Top CEO Bets On A Shock Biden Crypto Flip As Congress Hurtles Toward A ‘Crucial’ Vote That Could Blow Up The Price Of Bitcoin, Ethereum And XRP

05/20 update below. This post was originally published on May 18

Bitcoin
Bitcoin
and cryptocurrencies—including major coins ethereum and XRP
XRP
—are braced for a game-changing vote in Washington next week (even as a Wall Street bitcoin storm is brewing).

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The bitcoin price has rocketed 10% over the last week, climbing back toward $70,000 per bitcoin and boosting the price of ethereum, XRP and other cryptocurrencies as Twitter founder Jack Dorsey unveils his plan to blow up the bitcoin price.

Now, after Shark Tank billionaire Mark Cuban issued a sharp warning to president Joe Biden over crypto, U.S. lawmakers are on the brink of a landmark crypto vote that some of the biggest crypto companies have called “crucial” for the future of the U.S. industry.

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Forbes‘Voters Will Be Heard’-Billionaire Mark Cuban Issues Stark Warning To Joe Biden Over Donald Trump’s New ‘Weapon’By Billy Bambrough

Next week, House lawmakers will vote on the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, known as Fit21, which would promote the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to a major crypto regulator and carve out which areas of the bitcoin and crypto market are overseen by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

It would also set guardrails against risky behavior and establish consumer protections for the custody of cryptocurrencies and how they should be treated in bankruptcy.

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“By passing this legislation, we can accelerate the growth of blockchain technology and digital assets, fostering financial inclusion and protecting national security,” the Crypto Council for Innovation, a coalition of crypto companies and organizations that includes major exchanges Coinbase and Kraken, as well as investor Andreessen Horowitz and the sprawling Digital Currency Group crypto empire, wrote in an open letter to lawmakers. “It is crucial for the U.S. to maintain its leadership in financial innovation.”

Some crypto companies have threatened to abandon the U.S. entirely due to the lack of clear crypto rules and regulations, with industry leaders complaining there is no permitted route to market for crypto financial products.

This week, Congress overturned a crypto accounting policy from the SEC that had prevented the likes of Wall Street’s biggest banks and similarly tightly regulated financial companies from custodying bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, with the resolution winning support from a dozen Democrats despite president Joe Biden’s promise to vote it if it reaches his desk.

“This is a big deal,” Noelle Acheson, author of the Crypto is Macro Now newsletter, wrote in a note. “At the risk of buying too much into the crypto echo chamber glee, this does feel like a political signal that suggests a deepening divide in the Democratic party.”

President Biden now has around ten days to veto the bill or sign it off once it reaches his desk. If he fails to veto it, it would pass into law without his signature.

05/20 update: Some think that Biden could u-turn on the promised veto due to former president and Republican 2024 nominee Donald Trump’s recent support for crypto.

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“I’m 90% sure Joe Biden will back off of the SAB 121 veto threat this week,” Ryan Selkis, the chief executive of crypto data company Messari who has recently backed Trump due to his support for the crypto industry, posted to X, adding he believes the Democrats “are losing [an] enormous amount of political capital over an ‘accounting rule.'”

Trump, who sent the price of one tiny cryptocurrency suddenly soaring this month, also announced he will begin accepting crypto campaign donations.

Trump’s sudden 180 flip on bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, culminating in a Mar-a-Lago event that week in which he told attendees “if you’re in favor of crypto you’d better vote for Trump” and “the Democrats are very much against it,” comes after he declared he wasn’t a fan of bitcoin or crypto in 2019.

Trump’s remarks were described by Politico as a “new weapon against Biden,” and follow the former president selling various collections of digital trading cards to his supporters using cryptocurrency over the last two years.

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Forbes‘Voters Will Be Heard’-Billionaire Mark Cuban Issues Stark Warning To Joe Biden Over Donald Trump’s New ‘Weapon’By Billy Bambrough

Senator Cynthia Lummis, a Republican from Wyoming and crypto supporter who pushed for the resolution in the Senate, said the bulletin was “a disaster” that did not protect consumers.

“This is a win for financial innovation and a clear rebuke of the way the Biden administration and chair Gary Gensler have treated crypto assets and marks the first time both chambers of Congress have passed standalone crypto legislation,” Lummis said in a statement.

The bulletin has been thrust into the spotlight by the approval of a fleet of Wall Street spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in January that have created the possibility of huge fees for crypto custodians.

The long-awaited spot bitcoin ETFs were only approved by the SEC as a result of a court order.