VP, Regulatory Affairs @paradigm. Prev. Senior Adviser @secgov & Chief Policy Adviser @cftc. Alum of @NRDems, & @SenMarkey. Carbon-based.
Maryland, USA
- Tweets 15,112
- Following 7,036
- Followers 15,298
- Likes 68,324
Pinned Tweet
Sometimes you fight not because you’re likely to win, but because it’s important.
I’m proud of @RKSlaughterFTC because she stood up and fought this to its conclusion, knowing the odds were long, because she had the ability to fight and because it was important.
2
9
62
7,184
The vast bulk of people in the career government bureaucracy don’t actually want to work in the private sector. This is one thing that folks outside of the government frequently don’t get. They’re choosing lower pay for consistency of work and a pension.
🚨🚨Scoop: 20,000 federal workers take "buyout" so far, official says axios.com/2025/02/04/trump-b…
249
448
7,131
616,358
I too am sad the Biden Admin’s theory that full employment, industrial policy, & competition policy would be super popular and bring back working class voters we lost to Trump was wrong. But it seems clear the issue is it was never economic anxiety.
We all just read 2016 wrong.
The person at fault for Harris's struggles is Barack Obama. He's the one who destroyed the credibility of the Democratic Party, and made it impossible to talk positively about anything we've done.
149
247
3,050
323,649
Chair Gensler just testified that he taught multiple courses on crypto but has never owned or used it. How can you teach a course about something you've never owned or used?
@MIT
351
654
3,401
1,537,089
A good rule of thumb: if someone ever tells you that they’re the only person on the planet who can lead a country or an organization, that’s a sign their judgment has become clouded and they shouldn’t be in charge.
94
268
2,733
107,858
To state the obvious, if just one of the three safe blue seats vacant due to Democratic member deaths had a current member in it, the reconciliation bill would have failed.
🚨THE HOUSE has passed the Republican reconciliation package.
The vote was 215-214-1. WARREN DAVIDSON and THOMAS MASSIE are nos, along with every Democrat. HFC Chair ANDY HARRIS voted present.
This is a big, big win for Speaker MIKE JOHNSON. And HAKEEM JEFFRIES says this is the day Republicans lost the House.
140
387
3,213
139,661
Harris beat the spread and probably by being nominee prevented a 1980 style loss for the party.
Biden and his team and allies are the guilty folks.
NEW Economist/YouGov Poll, Nov. 6-7 (post-election)
If in the election for president this year the Democratic nominee was Joe Biden and the Republican nominee was Donald Trump, would registered voters have voted for...
Donald Trump 49%
Joe Biden 42%
d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.ne…
45
240
2,885
186,498
From a former Biden WH staffer:
“No Dems are going to fight with crypto to the death anymore. We have too many other things to worry about and crypto clearly has more staying power than we thought.”
97
277
3,034
253,361
The memes are fun, but the big over performance of Labor without a leadership spill means left parties globally, and especially the Democrats here, should start aggressively studying what the Labor campaign did right.
This was the most successful incumbent election since Covid.
46
130
2,612
152,434
If you’re blaming Democrats defeat primarily on misinformation or disinformation, just stop what you’re doing and consider logging off for a few days. This wasn’t a loss on comms or messaging. This was voters hating the outcome of our last four years of governance.
108
360
2,393
356,107
There’s been lots of news in the last 24 hours, but it’s possible that the most consequential event amidst all this will be the Supreme Court’s decision in a case known as Loper Bright.
Basically, it will trigger a sea change in all regulations.
Thread.
66
378
2,209
810,954
We need some glasnost on why the Walz pick proved to be so bad, on the level of Palin 2008 in terms of being totally counterproductive at appealing to the voters targeted by the pick: young men.
To start, Walz wasn’t an ideal that men aspire to. We don’t want to be Phil Dunphy.
597
68
1,812
2,030,695
It’s kind of shocking VP Harris kept things to a 2004 style loss and not a 1980 style catastrophe.
