug pull allegations, and a crypto executive is breaking up with Trump

Molly White

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io replied · 22 hours ago

#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics #CitationNeededNewsletter

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Molly White

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io · 22 hours ago

Newsletter: Coinbase calls the shots in the Senate, former New York City Mayor Eric Adams faces rug pull allegations, and a crypto executive is breaking up with Trump

https://www.citationneeded.news/issue-99/

#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics #CitationNeededNewsletter

Citation Needed

Issue 99 – They’ve bought themselves a Congress

Coinbase calls the shots in the Senate, former New York City Mayor Eric Adams faces rug pull allegations, and a crypto executive is breaking up with Trump

Robert Bell boosted

Molly White

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io · last month

Crypto firms are lobbying Trump for tax carveouts. Meanwhile, a new 501(c)(3) they back hosted a private dinner with tax lawmakers — despite rules against “substantial” lobbying. Purely educational, of course.

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In elections and political influence
As the market structure bill plods along, the crypto industry is already eyeing its next punchlist item: tax policy. The Solana Policy Institute penned a letter to President Trump on November 20 urging him to “promote tax clarity for the digital asset economy and American people”, including by creating a de minimis exemption for crypto transactions below $600, making blockchain development eligible for the research and development tax credit, and delaying rules that would require digital asset transactions be reported to the IRS and FinCEN in the same way as cash. The letter also included other requests that the president could achieve with the “stroke of a pen”41 — that is, without needing to go through Congress — including creating defi “safe harbors and sandboxes”, pressuring the SEC and CFTC to create exemptions for crypto, directing FinCEN to carve out non-custodial crypto projects from the Bank Secrecy Act,e and pushing the Justice Department to dismiss the two remaining charges against Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm [I90]. The letter was signed by 62 crypto groups, including Paradigm, various Solana entities, Uniswap, and others.42 — In elections and political influence As the market structure bill plods along, the crypto industry is already eyeing its next punchlist item: tax policy. The Solana Policy Institute penned a letter to President Trump on November 20 urging him to “promote tax clarity for the digital asset economy and American people”, including by creating a de minimis exemption for crypto transactions below $600, making blockchain development eligible for the research and development tax credit, and delaying rules that would require digital asset transactions be reported to the IRS and FinCEN in the same way as cash. The letter also included other requests that the president could achieve with the “stroke of a pen”41 — that is, without needing to go through Congress — including creating defi “safe harbors and sandboxes”, pressuring the SEC and CFTC to create exemptions for crypto, directing FinCEN to carve out non-custodial crypto projects from the Bank Secrecy Act,e and pushing the Justice Department to dismiss the two remaining charges against Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm [I90]. The letter was signed by 62 crypto groups, including Paradigm, various Solana entities, Uniswap, and others.42

Days earlier, the American Innovation Project, an “educational nonprofit” launched in August with backing from the Solana Policy Institute, Paradigm, Kraken, Coinbase, Andreessen Horowitz, DCG, Uniswap, and the Cedar Innovation Foundation pro-crypto dark money group [I91] hosted a private dinner with members of the House Ways and Means Committee and various other pro-crypto Congresspeople to discuss crypto tax policy. As a 501(c)(3), the AIP is prohibited from making a “substantial part of its activities ... attempting to influence legislation”.43 But while many of the AIP’s same backers have directly lobbied President Trump, and the Solana Policy Institute, Paradigm, and Kraken have spent a combined $5.25 million on lobbying around crypto tax issues since 2024,44 the AIP insists that the dinner was purely educational.41

Cory Doctorow and 1 other boosted

Molly White

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io · last month

A huge list of labor unions and advocacy groups have signed letters to Congress urging them not to support the draft crypto market structure legislation due to the “many systemic failures and harms” of the crypto industry that they believe are going unaddressed in the draft.

#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics #CitationNeededNewsletter

The next day, a group of 192 consumer protection, financial reform, environmental protection, and advocacy groups, as well as some labor unions, signed a letter urging senators to “oppose any Senate cryptocurrency legislation that fails to meaningfully address the crypto industry’s many systemic failures and harms,” adding that “The legislative initiatives explored in the Senate so far have largely failed to address the widespread harms caused by the crypto industry”. The signatories include financial reform groups Americans for Financial Reform and Better Markets; consumer advocacy groups Public Citizen, the Center for Economic Justice, and the National Consumers League; advocacy groups Accountable.US, Demand Progress, Democracy for America, Our Revolution, and many local Indivisible groups; environmental groups Greenpeace, the Climate and Community Institute, and a long list of regional, state, and local environmental groups; and labor unions AFT and the Communications Workers of America.30

Molly White

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io · last month

Meanwhile, Binance is all‑in on Trump’s USD1 — and just made Zhao’s partner Yi He co‑CEO. Zhao is banned from managing the company, but Binance and Zhao seems keen to honor only the most technical reading of that rule.

