A little-known government agency could soon be at the center of the Trump administration’s efforts to work with private sector leaders to unleash innovation in American tech companies.
The Commodities Futures Trading Commission on Thursday announced the creation of the Innovation Advisory Committee, The Daily Wire can first report. The committee brings together companies on the forefront of commerce, drawing leaders in cryptocurrency, decentralized finance, prediction markets, and more.
“Today marks an important and energizing moment at the CFTC as the Innovation Advisory Committee takes shape,” CFTC Chairman Michael Selig said in a statement. The committee “will help ensure the CFTC’s decisions reflect market realities so the agency can future-proof its markets and develop clear rules of the road for the Golden Age of American Financial Markets.”
A companion to the better-known Securities and Exchange Commission, which regulates capital markets, the CFTC handles derivatives, a broad category encompassing all manner of financial contracts. Like the CFTC itself, the Innovation Advisory Committee will cover a large swath of the financial sector.
Prominent members include Tarek Mansour, CEO of Kalshi, a leading prediction markets platform, and Brian Armstrong, CEO of cryptocurrency hub Coinbase. The presidents of FanDuel and DraftKings — two of the leading online sports betting platforms — are also on the commission, as is Vlad Tenev, CEO of the stock trading app Robinhood.
But the commission also includes representatives from more traditional financial institutions, including Nasdaq chair and CEO Adena Friedman, David Schwimmer, CEO of the London Stock Exchange Group, and Intercontinental Exchange CEO Jeff Sprecher.
&#8220;There is a strong view from the chairman that this marks a new day for the CFTC and a 180 from the prior administration to put industry engagement front of mind,&#8221; a CFTC official told The Daily Wire.
The agency’s announcement comes at a crucial time for prediction markets. Late last month, the CFTC withdrew a Biden-era rule that restricted futures contracts tied to political and athletic events. That decision opened the gates for platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket, which allow users to bet on everything from who will win the Super Bowl to who will carry the White House in 2028.
Faced with the meteoric rise of these platforms, traditional betting outfits like FanDuel, as well as crypto companies like Coinbase and stock trading apps like Robinhood, have rushed to offer their own prediction markets. That the Innovation Advisory Committee includes all of these competitors signals the growing influence of the CFTC, which under Selig is charting a course for greater relevance and impact.
“For too long, the CFTC’s existing framework has proven difficult to apply and has failed our market participants,” Selig said after announcing the rule change. “The new guidance aims to provide straightforward standards so firms know exactly what is allowed and what is not.”
The chairman echoed those sentiments Thursday, saying that the Innovation Advisory Committee will help the CFTC “modernize our rules and regulations for the innovations of today and tomorrow” while ensuring that the United States remains “home to the most transparent and well-regulated financial markets in the world.”
The CFTC’s new advisory board is just the latest instance of the Trump administration partnering with financial leaders. The president tapped Wall Street veterans for top financial posts in his administration, rather than typical Beltway insiders. Trump has also made a point of working closely with American tech companies, bringing leaders in the artificial intelligence space to the White House for a high-profile September summit.

Kalshi Billboards Ahead Of New York Mayoral Election

Trump Admin Assembles Financial Dream Team In High-Stakes America First Move

betting

Cryptocurrency

Donald Trump

Stock Market

Wall Street

In the hours following Nancy Guthrie’s kidnapping, ransom notes were sent to multiple news outlets demanding $6 million in Bitcoin by 5 p.m. ET on Monday.
Guthrie, 84, the mother of “Today Show” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, was taken from her home nine days ago. Since her disappearance, news outlets have received messages detailing cryptocurrency payment instructions.
Criminals are increasingly turning to Bitcoin and other digital assets in ransom and extortion cases for several reasons.
Personal information is not required to access a private cryptocurrency wallet; this is one reason criminals often prefer self-custody wallets for their Bitcoin, requiring only a digital wallet and a pseudonym. Once funds are transferred to the digital wallet, the transaction cannot be reversed, unlike credit card payments or wire transfers, which can sometimes be disputed or clawed back. There is also no central authority that can freeze a Bitcoin wallet or halt a transaction.
Chainalysis&#8217;s 2024 Crypto report <a href="https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/2026-crypto-crime-report-introduction/">stated</a>, &#8220;Human trafficking operations have increasingly leveraged cryptocurrency, while there has also been a particularly disturbing rise in physical coercion attacks, in which criminals use violence to force victims to transfer assets, often timing these assaults to coincide with cryptocurrency price peaks.&#8221; Chainalysis estimated that tens of billions of dollars in cryptocurrency were linked to illicit activity in 2024.
However, Bitcoin does not provide total anonymity; it operates on a public, immutable ledger, meaning every transaction is permanently recorded and visible.
The Daily Wire spoke to Lionsgate Networks CEO Bezalel Eithan Raviv, who leads a firm that specializes in crypto security and asset recovery.
“A lot of people believe there’s no way to trace or recover crypto. This is a myth,” Raviv said.
He told The Daily Wire that using only the Bitcoin address provided in the ransom messages, the funds could indeed be tracked. “We would send a single dollar and we will trace the location of where it hits and lands. We would give that intel to law enforcement without sending $6 million in crypto. You can probe that wallet with a very small transaction.”
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/dwn-260204"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1039207" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Guthriebannerfinal.jpg" alt="" width="2290" height="544" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Guthriebannerfinal.jpg 2290w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Guthriebannerfinal-300x71.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Guthriebannerfinal-1024x243.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Guthriebannerfinal-768x182.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Guthriebannerfinal-1536x365.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Guthriebannerfinal-2048x487.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 2290px) 100vw, 2290px" /></a>
Tracing typically identifies wallet relationships and exchange touchpoints, not precise locations.
Raviv warned that such cases are likely to increase, as he believes criminals are often more sophisticated than law enforcement.
“Unfortunately, what we have experienced with this very unfortunate story will only scale,” he said. “Cybercriminals have the leverage because they do understand the tactics and the maneuvers that law enforcement will probably take years to catch up with.”
Still, Raviv emphasized that blockchain transparency remains a powerful investigative tool. “Blockchain is a language,” Raviv said. “And if you can speak it, you can do a lot with it.”
The second deadline for Nancy Guthrie has passed. The ransom reportedly increased from $4 million to $6 million on Monday.
On Monday, Savannah Guthrie posted a video on Instagram calling on the public to pray for her mother&#8217;s safe return and contact law enforcement &#8220;if there is anything at all that seems strange.&#8221;
&#8220;We are at an hour of desperation, and we need your help,&#8221; she added.
Tuesday marks day ten of the search for Nancy Guthrie.