With these kinds of numbers, Pres. Trump should’ve won the popular vote by 5-8, won some non-swing states, and gotten the GOP another 3-5 Senate seats & 25-30 more House seats.
Trump job approval, 2024 ("when he was president") and 2020 in AP VoteCast
National: +5 (-6)
AZ: +3 (-8)
GA: +13 (-2)
MI: +2 (-4)
NC: +9 (+4)
NV: +3 (0)
PA: +8 (-2)
WI: +6 (-2)
77
180
1,807
382,019
This Manchin deal is probably the best kept secret I’ve ever seen in politics. Even pretty senior Hill and Admin staffers didn’t have an inkling of this deal being live and no one knows details.
8
60
1,113
It's Friday night, the kids are in bed, the biggest piece of crypto legislation for this year has dropped—the McHenry-Thompson bill on market structure— so let's get this party started.
Here’s a deep dive into the bill’s contents. Thread
docs.house.gov/meetings/AG/A…
60
312
1,174
592,270
The strongest candidate for Dems in 2028 will:
- have no involvement in the Biden Admin
- have a clear record of criticizing the Dem establishment
- not be in Congress right now
- ideally would not even be in elected office anywhere in 2028, letting them run as pure outsider
282
61
1,259
1,324,619
This election is so crazy. Trump turned the swing voters in Quebec from Quebcois separatists to Canadian nationalists.
17
135
1,162
54,196
This is the big takeaway. Voters seek to have not noticed or cared about all the industrial policy spending at all. And you cast just say this is comms - even areas that had factories being built swung decidedly right.
People hated this admin’s economic policies. Sorry.
intense anti-incumbency backlash to inflation has been a global story for all the 2024 elections but you can't really see big electoral dividends from US outperformance on GDP/ investment/ employment/ wages
42
78
1,059
496,842
Asking people to want different things is the stuff of religious and social movements over generations and centuries, not the work of a presidential campaign or its final sprint.
This goes to the point that we were selling what WE wanted people to want, not what they wanted.
27
16
1,026
59,658
Wow, Adam Tooze is spitting fire at this conference panel on industrial policy that features several key Biden Admin regulators.
“The Biden Admin was the most progressive administration in the world when it came into office in 2021 and it failed.”
21
66
937
157,465
Look, at this point, I’d admire it if Chair Gensler just said openly what he is rumored to say privately: that he’s trying to destroy crypto for sake of other markets and he’s willing to bet the SEC’s regulatory powers at this Supreme Court while singing “luck be a lady tonight.”
52
201
958
267,426
This is the most positive statement by this or any White House on crypto, ever.
The key phrase is “The Administration is eager to work with Congress to ensure a comprehensive and balanced regulatory framework for digital assets” & also states importance of developing them in US.
White House Statement of Administration Policy on FIT21 vs. the SAP other day (which had explicit veto threat), a HUGE course correction.
What happened between then & now? Trump endorsed crypto, Dem allies called the WH, and 700,000 crypto voters made their voices heard. 🚀
55
185
917
533,563
Obama remains wildly popular and beloved by most Americans.
The decision by some special interests to spend the last decade denouncing him and attacking his record looks like the biggest possible gift to the Republican Party possible.
This was Obama Magic, he was a liberal democrat who normal people that didn't really pay attention the news liked and trusted
30
63
873
78,468
If the hour is late and the threat existential, a party should be willing to give up on many of its short and even medium term goals in the interest of expanding its tent to win.
Even today, few senior Dems in DC seem willing to sacrifice any topic they care about to win.
