Crypto Emerges as a Hot Topic in U.S. Elections

The Breakdown First Five - Monday, May 13, 2024

Welcome back to The Breakdown First Five — the 5 most interesting and/or important stories in bitcoin, crypto, and markets to start your day.

5. Crypto Legislation Will See a Vote

The House will vote on crypto market structure legislation later this month. Stablecoin legislation had seemed like the most likely bill to see movement ahead of the election, but it seems that a vote is being forced on the much broader regulatory framework bill. The bill seems to have enough bipartisan support to pass a house vote but will likely struggle in the Senate. This could be part of a GOP strategy to Dems on record with crypto votes.

4. Stand With Crypto Launches PAC

The Stand With Crypto advocacy nonprofit has spun off a Political Action Group looking to tip the scales for this election. The PAC will facilitate direct contributions from SWC’s 400,000 members to individual candidates running on a pro-crypto platform. The existing industry SuperPAC, Fairshake, is not able to fund individual campaigns. This move opens the door for more positive engagement with candidates who are standing with crypto. 

3. Exchange Volumes Stumble

April was a no good very bad month for crypto, showing up in falling exchange volumes. This was the first month to see declining volume since September. Monthly volume was down 35% from its cycle high in March. ETF trading mirrored this decline, with a significant reduction from the prior month. Binance remained the highest volume exchange with $700M and overall volumes are still 50% above the steady level from December, January and February.

2. SEC Pushes Back on Coinbase Appeal

The SEC has filed their response, claiming that the court should not allow Coinbase to appeal. Coinbase is seeking to take the central point of their case to the appeals court, asking them to settle whether crypto tokens are securities under the Howey test. The SEC argues that no court has ever required that “contractual obligations” are required to find there is an investment contract. Confused yet? This is the law that the SEC claims is perfectly clear. 

1. Crypto Gets Political

The battle lines are being drawn in Washington and across the Op Ed pages as crypto becomes an election issue. Trump has made it clear that he’s supporting crypto this November, but should the industry support Trump? The single issue voters were out in force during this weekend’s skirmish on CT, but are crypto voters really ready to ignore all of the orange man’s faults at the ballot box?