PROTECTING AMERICANS FROM HARMFUL CRYPTO PRACTICES

On 2025-05-08, Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA-43) delivered a floor speech titled "PROTECTING AMERICANS FROM HARMFUL CRYPTO PRACTICES" in the House.

PROTECTING AMERICANS FROM HARMFUL CRYPTO PRACTICES

Congressional Record, Volume 171 Issue 77 (Thursday, May 8, 2025) [Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 77 (Thursday, May 8, 2025)] [House] [Pages H1927-H1932] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] PROTECTING AMERICANS FROM HARMFUL CRYPTO PRACTICES (Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Ms. Waters of California was recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.) Ms. WATERS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to further discuss with our Members and this country the situation that we find ourselves in, the chaotic situation that has so many people confused. It is a chaotic situation that is causing trauma and harm to the people of this country. I know much of what I am going to say today perhaps has been said by others before, but we need to talk about this situation over and over again and daily so that people can understand what is going on and how our democracy is being challenged. Madam Speaker, last year, Trump denied knowing anything about Project 2025, the radical rightwing plan to reshape the Federal Government. Of Project 2025, Trump said: ``I don't know anything about it. I don't want to know anything about it.'' Trump, Elon Musk, and his appointees are now following the Project 2025 playbook. They are recklessly gutting Federal agencies and government's capacity. Elon Musk has said that the government ``should privatize everything that we possibly can.'' They are laying off or pushing into retirement tens of thousands of Federal employees. The cruelty is the point. Russell Vought, Director of the Office of Management and Budget and Project 2025 architect, has said of Federal employees: ``We want to put them in trauma.'' It has been over 100 days since President Trump was inaugurated. Since then, the President of the United States has questioned his role to uphold the Constitution, an oath he made when he was sworn into office. He has also questioned whether Americans are entitled to due process, a foundational civil protection. He has endlessly flouted the rule of law. As a matter of fact, the American Civil Liberties Union has called the Trump administration's action: ``One of the most abusive and aggressive assaults on human rights in United States Presidential history.'' In carrying out their pro-billionaire agenda, Republicans have also gutted programs and agencies that serve as critical lifelines to American families, many of which include their very own constituents. The international leadership which Americans benefit greatly and built for decades is now destabilized by Trump's trade war against our allies. In just a few months, Trump has introduced chaos in the stock market and undermined confidence for consumers, investors, and small businesses, many of which have cautioned that they will have to close due to Trump's untenable tariffs which act as a tax on Americans and their businesses. At the same time, as families struggle, Trump has increased his wealth by billions since taking office, which is a slap in the face to American families struggling to put food on the table. Just last week, alarming new information came to light regarding foreign governments making business deals using Trump's crypto. A $2 billion business deal using the Trump firm's stablecoins with a fund backed by Abu Dhabi was announced at a conference in Dubai. This arrangement represents a significant contribution by a foreign government to President Trump's private crypto business that will abundantly grow the Trump family's wealth. While Trump and his billionaire insiders' wealth catapults, Americans are bracing themselves for layoffs, shortages, and higher prices in a recession engineered by Trump. While Trump and his family continue to land billions of dollars in deals and investments with American companies and foreign entities, Trump has asked Americans to just withstand the ``pain.'' This is from his economic policies. While Republicans work hard to make room for $7 trillion in tax cuts for American oligarchs like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, Republicans are cutting $880 billion in funding from Medicaid food stamps for Americans who rely on this help. Is this how Donald Trump has improved the lives of American families--by damaging their retirement plans, jobs, and social safety nets? It is clear there is no such thing as business as usual anymore. This is why this week I took a stand against Trump's actions. For several years, I have led the effort in Congress to advance commonsense crypto legislation to protect American investors and consumers from fraud and from scams, while supporting crypto capital formation. After years of good faith, bipartisan negotiation and collaboration with regulators and stakeholders, former Chair McHenry and I even drafted payment stablecoin legislation that would