#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics #CitationNeededNewsletter

Since Zhao’s pardon, Binance has ramped up its support for the Trump family’s USD1 stablecoin. The exchange announced a set of new no-fee trading pairs for USD1, meaning that people can now exchange their bitcoin, ether, or various other tokens for USD1 without paying fees for the privilege. Binance has also announced it will convert all assets backing its BUSD stablecoin into USD1. According to BUSD’s latest attestation, that’s more than $55 million that will be converted to USD138 — generating millions of dollars in interest for World Liberty between now and the end of Trump’s term if they maintain those USD1 holdings for that duration.c

As for Zhao’s role at Binance, Trump’s pardon doesn’t nullify the stipulation in Binance’s plea agreement that Zhao be prohibited from “any present or future involvement in operating or managing [Binance]”.39d But since Zhao’s release from prison, it’s been clear he remains closely involved with Binance’s operations. Now his influence is even harder to dispute, as his partner in life, parenthood, and business, Yi He, has been named co‑CEO of the exchange.40 She is also the co-founder and namesake of Zhao’s family office, YZi Labs. — Since Zhao’s pardon, Binance has ramped up its support for the Trump family’s USD1 stablecoin. The exchange announced a set of new no-fee trading pairs for USD1, meaning that people can now exchange their bitcoin, ether, or various other tokens for USD1 without paying fees for the privilege. Binance has also announced it will convert all assets backing its BUSD stablecoin into USD1. According to BUSD’s latest attestation, that’s more than $55 million that will be converted to USD138 — generating millions of dollars in interest for World Liberty between now and the end of Trump’s term if they maintain those USD1 holdings for that duration.c As for Zhao’s role at Binance, Trump’s pardon doesn’t nullify the stipulation in Binance’s plea agreement that Zhao be prohibited from “any present or future involvement in operating or managing [Binance]”.39d But since Zhao’s release from prison, it’s been clear he remains closely involved with Binance’s operations. Now his influence is even harder to dispute, as his partner in life, parenthood, and business, Yi He, has been named co‑CEO of the exchange.40 She is also the co-founder and namesake of Zhao’s family office, YZi Labs.

Molly White

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io replied · last month

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Molly White

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io · last month

House Judiciary Committee Democrats have published a 27-page staff report on how “Donald Trump has turned the Oval Office into the world’s most corrupt crypto startup operation”.

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Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee have published a 27-page staff report titled “Trump, Crypto, and a New Age of Corruption”. According to the report, Trump has amassed billions of dollars from crypto ventures “from the Oval Office by steering investment to his family firm, shielding his investors from federal fraud and securities investigations and prosecutions, bilking his political base, and degrading the federal agencies ordinarily responsible for investigating bribery and tracking known bad actors online.” Among other things, the report cites Trump’s pardon of Changpeng Zhao, which it links to Zhao’s and Binance’s help in promoting Trump’s World Liberty Financial project [I95]; political donations to Trump from companies who later saw cases and investigations from the SEC and DOJ dropped [QPQ]; and the tangled mess of apparent quid pro quo surrounding MGX, Binance, the Trump family’s USD1 stablecoin, and the Emirati AI chips deal [I93, 94].

The report concludes, “[T]he information we do have clearly demonstrates that foreign actors and corporate interests are buying access to and favors from the President and members of his Administration by investing in his family’s cryptocurrency ventures and making large, and plainly politically motivated donations.”37 House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD) issued a statement alongside the report:

“Donald Trump has turned the Oval Office into the world’s most corrupt crypto startup operation, minting staggering personal fortunes for him and his family in less than a year. ... America has never seen corruption on this scale take place inside the White House.” — The report concludes, “[T]he information we do have clearly demonstrates that foreign actors and corporate interests are buying access to and favors from the President and members of his Administration by investing in his family’s cryptocurrency ventures and making large, and plainly politically motivated donations.”37 House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD) issued a statement alongside the report: “Donald Trump has turned the Oval Office into the world’s most corrupt crypto startup operation, minting staggering personal fortunes for him and his family in less than a year. ... America has never seen corruption on this scale take place inside the White House.”