Bitcoin

The Nancy Guthrie Case Shows How Cryptocurrency Changed Ransom

Crime

kidnapping

Nancy Guthrie

Savannah Guthrie

U.S.

Bitcoin plunged on Thursday, its decline accelerating amid weakening risk sentiment driven in part by volatility in precious metals and a broad selloff in tech shares.
The world&#8217;s largest cryptocurrency fell to a low of $66,675.12, its weakest since October 2024, a month before President Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election, having signaled his intention to support crypto on the campaign trail. It was last down 6.5% at $67,817.
All told, the global crypto market has lost $2 trillion in value since hitting a peak of $4.379 trillion in early October, CoinGecko data showed, with some $800 billion wiped out in the last month alone.
Bitcoin has already fallen 11% for the week, taking its losses for the year so far to 23%. Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization, was down more than 7% at $1,973 on Thursday. Ether has fallen nearly 14% this week, with losses of roughly 34% so far this year.
Sentiment on crypto was affected by the latest selling in metals and stocks. Gold and silver, for instance, have become more volatile as a result of leveraged buying and speculative flows. Silver, for one, fell as much as 16.6% to a low of $73.41.
In equities, the S&amp;P 500 slid to near two-week lows, and the Nasdaq sank to its lowest level in more than two months on Thursday, as the AI theme came under renewed pressure.
&#8220;It&#8217;s clear the crypto market is now in full capitulation mode,&#8221; said Nic Puckrin, investment analyst and co-founder of Coin Bureau. &#8220;If previous cycles are anything to go by, this is no longer a short-term correction, but rather a transition from distribution to reset &#8211; and these typically take months, not weeks.&#8221;
The latest crypto tumble has knocked down shares of companies holding bitcoin and other digital assets, stoking worries that the market turmoil is spreading beyond token prices.
Trump&#8217;s selection of Kevin Warsh as his pick to become the next Federal Reserve chair has also affected the price of cryptocurrencies, due to expectations that he could shrink the Fed&#8217;s balance sheet.
Cryptocurrencies have widely been regarded as beneficiaries of a large balance sheet, having tended to rally while the Fed greased money markets with liquidity — a support for speculative assets.
&#8220;The market fears a hawk with him,&#8221; said Manuel Villegas Franceschi from the next generation research team at Julius Baer. &#8220;A smaller balance sheet is not going to provide any tailwinds for crypto.&#8221;
To be sure, cryptocurrencies have struggled for months since a record crash last October sent bitcoin tumbling from a peak as leveraged positions got washed out. That has left investors less keen on digital assets, and sentiment toward the industry fragile.
&#8220;We believe this broader decline is mainly driven by massive withdrawals from institutional ETFs (exchange-traded funds). These funds have seen billions of dollars flow out each month since the October 2025 downturn,&#8221; Deutsche Bank analysts said in a note to clients.
They added that U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs witnessed outflows of more than $3 billion in January, following outflows of about $2 billion and $7 billion in December and November, respectively.
&#8220;This steady selling in our view signals that traditional investors are losing interest, and overall pessimism about crypto is growing,&#8221; the analysts said.
Bitcoin&#8217;s fortunes have been tied to the broader tech sector for some time. The price tended to rise, particularly on the back of investor enthusiasm over artificial intelligence.
This week&#8217;s rout in global software stocks has accelerated the slide in the value of bitcoin, ether, and other tokens.
Market watchers are starting to question if this decline marks the start of a steeper correction.
&#8220;Concerns are being raised around the crypto miners and whether we could be looking at forced liquidations if prices continue to fall, which could lead to a vicious cycle,&#8221; Jefferies strategist Mohit Kumar said in a note.
&#8220;Our view on crypto has always been that it should be never more than a very small portion of the overall portfolio. However, it is also an asset class that is heavily owned, particularly by retail investors, and hence adds to the overall market risk,&#8221; Kumar said.
(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss in New York, Rae Wee in Singapore, and Amanda Cooper in London; Additional reporting by Lucy Raitano in London; Editing by Edwina Gibbs, Joe Bavier, Will Dunham, and Jan Harvey)

Illustration shows representations of cryptocurrency Bitcoin

Bitcoin Plummets, Driving $2 Trillion Slide In Crypto Market Value

Federal Reserve

Binance Holdings Ltd., the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is facing a sweeping new federal lawsuit in North Dakota, alleging that it knowingly enabled more than $1 billion in crypto transactions for Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad —funds that plaintiffs say helped finance the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and subsequent assaults.
More than 300 American victims and family members of those killed, wounded, or taken hostage on October 7, 2023, brought the suit under the Anti-Terrorism Act and its Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act amendment. The 284-page complaint names Binance, its co-founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao, and top executive Guangying Chen as defendants, alleging they “knowingly, willfully, and systematically assisted” designated foreign terrorist organizations for years by providing a platform to transfer and launder hundreds of millions of dollars.
“From the outset, Binance boasted that it maintained no headquarters anywhere in the world. Its now-disgraced CEO and owner, Defendant Zhao, claimed the company was ‘based’ wherever he was situated at any given moment: ‘Wherever I sit is the Binance office. Wherever I meet somebody is going to be the Binance office,’” the lawsuit <a href="https://image.jewishinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/24144541/Balva-v.-Binance-Complaint-Filed-ECF.pdf?_gl=1*1e2w9w0*_gcl_au*MTg3NDcwNDMzNy4xNzYzNzM3OTQ1LjI0MjQzOTY0NC4xNzY0MDc4MjkwLjE3NjQwNzgyODk.&amp;_ga=2.108981378.1640150554.1764077904-684018400.1763737945">states</a>. “That is, Binance pitched itself to terrorist organizations, narcotics traffickers, and tax evaders as beyond the reach of any single country’s laws or regulations.”
The October 7 attack left 1,200 people in Israel dead and roughly 250 kidnapped. The plaintiffs argue that the scale and sophistication of Hamas’s assault — including weapon stockpiles and an extensive tunnel network — were made possible by covert funding streams funneled in part through Binance.
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“Binance rapidly grew to be the largest crypto trading platform globally because, as detailed below, it purposely attracted criminals including terrorist organizations like Hamas, the IRGC, Hezbollah, and PIJ to its platform and assisted them to launder money in order to maximize Binance’s trading volume and monetize criminal activities via platform fees,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit asserts that Binance intentionally built itself into a “refuge for illicit activity,” courting high-volume criminal users to boost revenues while evading United States oversight. It cites internal communications in which compliance officials remarked that customers were “here for crime” and joked about advertising Binance as a destination for laundering drug money. The complaint recounts multiple instances in which third-party compliance firms flagged Hamas-linked accounts. Yet, Binance allegedly declined to freeze or report them, instead warning certain customers to withdraw funds before scrutiny intensified.
“Binance not only knowingly provided financial services to Hamas; it actively tried to shield its Hamas customers and their funds from scrutiny by U.S. regulators or law enforcement—a practice that continues to this day,” the lawsuit states.
The filing expands on details disclosed in 2023, when Binance and Zhao pleaded guilty to violating United States anti-money-laundering laws and agreed to a $4.3 billion settlement — one of the largest in American history. Zhao resigned and served a four-month prison term before being pardoned last month by President Donald Trump. Chen was not charged. As part of its plea, Binance admitted it had failed to report suspicious Hamas-related transactions and had permitted millions of dollars in illicit transfers.
The new lawsuit goes further, alleging extensive previously undisclosed transactions involving Hamas, Hezbollah, and the IRGC, as well as a transnational gold-smuggling network in Venezuela that plaintiffs say funneled proceeds to Iran and its proxies via Binance-linked wallets. One Venezuelan woman, allegedly acting as a front for Hezbollah, received $177 million in crypto and withdrew $43 million in cash, according to the complaint.
The suit also identifies several Gaza-based exchange houses and sanctioned individuals who allegedly moved hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrencies through Binance accounts before and after October 7. Plaintiffs argue that assets flowing through these channels “could foreseeably be used to commit terrorist attacks” and that Binance’s actions “directly and materially contributed” to violence against Israelis and Americans.

