Unchained - Unconfirmed: Rep. Tom Emmer, One of the Most Active Crypto Congress Members, on Taxes and DeFi - Ep.241

Episode Date: May 28, 2021

House Representative Tom Emmer, of Minnesota, is one of the most active voice for crypto and blockchain in the US government. In this episode, he discusses: what book made Tom fall down the crypto rabbit hole  why Tom believes the Financial Accounting Standards Board needs to set clear accounting standards for cryptocurrencies why the current way of accounting for Bitcoin on balance sheets may be a detriment to companies in the future how he feels about the acting head of the OCC putting together a “sprint team” of federal regulators to establish overarching crypto standards why he is fighting to change tax rules for forked coins what problems the Eliminate Barriers to Innovation Act might solve why he is so passionate about the Securities Clarity Act, which would explicitly separate digital tokens from securities how DeFi should be regulated and why he is not a fan of FATF’s recently proposed guidance Tom’s prediction for when these bills may actually become law    Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unchainedcardearnfeb2021  Tezos: https://tezos.com/discover?utm_source=laura-shin&utm_medium=podcast-sponsorship-unconfirmed&utm_campaign=tezos-campaign&utm_content=hero   NEAR: https://near.org    Episode Links   Tom Emmer Twitter: https://twitter.com/RepTomEmmer  Website: https://emmer.house.gov/  Documents Mentioned FASB letter https://emmer.house.gov/2021/5/emmer-urges-fasb-to-issue-clear-accounting-standards-for-virtual-currencies Eliminate Barriers to Innovation Act https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonbrett/2021/04/22/us-house-passes-bill-to-create-first-crypto-task-force-on-digital-assets/ Safe Harbor for Taxpayers with Forked Assets Act https://emmer.house.gov/2021/5/emmer-introduces-legislation-to-protect-taxpayers-with-digital-assets-pending-further-irs-guidance Securities Clarity Act https://emmer.house.gov/2020/9/emmer-introduces-legislation-to-provide-clarity-for-digital-assets-under-securities-law Proposed FATF Guidance (quick breakdown) https://www.coincenter.org/a-quick-analysis-of-fatfs-2021-draft-cryptocurrency-guidance/    Miscellaneous Congressional Blockchain Caucus https://congressionalblockchaincaucus-schweikert.house.gov/members US Regulatory “sprint” https://decrypt.co/71975/us-agencies-sprint-align-on-bitcoin-regulations  Michael Saylor episode https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-bitcoin-now-michael-saylor-on-the-best-way-for-companies-to-buy-bitcoin/ Age of Cryptocurrency https://www.amazon.com/The-Age-of-Cryptocurrency Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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TASOS is smart money that's redefining what it means to hold an exchange value in a digitally-connected world. Discover how people are reimagining the world around you on Tezos. Today's guest is House Representative Tom Emmer. Welcome, Representative Emmer. Thanks for having me, Laura. You've been quite active in creating crypto legislation. How did you get into crypto and blockchain technology? Well, when I first got into Congress, I'm sure your readers and anybody watching this podcast is going to know just by looking at me that I'm much younger and, you know,

into all these new technologies, but that's not accurate. I came into Congress in that generation that didn't grow up with computers, and that generation that didn't have email, a generation that seems like many lives ago in this country. And it's interesting, I had a great young man working for me who's into this industry and the whole idea of cryptocurrencies. And Landon gave me a book when I first got to Congress called The Age of Cryptocurrency. And Laura, what he learned is when you give me something, I read it.

I read this book. I gave it back to Landon and I said, this thing's amazing. And I asked him, are you Satoshi? He denied that he was Satoshi. Maybe he said he couldn't admit or deny. I can't remember. But he told me sadly then that because I looked at this, this is the future and the future has arrived. You know, government is only going to hurt itself if people like me don't get up to speed with what's happening in the financial technology space with cryptocurrencies, with blockchain, et cetera.