Ezra Klein says the more worried you are about authoritarianism, the more willing you’ve got to be to run pro-life Democrats in red states.
nytimes.com/2025/09/18/opini…
ALT Klein: And the stakes of politics are almost always incredibly high. I think they happen to be higher now. And I do think a lot of what is happening in terms of the structure of the system itself is dangerous. I think that the hour is late in many ways. My view is that a lot of people who embrace alarm don't embrace what I think obviously follows from that alarm, which is the willingness to make strategic and political decisions you find personally discomfiting, even though they are obviously more likely to help you win. Taking political positions that'll make it more likely to win Senate seats in Kansas and Ohio and Missouri. Trying to open your coalition to people you didn't want it open to before. Running pro-life Democrats.
121
61
864
161,806
I have a theory that the ennui of the UMC/PMC/affluent is because they find themselves struggling to pay for hallmarks of their middle class childhoods (Disney and brags vacations, college, and most of all housing) despite making far more money than their parents.
All those goods (which are Veblen goods) have fixed supplies though. The number of Ivy League spots has barely increased even nominally in 40 years. There’s still only six domestic Disney theme parks, as many as there were in 2001. And all the major beaches have been built up now for decades. So an increasing number of affluent families are chasing the same amount of luxury goods with ever greater intensity, allowing prices to spike.
Something’s gotta give though. Upper middle class discontent is one of those things that, when it reaches a boil, triggers severe societal unrest if not a revolution.
Wealth is relative. That 33% of households earn >$130k is a testament to American economic miracle
…but you can’t innovate human nature
If the point of making $ is to move to nicer/wealthier neighborhoods, you guarantee comparison will be their of joy
wsj.com/economy/high-earners…
48
86
785
227,400
For all our bluster, nobody in politics, D or R, actually knows why Biden is unpopular. The likeliest theory is it’s related to inflation in some way, but the degree of public anger at it has been surprising.
That’s why everybody is fighting - there’s no clear agreed-upon cause.
Biden is reportedly frustrated with his low poll number (like this), and I don't blame him.
Serious question: What could he do to turn this around? Everyone's answers always strike me as ideologically self-serving. I really don't know!
1,159
35
649
681,039
If this poll is right (and it's a big if), Biden is probably down at least 3-5 in Wisconsin and is therefore a heavy underdog.
Every pollster gets things wrong from time to time, but the worst place to be in politics is assuming Ann Selzer's data is wrong about Iowa.
NEW Iowa poll by Des Moines Register/Ann Selzer (A+)
🟥 Donald Trump 50%
🟦 Joe Biden 32%
🟨 RFK Jr. 9%
Biden net approval at -39 in Iowa
Last poll: Trump 48-33 in February
52
94
675
283,834
Ages of the six Democrats that voted for the bill:
35, 41, 47, 48, 50, 57 (average: 46)
Average age of the rest of the HFSC Democrats: 61
More than anything else, age dictates Democratic Members’ views on crypto and whether legislation on crypto is needed.
This is a historic day for crypto policy.
@FinancialCmte just advanced the FIT for the 21st Century Act by a vote of 35 to 15, including significant support from Democratic members.
This sends a strong bipartisan message in favor of reasonable regulation for digital assets.
23
124
685
214,986
I do think the core point here - that Sen. Warren lost the official primary but won the staffing and ideas primary - continues to be under appreciated.
Elizabeth Warren didn't catch populist fire, but she got all her ideas implemented by the Biden administration, because unlike Bernie, she did not surround herself with the worst people in left-of-center U.S. politics.
13
74
534
82,014
There are many ways to read this poll, but the core finding to me is this: everything the Biden Admin touched seems to have been viewed as a failure. Trying to say this was just due to bad comms or Biden himself is cope.
Biden Admin senior figures should be doing self-criticism or remaining silent for a while, not trying to claim senior posts on the Neo resistance. If you got to drive during the last few years, it’s time to take a seat and let some new voices rise up. And if you were senior in the Admin, it’s probably wise to assume your time as a senior official in Democratic politics if over. That’s life, but it’s also accountability.