In this photo illustration, a Binance logo is seen displayed

Binance Accused Of Enabling Hamas Terror Funding Ahead Of October 7 Attack

Binance

Hamas

October 7

Terrorism

World

A big controversy has now broken out over WNBA games — people are throwing sex toys on the court.
By any normal stretch of human behavior, this is a bad thing to do. You should not go to games and throw sex toys on the court. It&#8217;s obscene. It&#8217;s ridiculous. And no matter how much you dislike the WNBA, you probably shouldn&#8217;t go there and throw a giant sex toy on the court, right? As a respectable human being, you probably shouldn&#8217;t do it.
Is it funny? Sure. A lot of things are funny. A lot of violative and transgressive behavior is funny.
But that doesn&#8217;t mean it&#8217;s good.
The internet culture and subculture have become so reactionary, so reactive, and so disagreeable that this pattern is now driving economic decision-making. An article in The New York Times titled, “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6541093/2025/08/07/wnba-sex-toy-incidents-cryptocurrency-group-scheme/">WNBA sex toy incidents may be linked to cryptocurrency groups’ money scheme</a>” reads like a fever dream: 
<blockquote>Late in the first half of a Los Angeles Sparks-Indiana Fever game on Tuesday night, a neon green sex toy thrown from the stands landed on the floor of Crypto.com Arena, at the feet of Indiana guard Sophie Cunningham. Simultaneously, a group of people during an audio livestream on X reveled in the moment and celebrated its potential to help boost the value of a particular memecoin, a cryptocurrency deriving from an internet meme but traded through very real markets online. The coin was created July 28, the day before the first occurrence of a sex toy being thrown on a WNBA court. As of Thursday, the coin’s worth had nearly tripled in its first week.
“Someone is tweeting that there’s one at the Sparks game,” one person said on the stream. “That is literally the best case scenario that we could possibly imagine,” another replied, because the sex toy had fallen near Cunningham, who had previously posted a plea for spectators not to throw the objects onto the court, which was met with numerous replies of memes involving the phallic object.
The disruption in Los Angeles — as well as others that occurred that evening — appeared to be part of a coordinated effort, borne out of conversations held in some particularly murky, often mysterious corners of internet culture, social media and opportunistic plays in the cryptocurrency markets.</blockquote>
In the normal world, all of this would be treated as sociopathic behavior, going to games and throwing sex toys on the court.
Regardless of how much you dislike the sport, it would be considered, at the very least, bizarre and at the worst, vile.
It could be funny, and a lot of vile behavior is funny, but it is significant; a country with a robust social fabric does not have this kind of behavior, or at least it has less of this kind of behavior. That’s because you wouldn&#8217;t do this in your community, would you?
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2257-member-exclusive?elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=The+Ben+Shapiro+Show&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
I know I&#8217;m treating seriously what is a frivolous topic, but I think we are now entering an era with the merger of the internet and the real world, a time where there are no more frivolous topics. Every frivolous topic becomes a symptom indicative of true social ills that are dividing us from one another.
You can&#8217;t get together and say, “Yeah, we probably shouldn&#8217;t do that,” or “A Sydney Sweeney jeans ad? Who cares? That’s fine.”
What happened to normalcy? As normalcy disintegrates and as people take one side or the other on ridiculous meme sociopathy, what you end up with is a very, very polarized electorate.
And that&#8217;s particularly true as young people age into the voting population. You&#8217;re seeing it in terms of sexual polarization between men and women; women are swinging wildly to the Left. Men are moving significantly more to the Right. And in terms of political polarization, it&#8217;s more about aesthetic feel than it is even about policy for a lot of these folks.
Is it a problem?
It does say something about the continuing social polarization of our country. We are addicted to our phones, our memes, and to the LOLs, as opposed to the things that actually build a society — like spending time with other human beings in a physical setting with a common goal of making our society and country better.

Las Vegas Aces v Los Angeles Sparks

Sex Toys, Memecoins, And The Collapse Of Common Sense

Ben Shapiro

Culture

Humor

Opinion

U.S. Politics

WNBA

A conservative policy powerhouse is calling for changes to financial rules that allow the government to pressure banks into cutting ties with groups they find ideologically objectionable.
The America First Policy Institute&#8217;s Center For American Prosperity on Wednesday <a href="https://www.americafirstpolicy.com/issues/debanked-when-political-bias-trumps-financial-judgment">released</a> &#8220;Debanked: When Political Bias Trumps Financial Judgment.&#8221; The white paper outlines five proposals that the authors say would stop government regulators from weaponizing their influence over banks to further their political agendas.
Debanking &#8220;creates a de facto blacklist of people and organizations that have lost access to banking services and have significant difficulty regaining access to banking,&#8221; Jill Homan, Deputy Director of Trade and Economic Policy, and David Vasquez, Senior Policy Analyst for Energy &amp; Environment at AFPI, write in the report.
&#8220;Debanking creates uncertainty and hardship. In a nation governed by laws, the practice of legal coercion through regulatory discretion is antithetical to the American system of justice,&#8221; the authors add.
&#8220;Ultimately, debanking is not just an economic problem, but a constitutional one. When federal officials use unofficial “guidance” to achieve what Congress never authorized, they violate both the spirit and letter of the law. The solution is to excise power from the regulators, and that begins with narrowing their discretion.&#8221;
President Donald Trump made a similar point earlier this year.
“The regulators control the banks,&#8221; Trump said in June. &#8220;It’s not the president of the bank. The president of the bank is far less important to a bank than a regulator, and a regulator can put that bank out of business.”
Debanking reached a fever pitch in 2013, when the Obama Justice Department launched “Operation Choke Point.&#8221; Under the operation, the Justice Department targeted “companies believed to be at a high risk for fraud and money laundering.&#8221; In reality, Choke Point involved government officials pressuring banks to cut ties with firearms dealers and other businesses the Obama administration deemed intolerable. The Biden administration continued its debanking efforts with <a href="https://financialservices.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=409457">Operation Choke Point 2.0</a>, an effort to target the cryptocurrency industry.
In addition to the firearms and crypto industries, religious groups and conservative organizations have also been frequent targets of government-run debanking.
The authors suggest a number of policy tweaks that could prevent future debanking efforts. They urge Congress to pass the Financial Integrity and Regulation Management Act, which would “remove the subjective criteria of &#8216;reputational risk&#8217; which bank regulators use to evaluate a financial institution. … Instead, financial regulators would rely entirely on objective criteria to assess financial soundness.”
The law would also restrict the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation from judging a financial institution’s trustworthiness on the “competency of bank management,” which is evaluated based on the risk regulators believe the institution is exposed to, based on the businesses it serves.
The authors also call for a uniform “Federal Fair Access” standard that would “end the need for states to develop separate debanking legislation that further complicates banking operations with a patchwork of inconsistent and conflicting state laws.”
A requirement to notify customers and explain the reasoning ahead of a decision by a financial institution to end its relationship with someone would increase transparency. Modernizing old regulations would also mitigate problems brought about by using a 1970s legal framework in the present-day financial environment.
&#8220;Whether the result of politically driven regulators abusing their authority or bad policies, this administration and Congress have an opportunity to dramatically curb the practice of government-driven debanking across the country through federal action,&#8221; the authors conclude. &#8220;Doing so involves reducing subjectivity and instituting these changes into law.&#8221;

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Conservative Group Calls For Lawmakers To Fight Government-Driven ‘Debanking’

Debanking Is A Serious Problem For Conservatives. Here Are Some Expert Suggestions To Fix It

America First

Banking

Censorship

finance

Guns

Obama Administration

The GOP-led House passed a trio of bills on Thursday that are poised to have a tremendous impact on the cryptocurrency space in the United States.
Members voted <a href="https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2025200" target="_blank" rel="noopener">308-122</a> in favor of the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1582/text" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GENIUS Act</a>, a stablecoin regulation bill that already passed through the Senate. The legislation now heads to the White House, where President Donald Trump is expected to sign it. House lawmakers also approved the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3633/text" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025</a>, legislation from Financial Services Chairman French Hill (R-AR) that aims to provide a &#8220;system of regulation&#8221; for digital commodity sales by the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, by a <a href="https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2025199" target="_blank" rel="noopener">294-134</a> vote.
&#8220;The Web 3 race is here, implementing clear regulations with CLARITY and GENIUS will protect consumers and ensure U.S. leadership in digital assets,&#8221; Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI), chairman of the Crypto Subcommittee, <a href="https://x.com/RepBryanSteil/status/1945903351083716903" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on X.
In addition, the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/5403/text" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act</a>, a measure that seeks to prohibit the Federal reserve banks from issuing their own digital currency or using one to implement monetary policy, prevailed in a <a href="https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2025201" target="_blank" rel="noopener">219-210</a> vote. That bill is set to be included in the National Defense Authorization Act (<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/2296/text" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NDAA</a>) as part of a <a href="https://x.com/RepAndyHarrisMD/status/1945681755559924107" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deal</a> with conservatives who held out during a procedural rule vote that <a href="https://x.com/GOPMajorityWhip/status/1945677323040354398" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lasted</a> a record-breaking nine hours and 45 minutes.
&#8220;Attaching our Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act to the NDAA will ensure unelected bureaucrats are NEVER allowed to trade Americans’ financial privacy for a CCP-style surveillance tool,&#8221; House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) <a href="https://x.com/GOPMajorityWhip/status/1945677323040354398" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a post on X. &#8220;[Trump] has made it clear: our legislation is a key piece of our America First agenda, and we will deliver.&#8221;
Many, but not all, Democrats voted against the bills. In fact, nearly half of them voted for the Genius Act. Those who opposed the proposals warned they would benefit a Trump family crypto venture and possibly cause a financial calamity.
The &#8220;GOP crypto bills don’t just fail to protect consumers, they greenlight Trump’s billion-dollar crypto grift and invite the next financial crisis,&#8221; read a <a href="https://x.com/RepMaxineWaters/status/1945151846433140920" target="_blank" rel="noopener">post</a> on X from Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), the ranking member of the Financial Services Committee.
A handful of House Republicans voted against the GENIUS Act, too, amid concerns about it allowing a <a href="https://x.com/RepMTG/status/1945880979949891750" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8220;back door&#8221;</a> to a central bank digital currency one day that could infringe upon financial privacy — if the Senate ends up not approving the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act.
For now, Trump has an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/strengthening-american-leadership-in-digital-financial-technology/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">executive order</a> that calls for policies that prevent a CBDC in the United States.
A bipartisan group of senators united in a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-vote-pushes-u-s-toward-becoming-the-global-leader-in-crypto?author=Daniel+Chaitin&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Senate+Vote+Pushes+U.S.+Toward+Becoming+%E2%80%98The+Global+Leader+In+Crypto%E2%80%99" target="_blank" rel="noopener">68-30 vote</a> in June to pass the GENIUS Act. It seeks to create a framework for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/white-house-gop-leaders-pledge-major-crypto-bills-in-first-100-days" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stablecoins</a>, which are significant in digital asset exchanges and pegged to stable assets such as the U.S. dollar.
“The GENIUS Act will cement U.S. dollar dominance, protect customers, drive demand for U.S. Treasuries, &amp; ensure that digital asset innovation happens in the U.S., not overseas,” Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN), the bill&#8217;s sponsor, <a href="https://x.com/SenatorHagerty/status/1935074302396649918" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a post on X. &#8220;With this bill, we are one step closer to becoming the global leader in crypto.&#8221;
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that a signing ceremony for the GENIUS Act was being planned for Friday afternoon.
“This piece of legislation is going to make America the crypto capital of the world, and that&#8217;s what the president promised,&#8221; Leavitt <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxH7sgAzPvM" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.

House Sends GENIUS Act To Trump, Passes Two Other Crypto Bills

Congress

Money

Technology

U.S. House of Representatives

The GOP-led Senate passed on Tuesday a stablecoin regulation bill that supporters argued will help the United States become the &#8220;global leader&#8221; in cryptocurrency.
A bipartisan group of 68 senators voted in favor of the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1582/text" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GENIUS Act</a>, which prevailed after hitting a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/crypto-bill-falters-in-senate-for-now" target="_blank" rel="noopener">speed bump</a> in May before going through <a href="https://www.congress.gov/amendment/119th-congress/senate-amendment/2307" target="_blank" rel="noopener">amendments</a>. Another 30 members banded together in opposing the legislation.
Spearheaded by Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN), the measure seeks to create a framework for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/white-house-gop-leaders-pledge-major-crypto-bills-in-first-100-days" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stablecoins</a>, which are significant in digital asset exchanges and pegged to stable assets such as the U.S. dollar.
&#8220;The GENIUS Act will cement U.S. dollar dominance, protect customers, drive demand for U.S. Treasuries, &amp; ensure that digital asset innovation happens in the U.S., not overseas,&#8221; Hagerty said in a post on X. &#8220;With this bill, we are one step closer to becoming the global leader in crypto.&#8221;
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) was one of the lawmakers who voted against the bill. Sharing a Wall Street Journal article on how Walmart and Amazon are exploring their own stablecoins, she warned on Monday the legislation needed changes.
&#8220;If Congress doesn’t fix the GENIUS Act, billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos could launch stablecoins that track your purchases, exploit your data, and squeeze out competitors,&#8221; Warren <a href="https://x.com/SenWarren/status/1934686958875246824" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on X. &#8220;These billionaires will come begging for a taxpayer bailout when it inevitably blows up.&#8221;
Warren <a href="https://x.com/SenWarren/status/1934686958875246824" target="_blank" rel="noopener">added</a>: &#8220;The GENIUS Act has a major loophole allowing Big Tech companies and major retailers to issue their own private currencies structured as stablecoins. This bill shouldn&#8217;t pass without amendments preventing these risks.&#8221;
President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration has endorsed the bill, which now heads to the Republican-controlled House.
&#8220;Recent reporting projects that stablecoins could grow into a $3.7 trillion market by the end of the decade. That scenario becomes more likely with passage of the GENIUS Act,&#8221; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent <a href="https://x.com/SecScottBessent/status/1935027160374210573" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on X.
&#8220;A thriving stablecoin ecosystem will drive demand from the private sector for US Treasuries, which back stablecoins. This newfound demand could lower government borrowing costs and help rein in the national debt. It could also onramp millions of new users—across the globe—to the dollar-based digital asset economy,&#8221; Bessent continued.
Insisting that it is a &#8220;win-win-win&#8221; for the private sector, the Treasury, and consumers, Bessent concluded: &#8220;These are the fruits of smart, pro-innovation legislation.&#8221;

Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) speaks with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent

Senate Vote Pushes U.S. Toward Becoming ‘The Global Leader In Crypto’