And by the way, when I first got involved in this, my peers seemed to think blockchain and cryptocurrency were one of the same thing. That's how far behind we were, right? But that book actually started me down this road and thinking about the fact that within the next five years, within the next 10 years, within the next 20 years, what a great space where we can have peer-to-peer transactions that are verifiable in real time, right? And safe and secure. And we don't have to have a middleman negotiating these things. And then I realized the possibilities for blockchain technology go well beyond how cryptocurrency might utilize it. And it's just to open up a whole new world for me in terms of how we've got to get a government

into a place where it allows for this innovation. It allows for this development as opposed to impedes it or obstructs it. Yeah. I mean, I find it amazing that that was your entry point because you have been so active. And we're going to get into this on the show. People will realize, like, you really have, yeah, just put forth all different kinds of bills, and you have all different kinds of thoughts on many different aspects of crypto. The one that prompted me to reach out to you is something that I was fascinated by

when we saw these corporations recently buying Bitcoin and putting it on their balance sheets. You recently wrote a letter to the Financial Accounting Standards Board or FASB advocating that and establish what you called appropriate accounting standards for companies holding digital assets. What is the issue that you're trying to solve there and how do you think they should resolve it? Well, the issue is there, the financial accounting standard board known in the alphabet soup of Washington, D.C., simply as FASB. FASB has not issued any definitive guidance on how you should be accounting for digital assets and cryptocurrencies. And that to me is a problem. You know, many people or entities on their balance sheet will list holdings as intangibles. And that just isn't

acceptable. It impacts the balance sheet because ultimately they have to almost undervalue the asset that they have, that they're trying to account for. And in some cases, even though this isn't a problem, I would say, as much as the government needs to get on the ball. If you're undervaluing assets, then maybe the tax liability is different as well. So I think it's a very important what. It's very important that FASB actually clarify how we should be accounting for digital assets on the balance sheet so that not only does this trend continue, but once you do that, you're going to properly value companies, you're going to be able to, frankly, encourage more people, more entities to get involved in space.

Oh, thank you so much for that answer, because it resolves something that I have been wondering. And I did ask Michael Saylor, but he didn't get into the details. I did ask if there was any situation in which the fact that Bitcoin does, as you put, it have to be undervalued when they do the accounting, if that ever can benefit the company, but it sounds like what you're saying. From a tax perspective, it could. But I guess that's to the government's disadvantage. Can I just, can I just add to that? Yes, it can undervalue, and at least in the present time, perhaps it gives them a tax benefit, but the risk is great in my mind. and you've seen some of the other legislation that we've been pushing for, for instance, safe harbor legislation from the IRS.

This would be an example of what happens, Laura, if down the road, suddenly there's a clarification, and now you have a major tax exposure that you didn't know existed because you didn't get the guidance in the first place. So while it might be a benefit today, it could actually be a detriment of the future. And I think they really need to clean this up from an accounting perspective so that people that are engaged in this area, in this industry, don't get surprised later. Yeah. And so all this is happening at the same time that Michael Sue, the acting controller of the currency, suggested creating an interagency sprint team to look at crypto. What is your thought about that idea? I actually am my, let's say I am encouraged. by the fact that he is talking in that manner.

I think our last administration, you know, we've got some great champions, Mr. Jean-Carlo, Hester Pierce. Brian Brooks was a great ad for the last administration. But there was a lot of friction is the word I'd use, but it's more like tension within the last administration about which way to move and how to move in terms of the bureaucracy, the executive branch, working with cryptocurrencies in particular in digital assets. The nice thing about Mr. Sue's testimony, because I had a chance to ask him some questions last week, is that it gives me encouragement that they're looking towards advancing this.

But now we have to have this across all of these different regulators, right? They all have to have an understanding what they're dealing with, what their jurisdiction is, because they should be a value add. They should not be a wet blanket on this innovation. And so let's talk about some of the other particular bills that you have introduced. There was a piece of legislation you introduced or reintroduced to protect tax. taxpayers from penalties on some gains or losses they might experience from forked assets. So what problem are you trying to solve there?