📊 WSJ POLL
Net Favorability
🔴 Republicans: -11
🔵 Democrats: -30 (lowest in 35 years)
——
Trust MORE to handle
🔴 Illegal immigration: R+24
🔴 Immigration: R+17
🔴 Inflation: R+10
🔴 Tariffs: R+7
🔴 Foreign policy: R+8
🔵 Vaccine policy: D+8
🔵 Healthcare: D+14
66
95
644
135,066
This is the number one feature of US politics this decade. In five months, Dems won’t be able to approve any nominees for Senate confirmed posts without GOP votes for another 10+ years, and maybe for 15-20.
Much of the political world is underestimating the disaster that lies ahead for Democrats in the Senate over the medium-term—even if they win national majorities—due to education polarization, rural over-representation and a hardening electoral realignment.
Good primer here >>
26
101
564
As folks have been saying, there’s zero reason for Dems to make a deal with Hill GOP when any funded program could be cut a month, a week, or even a day later by Trump via DOGE.
🚨SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON says it’s his “assessment” that talks over government funding are stalled.
He told me to ask Jeffries why
8
69
619
33,758
Errant thoughts on a Tuesday morning:
1) The Cook attempted firing will be litigated quickly but not as quickly as folks seem to think. This process will take about few weeks even to wind its way to the Supreme Court on whether the firing will be stayed pending litigation. Cook’s vote for September’s rate meeting will be likely not be officially counted.
2) Any message that this attempted firing is illegitimate isn’t breaking through outside of academic/Dem circles. Talking to a few traders, Cook claiming two residences as primaries reads as an actual reason to relieve her for cause. The idea this action is beyond the pale just isn’t the baseline take.
3) In general, Dem messaging on this seems scattershot. There’s obviously the element from some members to focus on her status as the first black woman governor, but there also seems in many quarters in the left an annoyance of having to defend the Fed at all. I’m seeing a lot of ax-grinding of past feuds with the Fed from finreg groups, which is the baseline messaging from many nonprofit groups this term generally. Folks are still focused on old beefs.
4) The market response seems muted, and somewhat reasonably. This act is a step towards the end of Fed independence but not yet regarded as the main event. Meanwhile, there’s no other global market as good as America even now. The “exorbitant privilege” of the US being so dominant in financial markets is what is preventing the markets from really punishing this action. In fact, there’s dollar dropping even with bond yields rising is probably going to help the Trump Admin’s goal of a somewhat weaker dollar.
5) More than anything else so far, this fight over the Fed independence is the Dems best chance to effect a rapprochement with the business community. But so far, they’re blowing it. All the messaging targeted at business seems to either be scolding the markets for not selling off more or suggesting this attempted firing is neoliberalism. It speaks to the degree to which Dems have lost the muscle memory to engage with the private sector at all. Dem leadership should be seriously asking itself why business and the markets aren’t running back to the Dems amid this, and ideally before the midterm cycle starts in earnest next year.
51
95
626
132,918
If Biden loses to Trump, there’s going to be a real divide in the party about whether to go back towards Obama-era politics or try and build something new.
But the Biden Admin approach of focusing relentlessly on juicing manufacturing in Midwest will probably go to the dustbin.
Industrial policy/Midwest manufacturing unions felt like a “one last job” for Dems in 2020. They were also the product of ZIRP, low inflation, and correcting the perceived sins of 2008-12. Pretty skeptical that’s where Dems are in 2028.
27
33
499
60,090
I’m very pleased to announce the release of our new report on TradFi’s interest in and increasing adoption of DeFi. We have a ton of new data how TradFi firms are viewing, researching, and starting to use DeFi.
Thanks to @AlliumLabs for their assistance with this novel project!
16
64
512
75,053
In all seriousness, the thing that should terrify every one of us on the left & center-left is that the inflation of the last few years has been so psychologically shocking that long-time committed socialists are expressing dissatisfaction with the current full employment economy
Funny to listen to all the screams from Democrats when you mention inflation or the high cost of living. No wonder you look to litigation to beat Trump, because you've got nothing else except snobbish dismissal.