Bill Hagerty

Elizabeth Warren

Politics

Scott Bessent

U.S. Senate

On Thursday, a group of mostly Senate Democrats derailed a cryptocurrency regulation bill backed by the Trump administration, at least for the time being.
The <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1582/text" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GENIUS Act</a> failed to advance in a 48-49 vote, with Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) joining Democrats in opposing the legislation. It needed 60 votes to bypass the procedural hurdle.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) reportedly <a href="https://x.com/burgessev/status/1920546090811560314" target="_blank" rel="noopener">switched</a> his vote to &#8220;nay&#8221; in a move that allows future reconsideration.
The legislation seeks to create a framework for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/white-house-gop-leaders-pledge-major-crypto-bills-in-first-100-days" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stablecoins</a>, which are significant in digital asset exchanges and pegged to stable assets such as the U.S. dollar.
Democrats, some of whom had previously supported the legislative push, relayed concerns about protections for consumers and President Donald Trump’s crypto ties. They also claimed Republicans rushed the vote without finalized text.
&#8220;Senate Republicans are trying to jam Democrats with a stablecoin bill that helps Trump rake in hundreds of millions of dollars — just as he tanks the economy and raises costs for everyone else,&#8221; Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) <a href="https://x.com/SenWarren/status/1920529423259881571" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on X. &#8220;Rolling over without fixing this bill would be a huge mistake.&#8221;
Before the vote, Thune delivered remarks in which he said senators were voting on a sixth version of the bill that had been drafted with the input from both Republicans and Democrats.
&#8220;And if senators would like the opportunity to make further modifications to the bill, I encourage them to vote for cloture,&#8221; Thune <a href="https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=7279B92C-4461-46C2-8E17-35EBFC1B1589" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. &#8220;Once we’re on the bill, we can discuss changes here on the floor. We’ve had an open process on this bill so far, so why stop now?&#8221;
Reporters noted on X that Paul had <a href="https://x.com/igorbobic/status/1920523794801668185" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> he did not get enough information to &#8220;convince&#8221; him that the bill was a good idea while Hawley <a href="https://x.com/StefWKight/status/1920528428400275522" target="_blank" rel="noopener">emphasized</a> that he wanted to see the latest text of the legislation.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent <a href="https://x.com/SecScottBessent/status/1920551341531017606" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expressed</a> disappointment with the outcome of the procedural vote.
&#8220;For stablecoins and other digital assets to thrive globally, the world needs American leadership. The Senate missed an opportunity to provide that leadership today by failing to advance the GENIUS Act,&#8221; Bessent <a href="https://x.com/SecScottBessent/status/1920551341531017606" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>, adding later: &#8220;Senators who voted to stonewall U.S. ingenuity today face a simple choice: Either step up and lead or watch digital asset innovation move offshore.&#8221;

Senator Elizabeth Warren

Crypto Bill Falters In Senate — For Now

On Friday, President Donald Trump will host a cryptocurrency summit, illuminating the reversal of fortune the cryptocurrency has witnessed from the days it was hounded by the Biden administration. David Sacks, Trump’s AI and crypto czar, will host the meeting.
“It’s really extraordinary and gratifying to go from being in exile to being in the room where it happens,” Faryar Shirzad, chief policy officer for Coinbase, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/03/07/trump-crypto-summit-white-house/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stated</a> before the meeting.
On Thursday, Trump issued an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/establishment-of-the-strategic-bitcoin-reserveand-united-states-digital-asset-stockpile/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">executive order</a> creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. He wrote, “Bitcoin is the original cryptocurrency.  The Bitcoin protocol permanently caps the total supply of bitcoin (BTC) at 21 million coins, and has never been hacked. &#8230; Because there is a fixed supply of BTC, there is a strategic advantage to being among the first nations to create a strategic bitcoin reserve.  The United States Government currently holds a significant amount of BTC, but has not implemented a policy to maximize BTC’s strategic position as a unique store of value in the global financial system.  Just as it is in our country’s interest to thoughtfully manage national ownership and control of any other resource, our Nation must harness, not limit, the power of digital assets for our prosperity.”
“The Reserve will be capitalized with Bitcoin owned by the federal government that was forfeited as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings,” David Sacks, Trump’s AI and crypto czar, <a href="https://x.com/davidsacks47/status/1897802280738734236">wrote</a> on X. “This means it will not cost taxpayers a dime. It is estimated that the U.S. government owns about 200,000 bitcoin; however, there has never been a complete audit. The E.O. directs a full accounting of the federal government’s digital asset holdings. The U.S. will not sell any bitcoin deposited into the Reserve. It will be kept as a store of value. The Reserve is like a digital Fort Knox for the cryptocurrency often called “digital gold.” Premature sales of bitcoin have already cost U.S. taxpayers over $17 billion in lost value. Now the federal government will have a strategy to maximize the value of its holdings.”
On January 23, Trump issued an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/strengthening-american-leadership-in-digital-financial-technology/">executive order</a> titled “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology” to “support the responsible growth and use of digital assets. The order stated that the “digital asset industry plays a crucial role in innovation and economic development in the United States,” adding that federal agencies were prohibited from “undertaking any action to establish, issue, or promote CBDCs (central bank digital currencies)” anywhere in the world.
The order revoked President Biden’s March 2022 Executive Order 14067, titled “Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets,” and also directed the Secretary of the Treasury to “immediately revoke” the Biden Administration’s “Framework for International Engagement on Digital Assets,” issued on July 7, 2022.