create a strong Federal framework and put consumer protection front and center. My bill would foster innovation, while properly addressing the concerns I have long held about safeguarding our Nation's consumers from scams that inundated the crypto industry. Our bill also addressed national security concerns that adversaries and criminal organizations could use stablecoins for their very harmful purposes. While we are talking about crypto, I think it is important for me to let the people know that crypto is a digital form of private cash. It is very important that people understand that. We are trying to share the information so people understand about this digital form of private cash. However, we live in a different world now. Many of these risks have only increased since the inauguration of President Trump. President Trump's actions have drastically altered the crypto landscape in ways that are far more dangerous than what we could ever imagine. He has gutted the financial regulators tasked with protecting Americans. Ahead of the scheduled joint hearing between the Financial Services Committee and the Agriculture Committee on crypto market structure legislation, I presented a straightforward, acceptable, and basic request to the Republicans. I told the Chair of the Financial Services Committee that I would only give my consent to this hearing if Republicans would include provisions to block Trump--or any sitting President--and his family, as well as Members of Congress, from further profiting off crypto at the expense of American families in his crypto legislation. That is all I asked for. [[Page H1928]] Unlike other hearings in Congress, this one was different. It required every Member--Democrat and Republican--to agree to hold this hearing. Well, I had to think whether I could agree to this hearing if there wasn't a commitment to address the corruption I and many across this country recognize. Whether a Republican or Democrat, any Member of Congress that intends to protect the public from the exploitation of government power should stand by these foundational principles of our democracy. Regrettably, Republicans rejected my request. In fact, rather than post my legislation to stop corruption, they decided to not even post their legislation. Then when I asked for a commitment to include a prohibition on owning crypto by the public officials writing the laws and rules governing crypto, that was rejected, as well. Because the joint hearing needed the consent of every Member, I could not in good faith agree to such a hearing. {time} 1145 Madam Speaker, you see, through this legislation, Republicans are legitimizing Trump's and his family's efforts to enrich themselves on the backs of average Americans. Through his crypto businesses, Trump has created a pathway to circumvent our country's national security and anticorruption laws. This approach allows adversaries like China and Russia to curry favor, either blatantly or anonymously, through transfers of money to him and his inner circle. This week, we saw new reports that insiders made nearly $100 million on Melania's meme coin. Public officials being able to sell access using crypto undermine our democracy and free market system. Let's look at this for what it is. This is how authoritarian regimes do business. Trump has turned the Office of the Presidency into a personal moneymaking machine, and we must speak truth to power for the Americans we took an oath to protect. Let's take a look at the timeline of this, shall we? As the Republican Presidential nominee, Trump launched his family's crypto venture called World Liberty Financial, a decentralized finance crypto platform. The Trump family now has a claim on 75 percent of net revenues from token sales and 60 percent from World Liberty operations. Concerning crypto industry data also shows that many investors in World Liberty's crypto are based abroad in countries like Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong, and the United Arab Emirates. Because this company was launched during Trump's campaign, it gave him an avenue to possibly circumvent Federal laws that make it illegal for foreigners to donate to Presidential campaigns or inaugural funds. After the election and just before his inauguration, President Trump and the First Lady, Melania Trump, kicked off his Presidency with the launch of their own meme coins, which have reportedly lost the investors, who trusted their President, $2 billion. Guess what, Madam Speaker? The President and his family made at least $350 million. Then, in March, President Trump's World Liberty Financial announced the launch of its stablecoin, conveniently named USD1, just before our Financial Services Committee was scheduled to vote on legislation regulating the stablecoin market. Stablecoins are a type of crypto that claim to maintain a constant or ``stable'' value and are used in most crypto transactions today. In May, World Liberty Financial announced the firm will be making a $2 billion business deal with a fund backed by Abu Dhabi, using the Trump firm's stablecoins. This deal also includes Binance, the world'