21
34
423
68,076
This will make it harder for the Dems to compromise/back down not easier. If the idea was this would force Dems to negotiating table, it was an analytical error.
31
39
491
32,301
CFTC Chair Behnam tripling down on Ether being a commodity and stablecoins also being commodities, contra SEC Chair Gensler's interview in NY Mag. Rare to see this level of interagency disagreement in public.
11
101
461
63,690
Great job everyone who hyped up the bipartisan consensus that the government should use antitrust more aggressively across the board, with more political focus, and to “craft and shape markets.”
The Orbanization of the U.S. media is happening in plain sight, with the president using regulatory power to direct the sales of news outlets to his wealthy allies.
23
70
486
85,880
Idiotic take. People hated Biden Admin broadly and wanted Borger Price Go Down; they didn’t decide they were done with democracy.
Pod Spend Some Time in America.
“Democrats understandably have a hard time fathoming why Americans would put our democracy at risk, but we miss the reality that our democracy is part of what angers them. Many voters have come to associate democracy with globalization, corruption, financial capitalism, migration, forever wars and elites (like me) who talk about it as an end in itself rather than a means to redressing inequality, reining in capitalist systems that are rigged, responding to global conflict and fostering a sense of shared national identity.”
18
25
428
34,392
Much of Chair Gensler's pitch to other policymakers is that he understands crypto because he taught a course on it. But how was he competent to teach a course about something he's never actually touched?
24
10
443
30,021
Sinema assumed 2022 was going to be a wipeout for Dems and never updated her plans when it wasn’t.
4
9
391
13,687
This is why many of the populists are defending Platner to the death.
For some notable voices in our party, anti monopoly predistribution is all that really matters; not the social safety nets, not health care, not civil rights, not redistribution via taxes, just a vision of all cities as Bedford Falls, even though all the proponents of this vision basically live in five cities and are funded by the same five nonprofits of dead and absentee rich folks who, if they were active in their businesses, would be called oligarchs.
The adherents of this policy vision are all hyper credentialed and well-heeled folks who have decided to embrace a bizarre form of class analysis that deifies them, the hyper credentialed and well-heeled former senior staff in govt. It’s populism of elites designed to appeal working class folks they mostly look down on, in that they wouldn’t want their kids in these jobs.
This is a dead end electorally. And you see it in how it keeps trying to discover a working class person who fits their stereotype of what the working class should be.
29
44
458
101,921
The Dem base in a number of very red states is beginning to exhibit a version of “GOP Californication” - the party having lost so much support from moderates in state, all that’s left now is strong partisans who are insisting on nominating candidates too far from median to win.
Kentucky - Democratic Senate Polling:
Booker: 33%
McGrath: 30%
Stevenson: 3%
Forsythe: 2%
PPP / Oct 18, 2025
33
40
425
120,226
Impressive, especially given the strong statement of total opposition from SEC Chair Gensler this am.
In most countries, a minister who so ferociously opposed legislation publicly and privately lobbied against it - but still lost 1/3 of his party - would step down from his post.
FIT21 passes the House 279 - 136 🎉
House Democrats voting in favor of this bill: 71.
That is a *huge* number of elected Democrats voting "no confidence" in the current SEC, and sending a message to the Biden administration that "anti-crypto" is a losing platform this year.
6
39
357
44,387
Another big crypto bill has dropped, the Lummis Gillibrand Responsible Financial Innovation Act.
It’s the biggest Senate crypto bill this year, but it’s going to be especially important for how it influences the House’s McHenry Thompson bill.
Thread
lummis.senate.gov/wp-content…
12
68
355
248,233
I mean, this is what happened. There are folks who say that was good and there are folks who say this was bad, but it happened.