Blockchain Virtual Digital Cryptocurrency

Trump Hosting Cryptocurrency Summit Today

Bitcoin surged past $93,000 over the weekend after President Trump announced plans to create a U.S. strategic crypto reserve that will include Bitcoin, Ether, and several other digital currencies.
“A U.S. Crypto Reserve will elevate this critical industry after years of corrupt attacks by the Biden Administration,” President Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114093526901586124">wrote</a> in a Truth Social post on Sunday. “I will make sure the U.S. is the Crypto Capital of the World. We are MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
The strategic reserve will <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/03/crypto-market-today.html">involve</a> several digital currencies beyond Bitcoin, including Ether, XRP, Solana, and Cardano, according to CNBC.
The announcement triggered a significant rally in the cryptocurrency market, with Bitcoin climbing as high as $95,000, and the smaller coins seeing double-digit percentage increases.
This positive momentum comes after a period of consolidation in which Bitcoin had fallen below the key $90,000 level for the first time in three months, dropping as much as 25% from its January all-time high.
&#8220;The weekend news is exactly the type of catalyst investors have been looking for to feel reassured about follow through from the U.S. administration with respect to its crypto friendly policies,&#8221; Joel Kruger, market strategist at LMAX Group, told CNBC. &#8220;Now that we&#8217;ve already seen a healthy correction in February, this sets the stage for the start to the next leg higher for crypto assets.&#8221;
Investors will be watching for additional details at the first White House Crypto Summit, scheduled for this Friday. White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks indicated there would be &#8220;more to come&#8221; at the summit, suggesting further policy announcements that could impact the cryptocurrency market.
The move represents a dramatic shift in U.S. policy toward digital assets, positioning America as a leader in cryptocurrency adoption while many other nations have imposed restrictive regulations.
China, for instance, has banned cryptocurrency mining and trading, while the European Union has established strict regulatory frameworks that many in the industry view as stifling innovation.
Trump&#8217;s strategic reserve announcement signals a clear intent to establish U.S. dominance in the digital asset space, potentially giving America a competitive edge in future global financial systems. In other sectors, such as with gold, a strategic reserve serves as a hedge against inflation and currency devaluation while reducing reliance on traditional financial infrastructure.
While details remain limited, expectations are high that the White House Crypto Summit will provide clarity on the reserve&#8217;s implementation timeline, acquisition strategy, and governance structure. Industry players will be watching closely for potential regulatory reforms that might accompany the reserve announcement, particularly regarding cryptocurrency taxation and securities classification issues that have created uncertainty in the market.

Bitcoin Photo Illustrations

Trump’s Announcement Of First-Ever Crypto Strategic Reserve Sparks Rally

Economy

Trump Administration

White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks joined key Republican lawmakers in pledging to pass major <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/cryptocurrency" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cryptocurrency bills</a> within President Donald Trump&#8217;s first 100 days while hinting at the possibility of a federal Bitcoin reserve.
At a press conference Tuesday, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) said he <a href="https://decrypt.co/304397/crypto-markets-structure-stablecoin-bills-trump-100-days" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expects</a> both major stablecoin and markets structure bills to pass by the end of President Donald Trump&#8217;s first 100 days, putting the deadline less than three months away, according to a report by Decrypt.
Republican chairs of the House Financial Services Committee, Senate Banking Committee, House Agriculture Committee, and Senate Agriculture Committee unveiled plans for a bicameral working group to coordinate with Sacks.
One of the many crypto bills on the docket, according to the lawmakers, is the GENIUS Act, introduced by Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN), which would require monthly audits of stablecoin issuers&#8217; fiat reserves and impose criminal penalties for false reporting.
Stablecoins now represent a substantial share of the daily volume in digital asset exchanges. Because these tokens are commonly pegged to the U.S. dollar or other stable assets, reliable regulatory structures are seen by many as crucial to ensuring market stability.
Crypto has long been shunned by traditional financial institutions due to its unregulated nature, forcing many crypto companies to incorporate internationally in countries with a much clearer framework for operation.
Industry advocates have shown optimism that a clear legal framework might accelerate institutional partnerships between stablecoin providers and traditional financial institutions.
Sacks addressed this, saying, &#8220;Financial assets are destined to become digital … and we want that value creation to happen in the United States.&#8221;
Sacks also addressed rumors of a Bitcoin strategic reserve, given President Trump&#8217;s Monday executive order establishing a U.S. sovereign wealth fund, which often features Bitcoin in other countries.
Sacks deferred this question to the newly-announced bicameral crypto committee, saying that the sovereign wealth fund was &#8220;a little separate&#8221; from any consideration of a Bitcoin reserve, but left open the possibility of further White House action on the matter.

Lawmakers Join White House Crypto Czar For News Conference On Digital Assets

White House, GOP Leaders Pledge Major Crypto Bills In First 100 Days

Artificial Intelligence

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