Molly White

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io replied · last month

#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics #CitationNeededNewsletter

Molly White

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io · last month

Trump’s crypto mobile game is apparently launching in December. Spokespeople denied it would be anything like Monopoly Go! — which explains the real estate theme and Monopoly-like game board.

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The Trump-themed crypto mobile game rumored in April to be under development by $TRUMP memecoin creator Bill Zanker [Empire] is now slated for a December release with the name Trump Billionaires Club. In April, a Zanker spokesperson denied the project was similar to Monopoly Go!, a microtransaction-infested mobile version of Monopoly,36 but the recent announcement by the $TRUMP memecoin social media account nevertheless shows a real estate-themed game played on a Monopoly-style gameboard.

Tweet by TrumpMeme: TrumpMeme
$1,000,000 in $TRUMP Coin Rewards! Join the waitlist.
Roll the dice. Make huge deals. Build your empire!
The Official Trump Mobile Game Is COMING SOON!
Go To http://TrumpBillionairesClub.com NOW! Don’t Miss Out!

An illustration of a very young-looking Trump with his arm raised to the sides is superimposed over a Monopoly-like gameboard, with the text above: “Trump Billionaires Club.com / 1 million dollars in $TRUMP rewards” — Tweet by TrumpMeme: TrumpMeme $1,000,000 in $TRUMP Coin Rewards! Join the waitlist. Roll the dice. Make huge deals. Build your empire! The Official Trump Mobile Game Is COMING SOON! Go To http://TrumpBillionairesClub.com NOW! Don’t Miss Out! An illustration of a very young-looking Trump with his arm raised to the sides is superimposed over a Monopoly-like gameboard, with the text above: “Trump Billionaires Club.com / 1 million dollars in $TRUMP rewards”

Molly White

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io replied · last month

House Judiciary Committee Democrats have published a 27-page staff report on how “Donald Trump has turned the Oval Office into the world’s most corrupt crypto startup operation”.

#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics #CitationNeededNewsletter

2 media

Molly White

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io · last month

Trump’s crypto mobile game is apparently launching in December. Spokespeople denied it would be anything like Monopoly Go! — which explains the real estate theme and Monopoly-like game board.

#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics #CitationNeededNewsletter

2 media

Molly White

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io · last month

#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics #CitationNeededNewsletter

Molly White

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io replied · last month

Alt5 Sigma — the Nasdaq-listed company that became a WLFI treasury company in a deal with the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial in August — is in turmoil. The company was found criminally liable in Rwanda, removed a CEO for undisclosed reasons, and has just lost its replacement CEO.

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Trump business interests
Alt5 Sigma, the WLFI treasury company established by Eric Trump and several other World Liberty Financial executives, seems to be in crisis. In August, World Liberty Financial announced that it would create a WLFI treasury company using the Nasdaq-listed fintech firm, Alt5 Sigma [I90]. Eric Trump and fellow World Liberty executives Zach Witkoff and Zak Folkman were slated to join Alt5 Sigma’s board, although the Nasdaq later prohibited Eric Trump from joining the board due to the blatant conflict of interest, relegating him to “board observer” [I92].

According to an SEC filing,31 on August 27 — only two weeks after Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Witkoff, and Folkman rang the Nasdaq opening bell to celebrate the deal — the Alt5 board learned that the company and its former president and CEO André Beauchesne had been found criminally liable for money laundering in Rwanda in May and ordered to surrender $3.5 million. The filing claims that the existence of the Rwandan court decision “and other matters” had not previously been disclosed to the board, and were unknown at the time of the World Liberty Financial deal. Two former employees said that World Liberty had been provided with details of the Rwandan court proceedings, though a World Liberty Financial spokesperson refutes this.32 — Trump business interests Alt5 Sigma, the WLFI treasury company established by Eric Trump and several other World Liberty Financial executives, seems to be in crisis. In August, World Liberty Financial announced that it would create a WLFI treasury company using the Nasdaq-listed fintech firm, Alt5 Sigma [I90]. Eric Trump and fellow World Liberty executives Zach Witkoff and Zak Folkman were slated to join Alt5 Sigma’s board, although the Nasdaq later prohibited Eric Trump from joining the board due to the blatant conflict of interest, relegating him to “board observer” [I92]. According to an SEC filing,31 on August 27 — only two weeks after Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Witkoff, and Folkman rang the Nasdaq opening bell to celebrate the deal — the Alt5 board learned that the company and its former president and CEO André Beauchesne had been found criminally liable for money laundering in Rwanda in May and ordered to surrender $3.5 million. The filing claims that the existence of the Rwandan court decision “and other matters” had not previously been disclosed to the board, and were unknown at the time of the World Liberty Financial deal. Two former employees said that World Liberty had been provided with details of the Rwandan court proceedings, though a World Liberty Financial spokesperson refutes this.32

Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Zach Witkoff, and Zak Folkman, and others ring the Nasdaq opening bell on August 13

Then, on August 29, Alt5 Sigma employees received a letter from the law firm Thompson Hine warning that “litigation, regulatory investigations and other proceedings are reasonably anticipated” and that they had established a special committee to independently scrutinize Alt5’s financial records. It’s not clear if this was related to the Rwandan criminal case or some other matter. On September 4, Alt5 told employees it had suspended CEO Peter Tassiopoulos and its chief revenue officer pending the outcome of the Thompson Hine investigation, though an October SEC filing claims Tassiopoulos wasn’t suspended until October 16.33 In a November 21 SEC filing, Alt5 Sigma disclosed that Tassiopoulos’ replacement, the company’s CFO Jonathan Hugh, had been removed as both acting CEO and CFO “without cause”. The same filing also announced that the Chief Operating Officer had also been removed, and that a board member had decided to resign, with the latter citing “personal reasons”.34 On December 15, Tassiopoulos formally resigned as CEO and from the board.35

Molly White

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io · last month

It’s not all good news for Kalshi, though: a federal judge in Nevada has decided their events contracts are not “swaps” under the CFTC and dissolved a preliminary injunction protecting them from civil and criminal action by the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

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It’s not all good news for prediction markets, though, as they face multiple cease-and-desist orders and lawsuits from state gaming regulators. A federal court in Nevada issued a devastating ruling late last month that event contracts based on the outcomes of sports games are not swaps that would fall under the Commodity Exchange Act, and dissolving a preliminary injunction protecting Kalshi from civil or criminal action by the Nevada Gaming Control Board. Prediction markets have been relying on the swaps argument, maintaining that the CFTC’s oversight preempts the authority of state gambling commissions. Judge Andrew Gordon, in his ruling, rejected this, and added: “Licensed gaming companies have invested millions of dollars to comply with state regulations only to supposedly find out that they could have just become CFTC-registered exchanges to offer sports gambling nationwide for anyone over the age of 18 without complying with Nevada’s gaming regulatory regime or paying taxes in this state.”22

Kalshi quickly filed for an emergency stay pending appeal, writing that they face “a threat of imminent criminal enforcement by Nevada authorities.”23 The Nevada Gaming Control Board has opposed this, arguing that “Kalshi cannot claim irreparable injury when all of its harms are self-inflicted. That is especially true because this Court and the CFTC warned Kalshi of the risks of expanding its business, and Kalshi went ahead and did it anyway. ... Kalshi has refused to make any good-faith effort to even attempt to comply with Nevada law. In contrast to Crypto.com and Robinhood, which entered into agreements with State Defendants to prevent enforcement, Kalshi flatly refused every option that State Defendants suggested, refused to propose any alternatives, and demanded that State Defendants stand down while it continues to aggressively expand its business.”24 Judge Gordon has not yet made a decision on the stay.

Molly White

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io replied · last month

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Molly White

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io · last month

A Kalshi partnership with CNN and CNBC will place Kalshi prices alongside news stories — inviting readers to view these as probabilities and encouraging them to place their own wagers. Kalshi gets the imprimatur of journalistic legitimacy; CNN — fresh off layoffs — gets cash.

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The Kalshi prediction market, which has been operating in the US since its 2021 launch, has inked a partnership with CNN and CNBC because everything is gambling now. Much as you can no longer watch a hockey game without seeing a gambling advertisement every 13 seconds21, Kalshi prices will now appear beside news stories — inviting readers both to view them as probabilities, and encouraging them to place their own wagers. While there has been some research validating prediction markets’ accuracy in forecasting, most of this occurred prior to the explosion in uncapped betting, when bettors were limited to wagering small amounts in tightly-constrained academic experiments. Now, with so much money on the line and so much public attention on these markets, I suspect additional factors could influence their accuracy — from bettors attempting to arbitrage between different platforms, to people attempting to manipulate the perceived “odds” of an event to their advantage. The deal is probably a win-win for both Kalshi and the news groups: Kalshi gets the imprimatur of journalistic legitimacy, while CNN — fresh off layoffs — will enjoy an infusion of cash. The specific pricetag isn’t public, but Kalshi’s recent $1 billion raise suggests the platform isn’t exactly cash‑starved.

Molly White

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io replied · last month

#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics #Kalshi #PredictionMarkets #CitationNeededNewsletter

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