The real issue is that the promised political benefits of being hostile to tech didn’t pay off. There weren’t actually voters in the heartland clamoring for a Butlerian Jihad. Tech wasn’t and still isn’t a monolithic evil the way oil was in the 1910s, the railroads were in the 1890s, or the banks/Wall Street have been off and on since 1789. It was a political misread.
Billionaire co-founder of Linkedin Reid Hoffman: "I think the Democratic Party really did alienate a section of Silicon Valley and the tech people, whether it was attacks on crypto, whether it was kind of just attacks on Big Tech, you know, all these things. And one of the things that I think Silicon Valley kind of shares is this deep view that the way you make massive progress for humanity is creating scale technologies. And the principle way of creating scale technologies is companies. And so if you're attacking that and limiting it, then you have all kinds of problems now, you know? And obviously just like you, you got crazy people on both sides. So you got crazy people saying, 'No, no, no, no. Uh, we shouldn't allow any technological progress until you have the exact proportionate of races and genders and everything else.'"
36
26
362
95,027
Long piece on why Biden dropped out confirms what had been rumored:
- Biden inner circle had stopped polling for weeks
- Pelosi was critical to pushing him to drop, as was his sister Val
- Failure to endorse Kamala in letter was an error made in haste.
politico.com/news/2024/07/21…
8
45
334
39,501
View on Dem side is not only that this fight is now climactic - that backing down probably destroys all future leverage they have on funding - but public siding with Dems so far means there is no real off ramp.
Shutdown will go past Halloween. Will it go past Thanksgiving?
New - Dems are ready to hang on *weeks* longer in shutdown fight
In private meetings, anxiety is spiking over missed US troops pay next week. But no Dems are waffling on strategy and prepared to outlast Rs
"Shockingly everyone is in agreement"
cnn.com/2025/10/09/politics/…
24
36
348
63,552
FYI - it’s been announced his wife is battling cancer and he’s departing government to help his family and support her. This isn’t a time for ideological dunks.
17
14
345
47,790
Comes after 75 minutes of the Biden Admin alums saying they did a great job and had no regrets or even mentioned that Dems lost.
I suspect this is the first time some of these senior Biden alums experienced direct public criticism to their faces in years.
6
10
330
11,936
A lot of very important and good policies aren’t going to be popular. And that’s ok! You just need to understand that going in and be focused on the data and adapting to it, not constantly screaming about media saboteurs.
9
8
281
14,592
Now for something surprising: crypto voters leaned to Biden in 2020 but now lean Trump.
Among crypto owners, 43% recall voting for Biden in 2020 and 39% recall voting for Trump. Now crypto owners support Trump 48-39.
In a close election, this swing could be decisive.
41
70
325
169,579
This one I actually know - London was a massive hub for finance post the 1986 “Big Bang” and the triple hit of post 2008 financial regulation, post 2010 austerity, and then Brexit was an absolute pummeling to its economy.
Worse, the UK has no real heavy manufacturing like Germany, fashion like Italy, or tech like the US to cushion the blow.
Does anyone have a comprehensive explanation for what the hell had happened to the UK? This precipitous decline happened pre-Brexit. And I know there were austerity measures during the Great Recession, but that was true of most of Europe!
18
26
322
45,175
Tooze says the core conceit of the Biden Admin was to keep Trump gone and they failed. While he liked the macroeconomic policy, the core political mission was a failure and they have to wrestle with that.
4
27
313
28,646
Shot & Chaser
It’s notable that the Democratic voters who seem to be demanding extra-legal actions to fight Trump are 1) the most well-off white voters and therefore 2) the heart of the small donor class.
38
25
310
278,362
Tariffs on Canada are dumb, but Biden Admin increased tariffs on Canadian lumber just six months ago.
It would’ve been good if Biden Admin had actually pushed back against tariffs on allies rather than often doing soft Trumpism on trade.
nahb.org/blog/2024/08/canadi…
That is just flatly not what Sec. Yellen said.
Biden placed $18b of tariffs on strategic industries (EVs, semiconductors) from a strategic competitor, China.
That is not remotely close to Trump’s > $1t of tariffs (on allies!) on almost everything Americans buy — food, gas, etc.
18
34
306
43,514
Clarifying point: using crypto is not limited to trade it - if you’re writing code, spinning up a node, that’s using crypto too. You don’t need to be a trading degen to be crypto native even.
9
5
293
27,994
The trade Biden made was giving progressives a lot of power of domestic staffing and regulation (especially at the independent agencies and inside the White House) in exchange for a free hand on foreign policy staffing and decisions.
Both sides got what they wanted until now.
Biden put a lot of emphasis on trying to avoid factional fighting after winning the primary, treating the progressive wing he beat with a level of indulgence that I know has frustrated a lot of his actual 2020 supporters.
That bargain’s now fraying.
13
35
275
180,062
Depends on the job and role, but usually no for the jobs which require special experience.
9
291
8,023
Couple of quick thoughts:
1) The real news in this single paragraph decision is that SCOTUS is granting certiorari on the case, with a hearing in December
2) Majority didn’t give any reasoning for why stay was granted, which shouldn’t be taken as proof SCOTUS will find for Trump
3) If Trump wins this case, it’s not clear how Dems can have confidence that any Dem Commissioners appointed as part of a deal over legislation or govt funding won’t be fired a year, a month, or a day after being confirmed.
4) On the substance of policy, ending minority party Commissioners is dumb. Everyone should welcome having someone who disagrees on philosophy with them in the room on policy, as it allows for pressure testing. That mindset was why former Justice Scalia typically had a liberal clerk most years. We’ll all be worse off without minority party Commissioners.
BREAKING: #SCOTUS, 6-3, lets Trump sideline Biden appointee Rebecca Slaughter from Federal Trade Commission. #SCOTUS will also hear arguments in December on overruling Humphrey's Executor, case that upheld Congressional limits on firing FTC members Doc: documentcloud.org/documents/…
21
56
305
60,999
You know it’s bad when people in the Admin are privately saying “Coinbase is making really good points here.”
Ultimately, Biden Admin is divided on all things crypto: has been, is, and probably will be for the rest of this term. So to the courts we all go.
It is hard to throw the rulebook at an entire economic sector when there is no rulebook and the people responsible for the rulebook can't even agree themselves what the rulebook should say – even as we have asked for a rulebook. 13/15
8
28
291
101,426
The judge in this case, Judge Failla, was appointed by President Obama with the recommendation of Senators Schumer and Gillibrand in 2013. She’s a former prosecutor, so her issuing this is notable.
She’s also the judge presiding over the SEC’s suit against Coinbase.
Another huge victory for the crypto world & software devs. SDNY court tossed out a class action against us, deciding that the “self-driving” Uniswap protocol has primarily *lawful* use & protocol devs aren’t liable when others misuse it. The trend in courts is obvious.
9
49
290
78,731
One name that keeps popping up in DC tonight as a possible Harris VP pick:
Mark Cuban.
VP Harris is considering moderate governors and business people as her Vice President?
Ok, this is a campaign that clearly wants to win. Also confirms a Harris Admin won’t be a straight continuation of Biden Admin on policy.
63
17
269
180,030
With the number of troops they have (and in a VERY hostile countryside), this map suggests about 1 Russian soldier per square kilometer can “hold” the territory they’ve passed through.
1
2
230
For people who aren’t in crypto, a primer:
- Pretty much everyone in crypto hated the Biden Admin, which refused to do regulations but expressed hostility
- Most crypto owners backed Trump, but about 40% backed Harris
- The new crypto reserve is controversial within crypto
13
18
272
39,537
Earlier this month, Paradigm went back into the field for a new national poll on Americans’ ownership of crypto, their views on how the government is approaching crypto, and other key political topics.
Today, we’re sharing those findings with the community.