And how does the bill propose to do that? Well, there's a great example. If you look, I think it was Dogecoin was forked from Lucky Coin. And Lucky Coin was forged from Lightcoin. The problem here is that if you or I hold, let's say we held Lightcoin. Right? And the asset forked. So now you have light coin, but you also have some lucky coin. As I understand it, you may not even know you have some lucky coin unless you're looking at your wallet every single minute to see what it's changed. But guess what? You might be taxed on this lucky coin that you didn't ask for and you may not even know you have.

Why? Because, well, once the asset split, now perhaps the government's going to tell you that because you hold both, you owe tax on both and that this is kind of like an appreciation of the asset that you originally had of like coin. I don't think that's right. In this case, if Laura holds both light coin and she suddenly has a fork asset where now she's got Lucky Coin, you weren't asking for that. That's not an event that you caused to happen. That happened to you. And I just don't think it should be another taxable event. All right. So in a moment, we're going to discuss some of the other bills that you have introduced around crypto. But first, a quick word from the sponsors you make this show possible. TASOS lets you easily exchange smart money throughout our digital world.

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which pays you up to 8% back instantly and gives you 100% rebates for your Netflix, Spotify, and Amazon Prime subscriptions. Download the crypto.com app now and get $25 by using the code Laura. The link is in the description. Back to my conversation with Congressman Emmer. The House recently passed the bipartisan Eliminate Barriers to Innovation Act of 2021. This could have a direct impact on the crypto industry. Can you tell us a little bit about this bill, what it proposes, and what problems it could solve?

Yeah. So it's very simple. It goes back to our previous discussion with Mr. Sue and he is talking about this sprint concept. this is a bill, as you note, that passed out of the House last month, and it would require the Securities and Exchange Commission and the CFTC to establish a digital asset working group to ensure collaboration between regulators and the private sector that would foster innovation. So it kind of goes back to what we had touched down a little bit before the break, before your commercial break, which was these regulators, they should be. a value add to the industry, to those that are innovating, to those that are creating, not a challenge or a detriment or an obstruction. The problem that we've had is we've got all these different regulators, and I think this should go beyond the SEC and the CFTC. I think it should

involve, for instance, the FDIC. I think it should involve all of these different potential regulators that touch onto cryptocurrencies. Because, what What happens is they don't know their jurisdiction, Laura. Quite frankly, you've got a situation right now where we do not have a clear definition for what constitutes a currency, what is a commodity, what is a security. And even though in my past life, I practiced law, I just don't think the idea should be to have the Howie test as a full employment opportunity for lawyers out there, where we're pouring all kinds of money into lawyers to try and figure out with this test.

what you fall into. Let's face it, in the beginning, an investment or an opportunity might actually look like, it might start out looking like a security. But at some point, it's going to turn into a commodity or an asset that is different from a security. We need to start to have these working groups come up with a new framework that is more clear, that's flexible, that allows for this new world that we live in, where we not only can have this, have an appropriate amount of regulation and supervision. Light touch is what we always talk about because we don't need government smothering these opportunities.

By the way, I want to make it clear, I don't think government ever will smother these opportunities. The problem we have in this country is if we don't do this, if we don't do it right and we don't get it done soon, all these innovators will go somewhere else. They will find a different place to create this next great generation of opportunity. And I think it should happen right here in the United States. So again, this bill that was passed would create this working group with the SEC and the CFTC.

I think we should broaden it. And I think we should get to a place where government establishes a policy, Congress establishes a policy that starts to put some guardrails on there. So you and all of your listeners and the people that watch your podcast can literally say, okay, here are the rules of the road. This is how I get my project started. And I'm not going to get surprised later by having five regulars. colling up my backside and suddenly have the IRS telling me that, oh, by the way, you should have been taxed like this. I think those are the biggest challenges right now that we need to address as Congress. So something interesting that you said there was that sometimes

tokens might initially be issued as securities, but later turn into commodities. But actually, also, you did introduce a bipartisan bill last fall, the Securities Clarity Act. And in that, it advocates that digital tokens be clarified as commodities and not securities. And it even in the, I think it was the press release or something, it even made the assertion that digital tokens issued in securities offerings, quote, are in fact and always were commodities. Can you tell us a little bit more what you meant by that? Well, I will. I'll tell you first, I love this Securities Clarity Act, because it's a technology neutral bill that clarifies that an investment contract, asset like a digital token that you've just referenced is a separate and distinct,

it is separate and distinct from a securities offering that it might have been part of. An investment contract asset is any asset sold as the object of the investment contract. And there just is an unreasonable level of uncertainty with the way federal securities laws are applied to these transactions when we talk about the sale of blockchain, based tokens. And the lack of clarity, it's frankly hurting American innovation from my perspective. The idea is that token developers need a clear framework for determining if their asset is a security or not.

And it goes back to what we were just talking about, right? So who's going to regulate you? What regulations do you need to be cognizant of and follow? This bill would provide that clarity by amending the securities law to make it clear that a digital token is separate and distinct from any securities offering it might have been part of, which has huge ramifications when it comes to someone who's working, developing projects with these tokens. So, again, there's too much overlap, Laura. And let's face it, the securities laws from the 1930s never contemplated digital assets like we're dealing with today.

And as a lawyer, I'm just not a big fan of the Howie test. I understand our courts are trying to make it work, but you're taking a test that was created for a completely different type of investment vehicle with a different language. And you're trying to superimpose that onto this 21st century world that we're now in. I think it makes more sense that we start to clarify because you're going to have these hybrids. and it's all about control and expectation, right? If I control it, if I expect the profit off of it, there's so many different things that we need to look at. And if we don't provide clarity in Congress,

if we don't start to do that, I'm going to tell you, it's already started to happen. I talked to someone yesterday who is well known in this area, who started a, I think it's a $1.4 billion project. that is based in the British Virgin Islands because they just couldn't get the answers that they needed here in this country. We can't afford to have that happen. We've got to have those projects, those great opportunities happen right here in the United States. You're also interested in DFI, and you said in an interview with the block last fall that at that time, it was too early to talk about

policy for DFI. But at the moment, it looks like the FATF may soon be issuing guidance that would classify many DFI protocol developers and other DFI builders as VASPs or virtual asset service providers, which would subject them to all different kinds of regulation. What do you think of that? And how do you think DFI should be regulated at this point? Well, as you and your listeners probably can gather from my earlier comments, you are not going to be surprised to know that I do not like what that is proposing or what they're doing. I think it's I think it's the wrong approach. The proposed rule, from my perspective, is an attempt to challenge DFI.

Because DFI happens peer to peer. It's not clear who the money transmitter is. And quite frankly, if I just boil this all down into a statement, I'm very concerned. This is our government's need because the government needs to see everything. The government needs to be part of everything. This is an attempt. The FATA rule, which I believe the comment period for the industry ends later next month towards the end of June. So if anybody out there wants to make comments on this, I encourage them to do that.

You've got a little time left. I mean, this is truly, I believe, government's intent on identifying people in this environment and then tracking what they're doing. I think it's the wrong, it's the wrong move, Laura. And we're going to keep pushing against it. By the way, Laura, by the way, we already have a bill, we already have a bill, by the way, that pushes against it, the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act. And I probably should have mentioned.

I mean, that that Act affirms that blockchain developers and service providers that never custody consumer funds don't have to register as money transmitters in 50 different states. So I think, by the way, we should also, I've got a bill that says that when you don't custody funds at all, we need to have a federal rule that it'll help the industry dramatically if they don't have to try and get licensed as a money transmitter in all these different jurisdictions. So anyway, I really appreciate your interest of this and love talking about it.

