Time to Act (Please Read & Act ASAP)

Call and Write Your Representatives Now

Last night, certain shady politicians decided to add a last-minute provision to the “infrastructure” bill before a vote on it in the Senate. The provision included language that was very unfriendly to Proof of Stake (PoS) cryptocurrencies like Ethereum ($ETH) or Cardano ($ADA) that serve as DeFi platforms. Thankfully, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden along with two other senators - Patrick Toomey and Cynthia Lummis - stepped in to weaken the legislation’s proposed overhauls regarding cryptocurrency policy. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen pushed back and tried to rally lawmakers to not allow a debate over this cryptocurrency provision to hold back a vote on the bill. And gracias a dios, she failed. You can read more about what happened here.

David Sacks @DavidSacks

A bill to fund infrastructure is about to ban crypto. Sounds about right. You can do anything if you call it infrastructure.

Cynthia Lummis rallied the troops via Twitter, urging both her supporters and supporters of the rights of digital asset developers to call and Tweet their senators in an effort to push back against the efforts of these super slimy politicians and their underhanded attempt at a power grab.

Cynthia Lummis 🦬 @CynthiaMLummis

We NEED you. Pls call your Senators. Pls tweet. Pls email. We are facing major headwinds on the Wyden-Lummis-Toomey amendment. Burying financial innovation in red tape & sending devs + miners on info collection wild goose chases for info they don’t know is horrible policy.

Jerry Brito @jerrybrito

I’m thrilled to say that @RonWyden @CynthiaMLummis and @SenToomey have introduced an amendment to explicitly exclude validators, hardware and software wallet makers, and protocol devs from the tax reporting provisions. Bravo! Now we have to get this thing passed. https://t.co/0mpyNzxXee

Word spread quickly and her followers rallied.

Jerry Brito @jerrybrito

I’m thrilled to say that @RonWyden @CynthiaMLummis and @SenToomey have introduced an amendment to explicitly exclude validators, hardware and software wallet makers, and protocol devs from the tax reporting provisions. Bravo! Now we have to get this thing passed.

At about 12:30am, as I was in a Twitter Spaces meeting with Caitlin Long, CEO and founder of Avanti Bank; Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano (ADA) and co-founder of Ethereum (Ether); and a number of high profile names in the industry at about, we received word that the vote on the bill would be pushed back until Saturday, Aug. 7. This provided a certain sense of relief amongst the participants in the meeting, all of whom were clearly shook and distressed about this attempted crypto coup. Charles Hoskinson took to YouTube after the Twitter Spaces meeting and shared the following video. I highly recommend that you watch it, especially if you have any money or faith invested in digital assets.

Big takeaway: Right now is important that you call, Tweet, and write your senators and tell them to:

Vote NO on the Warner-Portman amendment and YES on the Wyden-Lummis-Toomey amendment.

And here’s the same message in the form of a Tweet (for those who might just be skimming this message, looking out for key points from it).

Jerry Brito @jerrybrito

And it should go without saying... CALL YOUR SENATORS! Tell them to vote NO on the Warner-Portman amendment and YES on the Wyden-Lummis-Toomey amendment.

Again, if you are invested in these assets or this industry, if you believe in the power of innovation and the right to innovate, and if you are tired of old, corrupt plutocrats dampening the spirit of human progress, then please take action. This is very important.

Meltem Demir◎rs @Melt_Dem

i am now a single issue voter it’s time to get organized. we need to find and fund policy makers who will preserve what makes America great - the power of the people, not plutocrats protecting their interests.

Ryan Selkis @twobitidiot

Every single Senator running for re-election in 2022 that votes for the Portman amendment must be punished and primaried. I’m a single issue voter now. If you want to help form a crypto NRA, let me know. There’s some early movement on that front.

Andrew Yang🧢🗽🇺🇸 @AndrewYang

I hope Congress excludes miners, developers, wallet projects and others who don’t have custodial data from its cryptocurrency provisions in the infrastructure bill. Let’s not stifle innovation.

Jake Chervinsky @jchervinsky

1/ A quick explainer on what happened with the infrastructure bill last night: We were on track to pass the Wyden-Lummis-Toomey amendment to fix the worst issues with the bill, & then Senators @RobPortman & @MarkWarner came from nowhere to blow it up. Now the vote's tomorrow 👇

In the mean time, the prices of $BTC and $ETH are running. Whenever governments try to regulate or ban these assets, it tends to further illustrate their value, and often causes a run up in price.

Let’s not follow in the footsteps of the Chinese Communist Party. Let’s not allow the most corrupt and uninventive of us rob the truly brilliant among us of the right to continue to innovate in the digital asset space. Let’s not allow the people who have failed us to dictate what those who have given us hope can and cannot do. Please take action before tomorrow’s vote. If you care, your senators need to hear from you.

Best,

Frank

Twitter: @frankcorva

“Indifference is the greatest evil because it enables the greatest evil.” -Charles Hoskinson

mulder @muldermk

as a staffer who recently left the Hill, I’ve been shy on Twitter, but with all that’s going on with crypto in dc, I wanted to speak up with some practical advice to try to make a bad situation better: