(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Even Some Republics think Tr*mp’s Crypto-Lobbying Transition Chief is Going Too Far [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-10-23 Another billionaire friend of Tr*mp—the working man’s fake friend—is being criticized for pushing his own financial interests while ostensibly working for the campaign. Howard Lutnick owns most of Wall Street‘s Cantor Fitzgerald, and he is in charge of Tr*mp’s transition team. “The most serious accusations involve Lutnick taking meetings on Capitol Hill in his role as transition co-chair, then allegedly using the opportunity to talk about matters impacting his investment firm, Cantor Fitzgerald — including high-stakes regulatory matters involving its cryptocurrency business.” Politico Tr*mp has been trying to ‘weave’ a smokescreen to hide his Project 2025 ties, and he’s been talking up cryptocurrencies, which are popular among inexperienced speculators. And Lutnick claims Tr*mp has issued “a mandate” not to hire Project 2025 people, which has prompted some theatrics from would be Tr*mp administration officials backed by different billionaires. Cantor Fitzgerald, ostensibly a bond trader, now pushes crypto too, including through a firm called Tether, which Lutnick has repeatedly assured skeptical investors is backed by sufficient assets. Interestingly, one article asks why Tether and Cantor are lending the same amounts and are expanding their loan portfolios at the same rate. As an ex-broker, I wonder whether their loans are similarly backed by the same assets? Lutnick also emotionally defended accusations that his cryptocurrency is used by Hamas, since his firm was a victim on 9/11. One might ask why Tether has been used by ‘pig butchering’ scammers, money-launderers, and the criminal underworld. But even Cantor’s traditional US bond trading business presents a conflict of interest for Lutnick working in an unlikely future Tr*mp Administration, as there is lobbying around plans that might give Cantor a structural advantage in clearing such bonds in London. Does it surprise any of us that Tr*mp is tied up with any of this? Or that other Republics, like Kevin McCarthy, are also tied to Lutnick’s crypto lobbyist, as Politico reported? Not at all. The problem is that such billionaire allies spend huge amounts of money online in our elections. In August, Public Citizen reported crypto firms had already pumped $119 million into election ads, leaving “small” operations like the Koch brothers in the dust. In 2022, Sam Bankman-Fried publicly donated to Democrats, while “all my Republican donations were dark“. The Public Citizen report shows that these crypto PAC donations are going into House and Senate races, on both sides but with more money to Republics. They spent at least $10 million against Katie Porter’s Senate run and $12 million on Moreno against Sherrod Brown. But many of their ads don’t even mention crypto. A blogger named Mollie White alleged that a $25 million crypto donation was made by a firm in federal contract negotiations, making it illegal. Crypto ads are all over social media and YouTube accounts favored by young men, but apparently so are crypto funded political campaign ads that “defend American Jobs”. Democrats have ‘adapted’ to the massive flood of crypto donations—from allies like Mark Cuban, e.g.—, with some supporting crypto-friendly policies. Crypto is currently highly competitive, with different firms backing different political candidates, in order to gain political advantages. Personally, I think it’s foolish to invest in something that generates no interest or profit, has no practical use, requires massive 24-7 energy to exist, and advertises itself more aggressively than any Ponzi scheme in history. But, many Americans disagree. However, that’s not the real problem. The real problem with crypto is its criminality. Crypto is really an investment in organized crime. If you believe that such crime will grow, then crypto might be a rational bet, as it enables ransomware, fraud, pig-butchering, consumer scams, investment scams, phishing, drug cartels, sanction evasion, arms trading, money laundering, tax evasion and more. If you are a criminal, then crypto is a necessity. Obviously, a prosecutor like Harris is more likely to take an anti-crime approach to crypto than a felon like her opponent, although Harris has pledged not to wipe out legal crypto savings. And maybe more importantly, a Democratic candidate like Harris, is primarily focused on the needs of regular Americans, such as blue collar workers who do not invest their wages in crypto, more than the interests of billionaires who are frequently tied to crime and criminals like Tr*mp. Now that crypto is out-spending even fossil fuel firms for political influence, we need to pay more attention to it, and we need to make sure that such political influence is transparent and well regulated. Electing Tr*mp, who recently promised to make the US the “crypto capital of the planet”, would be a disaster and open invitation for criminal and corrupt activity, including by using the Tr*mp family’s own crypto token. Putting Howard Lutnick in charge of the transition shows exactly what Tr*mp intends to do. Certainly don’t believe his lies that he cares about or would act in the interests of the average American. Please help get out the vote and vote yourself for Harris/ Walz. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/10/23/2278892/-Even-Some-Republics-think-Tr-mp-s-Crypto-Lobbying-Transition-Chief-is-Going-Too-Far?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/