Yeah, well, it's just kind of curiosity out of all the different bills that you've introduced, which one do you think is furthest along? Or has the greatest chance of being adopted? Well, listen, the safe harbor for forked assets, the Securities Clarity Act, all of these, as far as the people that have leaned in, and anybody wants to know the members of Congress who are truly interested in this area, take a look at our blockchain caucus. You've got Republicans and Democrats alike who are learning more and more every day about what we need to do. Obviously, our office has been heavily

involved in this since I got the Congress. But the problem we're having right now on the House side is that the leadership of the Financial Services Committee, quite frankly, is way too suspicious of cryptocurrency and has not done the due diligence to understand what a great opportunity this is to give people access to banking services, to financial services that they've never had access to before, to streamline the process. So people, again, the unbanked can actually be banked. I mean, this has the potential of creating opportunity for all different Americans that the haves and the have-nots to be able to participate in our financial system like they've never participated before. And again, unfortunately, when you ask me how far along these

other. We've got a lot of support within the committee, but I'm afraid that the leadership of the committee is just not prepared as it exists right now to move these innovations forward at the congressional level. But we're going to keep pushing Ms. Waters, Brad Sherman, some of these other deniers, I'll call them. We're going to keep pushing them to explain these cryptocurrencies and the technology that we're talking about actually empowers. your constituents. He gives them opportunities that they haven't had in the past. And I think once that gets through, we'll even bring these naysayers, you know, the suspicious ones over, the cynical ones. But certainly, I would say by next Congress, you're going to see this stuff start to move.

I think the financial technology task force will become an actual subcommittee in the 118th Congress. and all the work was done in the 115th, 116th, and now in the 117th, this education is picked up even faster. So I wouldn't get your hopes up too much about any of these becoming law in the next six months. But there's a chance that something could happen before the end of this Congress, and I'm very confident that when we get to the next Congress, so probably about 17 months from now, you're going to start to see some of these bills move and become law, because, again, I think the common interest between the political divide is, we want the innovation and the innovators here in this country creating opportunities not only for themselves,

but for Americans and others around the world. It needs to happen here where it started. Great. Well, thank you so much for coming on the show. It's been really enlightening talking with you, and I hope to have you back on again in the future. I'll look forward to it. I'll look forward to meeting in person, Laura. Don't forget. Next up is the weekly news recap. Stick around for this week in Crypto after this short break.

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First headline, Bitcoin Mining Council stirs debate. The narrative surrounding Bitcoin Mining has, has been decidedly shaped by Tesla and its wildcard CEO Elon Musk, who on May 12th announced that the electric vehicle company was suspending purchases using Bitcoin due to the, quote, rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels being used for mining Bitcoin. On Monday, Musk took to Twitter once again, this time with some good news for the Bitcoin community, tweeting, quote, spoke with North American Bitcoin miners.

They committed to publish current and planned renewable usage and ask miners worldwide to do so. potentially promising. On Tuesday, MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor offered further context to Musk's tweet, saying that he, Saylor, had in fact hosted the meeting between Musk and a few high-profile North American miners. In addition to Musk and Saylor, execs from eight different mining companies, including Riot, Galaxy Digital, HUD 8, and Marathon joined in on the conversation, forming what Saylor named the Bitcoin Mining Council. Sailor said the group was created with the goal, quote, to establish an organization to standardize energy reporting, pursue industry ESG goals, and educate and grow the marketplace within the Bitcoin mining community.

In a conversation at the Consensus Conference on Tuesday, Saylor also added that Musk's first order ask was to bring transparency to Bitcoin mining energy usage. Not everyone took the announcement in stride, which is not surprising given the open source foundation of Bitcoin and the closed-door nature of the Bitcoin Mining Council's first meeting. Marty Bent, who writes a Bitcoin-themed newsletter, responded with distaste over bringing ESG to Bitcoin, stating, quote, the ESG movement doesn't care about the environment or humanity. It cares about control over capital allocation and how corporations act.

