Lummis-Gillibrand Responsible Financial Innovation Act (S. 4356) | Hacker News Reader

Lummis-Gillibrand Responsible Financial Innovation Act (S. 4356)

github.com

21 pointsdanso15 comments

Open articleView on HN

This is the crypto lobbyists' wishlist.

"Proposed Federal Crypto Legislation Supported by Digital Asset Ecosystem; Consumer Advocacy Groups Balk"[1]

Bad stuff:

* Creation of a digital asset self-regulatory agency by the CFTC and SEC.

Self-regulation. Right.

* Grant the CFTC specific oversight of certain digital assets and related markets. Escape from SEC jurisdiction. The CFTC isn't that active, because few small investors speculate in commodities. The SEC just doubled the size of their "cyber enforcement unit", and they bring the hammer down on about two scams a month.

* Exclusion from gross income of up to $200 (per transaction) when virtual currency is used by taxpayers to pay for goods or services.

Smurfing.

"The legislation is unlikely to advance in Congress this year" - law firm commenting.

[1] https://www.bakerlaw.com/alerts/proposed-federal-crypto-legi...

Smurfing? If I take you’re meaning correctly, that is not what is happening here. You cannot make multiple small transactions to make up one larger transaction. It specifically disallows it in the bill.

This really is about encouraging it’s use as a currency.

Agreed. I'm not a fan of most cryptocurrency related nonsense, but right now, if I hypothetically wanted to buy something from a vendor that only offers purchases via crypto the following applies:

I buy the crypto from an exchange or similar. Then I go to the vendor and buy the product. Then at tax time I need to look up what the price of the cyrpto was at the time I bought something with it, and pair it with the purchase in my records, so that I can claim capital gains or losses. With how volatile crypto is, these numbers will not reliably be "de minimis", and thus must be calculated for tax purposes.

Not needing to do proper book keeping for such purchases makes sense to me. Especially because the overwhelming majority of people trying to use crypto for purchases will fail to report these small gains and loses anyway.

The CFTC escape is bunk. But I wouldn’t throw out the SRO idea so quickly. It will ensconce the incumbents, yes. But it also takes rulemaking and enforcement responsibility off the public’s purse to a degree. I’m not seeing regulators or Congress propose a meaningful regulatory framework; maybe an SRO will.

Self regulation is what FINRA and exchange membership do in the securities markets. CFTC regulates commodities which is a better fit for something like Bitcoin.

Self regulation (like FINRA) only works when parties are incorporated within a US jurisdiction and expulsion means getting locked out of a large market. How many cryptocurrency entities does that apply to? Of course, providing a stable and consistent set of rules and reasonable judicial process is what makes Delaware the best state for incorporation. Something like that in the US might bring more parties to the table.

Wyoming...

Where is the motion to ratify the term limit resolution for the Congress? I have never in my life seen some many ingrates hired for public service, to represent their constituents — quite literally abandoning the office, becoming kindergarten tribes playing Mayans, Aztecs, and Incas. Grow a spine, get disciplined. We are at the cusp of deciding whether or not 1984 will really be … like q1984 or was 1984… the beginning of the end? Finite, America was no exception to the rule of Julius. IT was no Binary Pulsar, that young America. It was just a blazer, twas fun while it lasted. Don’t get shot: stay alive. No slow kill either. Those voices are the voice2skull They don’t want you to know about! Look, the technology EXISTS. #UB40

amused to find that even the crypto industry has decided they think the actual bill sucks

https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/151352/after-months-of-h...

> the reaction among the industry to its actual language is decidedly mixed. Many are clearly looking at the bill as a work in progress.

Reading the issues reminds me of reddit.

What is interesting about some anonymous account posting the text of a US bill to GitHub? (i.e why is the HN worthy?)

It’s not an anonymous account, I believe it is Senator Cynthia Lummis (team?) soliciting opinions via GitHub PR. It’s a pity more people are not taking the experiment seriously.

Why would anyone take the internet seriously?

Can anyone explain why this stuff isn't slipped into other must-pass bills like other riders?

I really don't understand how the Crypto Caucus sucks at this.

You can slip anything into:

Budget Reconciliation Acts to prevent government shutdown

That new gun control bill

why is this easy for others to do and not for these guys to do?

Which SuperPac/campaign has to get supported?

> why this stuff isn't slipped into other must-pass bills like other riders?

There is vocal, widespread and organised opposition. Slipping things into bills works when the opposition is nonchalant, narrow and/or terribly organised.

Comic relief on HN

Reply on news.ycombinator.com