He added, letting ESG dictate how Bitcoin companies act will eventually lead to attempts to control how Bitcoin acts. In related news, One River filed for a carbon-neutral Bitcoin ETF with the SEC, which would buy and dispose of carbon credits to offset the emissions associated with the Bitcoin in the fund. Additionally, coin shares made a strategic investment in Verity Funds, which CoinShare says will launch the first ESG crypto mining product in the U.S. Next headline, China cracks down on Bitcoin mining. Last Friday, a Chinese government website posted a statement summarizing a top-level meeting

of the Financial Stability and Development Committee of the State Council that read, quote, we should crack down on Bitcoin mining and trading activities and prevent individual risks from being passed to the whole society. The state council is the country's central government body. According to the block, this is the first time Bitcoin mining was specifically mentioned as a high-level signal by the state council. Mustafa Yilham, VP of global business development at Bixen, tweeted that Chinese miners were accelerating their departure from China to other countries in response to the crackdown. As a result, Yilham believes that there will be large quantities of mining equipment for sale. While he called this situation a crisis, he also speculates this could

be a massive opportunity to redistribute the BTC mining network worldwide, rather than having it be focused in China. Perhaps in response to the state council's words, on Tuesday, China's inter-Mongolia region put forward eight new measures to phase out crypto mining in the area. The proposals target crypto mining facilities, individuals providing energy without prior approval, as well as internet cafes that are involved in crypto mining activities, amongst other things. Additionally, four days after the state council's announcement, government officials in Sichuan sent a meeting summons to discuss how banning Bitcoin mining might impact the hydroelectricity excess this year. The meeting is set to occur on June 2nd. This week also saw Huobi,

the world's second largest crypto exchange by daily volume, suspend some of its services and products in certain countries, along with completely stopping its minor hosting services in China. The exchange justified its action in a statement saying, quote, Willi always strives to abide by the evolving policies and regulations of each jurisdiction to adhere to risk and preserve the well-being of our users and their assets. Next headline. Ethereum layer two competition heats up. On Tuesday, Shark Tank Shark, Maverick owner and billionaire investor Mark Cuban,

confirmed his investment in Polygon to CoinDesk. Polygon, formerly known as Matick, is a layer two protocol on Ethereum, with the intention to bundle multiple scaling solutions into one full-stack application. Polygon describes itself as, quote, Ethereum's internet of blockchains. Another Layer 2 solution also made headlines this week. Arbitrum, an optimistic roll-up scaling solution officially launches on Friday, offering higher throughput and gas fees that are 270 times less than that of the main net. The layer 2 is already gaining traction as the block reports that Uniswap, the largest decks in crypto, is likely to launch on Arbitrifice.

based on a recent snapshot vote. Next headline. GameStop is building an NFT team. On Tuesday, GameStop made waves by announcing the video game store is building an NFT team. On a slick webpage, GameStop welcomes exceptional engineers of Solidity React Python, designers, gamers, marketers, and community leaders to join the team. As proclaimed on a pixelated gaming device on the webpage,

the ethos of the project perfectly encapsures the promise of NFTs, saying power to the players, power to the creators, power to the collectors. Next headline, five quick bits you need to know. Chain analysis reports that large Bitcoin holders scooped up 77,000 Bitcoin during last week's market correction. Similarly, the number of long-term BTC holders hit a record high this week. Following in the footsteps of Wyoming, Nebraska governor signed a bill allowing for state-level crypto banks. Goldman Sachs set Coinbase's price target at $306, while J.P. Morgan Chase eyes a target of $371. One confirmation, a crypto VC firm raised $125 million for its third fund, and stay tuned for a

podcast on this next week. Gekcoin, a platform where developers can get paid for working on open source projects, launched a token this week, GTC, which is currently trading at roughly $6. Next headline, FTCX could raise up to $1 billion. Sources tell the blog that FtX, the crypto exchange headed by Sam Bankman-Fried, is in the process of closing around at a valuation of $20 billion. For context, when Coinbase, a competing exchange went public, its first day valuation was at $80 billion, although Coinbase has since dropped to a $50 billion market cap. As of publishing, the details of the FTCS raise remain unclear.

The blog does not know who is leaving. the round or the race's exact size, though the publication estimates it will be somewhere between $400 million and $1 billion. The raise may be announced as soon as next month. In addition to the FDX rumors, there were a few smaller profile raises that can be confirmed. Chia Network, a blockchain payments company, is eyeing an IPO. The company recently announced a $61 million series D. Talos, a crypto trading firm, raised $40 million, led by PayPal and A16C. Led in, a crypto lender raised $30 million in a Series A. Solidus Labs raised $20 million with plans to fight market manipulation. And blockchain development platform reached raised $12 million in seed funding.

Next headline, TASO Stakers Sue IRS. In 2019, a Nashville couple, Joshua and Jessica Jarrett, engaged in staking, receiving 8,876 new TASO tokens in return for validating the network. However, However, during 2019, the couple did not sell or exchange any of their tokens. The Jarrett's initially reported the rewards as income in 2019, totaling $3,293, as the IRS had yet to issue specific guidance on how to report staking income. They are now requesting a refund matching that $3,293. The lawsuit is centered on the idea that newly created property is not considered income under U.S. tax law until it is sold. Joshua says, like any property, cryptocurrency tokens can be income when they're received as payment or compensation.

But these newly created tokens are like crops harvested by a farmer, which are not taxed until they are sold. With Ethereum planning to transition to proof of stake, this is definitely a lawsuit to keep an eye on. Six sound bites to end your week. Richwater Associates founder Ray Dalio owns some Bitcoin, and would rather have Bitcoin than a bond, he says. Carl Icon said he is considering a large investment in crypto of up to, quote, a billion dollars, billion and a half, and that crypto assets are, quote, here to stay in one form or another. SEC Commissioner Gary Gensler said defy platforms raise a number of challenges for investors and the SEC staff is trying to protect them. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said, quote, the firm has monitored the evolution of crypto assets. We are studying what it means, the infrastructure, and the regulatory landscape.

Shark Tank Shark Kevin O'Leary believes turning Bitcoin mining green could be the reason, quote, it goes to 100,000, 200,000. And finally, issuance of a CBDC by the Federal Reserve would, quote, most likely require additional authority, according to Vice Chairman for Supervision Randall Quarles on behalf of the Fed. Time for fun, biz. What are the Winglewast twins like? Crypto's favorite kid reporter, Lily, had another heartwarming interview this week with Michael Del Castillo of Forbes. Michael recently wrote an article on the famous Winklefuss

twins, which Lily, as a veteran reporter, obviously asked about before the interview got turned on his head by Michael asking Lily what she wants to be when she grows up. If you need a smile to start your Friday, this is a must watch. Next headline, Uni meets the WSJ. Uniswap made its Wall Street debut barely one month after this tweet by Matt Hogan. In which he said, quote, the word Uniswap has yet to appear in the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Barron's, or The Economist. Well, now it has. All right. Well, thank you so much for tuning in to learn more about Congressman Emmer and the crypto bills he's working on. Be sure to check out the links in the show notes.

Heads up, everyone. The Unchained newsletter has switched from a weekly news recap to a daily blog in order to keep up with the crazy pace of crypto news. Each morning, you'll get four to five quick headlines, a crypto meme or two, and a few recommended reads. Head to Unchainedpodcast.com sign up for the email newsletter is right on the homepage. You can also find the link in my Twitter bio. Unconfirmed is produced by me, Laura Shin, with help from Anthony Yoon, Mark Murdoch, and Daniel Ness. Thanks for listening.