14
56
212
86,641
Ok, having gone through the Ripple decision, here’s my takeaway:
Big loss for the SEC’s approach to crypto via focusing solely on enforcement, and this measurably increases the odds of crypto legislation passing this year.
Thread
storage.courtlistener.com/re…
7
62
254
43,451
They seem to have aggressively had the entire party on message but also did a middle class tax cut as their answer on cost of living. But I’d like to hear them explain it publicly and privately!
6
3
253
4,833
It takes real skill to so mismanage a situation that you have serious institutionalists like Professors Macey and Hamermesh filing amici briefs AGAINST the SEC in an enforcement case.
SEC v. Coinbase, Big Update:
Six Securities Law Scholars File Devastating Amicus Brief in Support of @Coinbase.
Law Professors from Yale, Univ. of Chicago, UCLA, Fordham, Boston University and Widener filed an amicus brief last night that Absolutely Shreds the SEC's "investment contract" theory.
The amicus brief brilliantly traces the history of the meaning of "investment contract" before, during & after passage of the federal Securities Act in 1933.
Here are the Scholars' conclusions:
1. "By 1933, the state courts had converged around a standard for interpreting the term 'investment contract' to mean a contractual arrangement that entitled an investor to a contractual share of the seller's later income, profits, or assets."
2. After the Howey decision in 1946, the "common thread [for investment contracts] remains . . . that an investor must be promised, by virtue of his or her investment, an ongoing contractual interest in the income, profits, or assets of the enterprise."
3. "Every 'Investment Contract' identified by the Supreme Court Involves a contractual undertaking to grant a surviving stake in the enterprise."
___________________________________________
Bottom line:
In my opinion, this Amicus Brief delivers the coup de grace to the SEC's argument that crypto tokens trading on secondary markets are investment contracts.
storage.courtlistener.com/re…
5
42
249
45,645
So, California is about to pass a law analogized to New York's controversial BitLicense law
Curious about what the law does and its implications for crypto in the Golden State, especially if you're a small biz? We've got you covered: long thread.
coindesk.com/policy/2022/09/…
7
50
254
Badly, in part because they’re probably too left still for the state. We did run the experiment on a strong progressive challenger in 2020 one state away in West Virginia though, and the results were worse.
Trying to run an Indy like Dan Osborn seems like the best short term solution, but that requires the state party to stand down on its ballot line and not nominate anyone, which is hard as the remaining core of the party wants to keep running strong Democrats (plus the state parties are all getting weaker in this age of mass disintermediation).
How have “moderate” Democrats performed in Kentucky for Senate?
Why is a moderate wing of the Democratic Party allowed to continually lose, but are still viewed as more “electable”?
12
11
251
36,549
Good piece. But on the “why is this assault happening” questions, I’d say there are two underlying reasons.
1) Techlash has progressed to where you couldn’t pass the Telecommunications Act of 1996 today
2) Idea of a decentralized internet isn’t that appealing to many in DC.
When President Biden issued a balanced, forward-looking executive order on digital assets last year, it looked like the U.S. could take leadership of the crypto industry. That chance is now lost.
Opinion by CoinDesk Chief Content Officer @mikejcasey
trib.al/LEkwKdR
13
40
244
184,555
This case was a 3-0 decision, where two judges appointed by Presidents Obama and Carter were so turned off by the SEC’s arguments that they not only ruled against the SEC, they agreed to join Trump-appointed conservative judge Rao’s opinion.
The great thing about the American political system is that it’s designed to curtail administrative overreach
In the face of an intransigent @SECGov, the courts will ensure crypto has a future in the US
11
48
229
41,539
Last year, on vacation with a friend who is very against crypto & senior in government, I asked him why the SEC wouldn’t just do regulations on crypto instead of enforcement. He said “it’s much easier for this Supreme Court to strike down regulations than enforcement actions.”
7
31
228
44,138
Substantive position aside, this is a very surprising choice of intra-coalition argument for an electoral coalition that was built around non-college voters, anger over immigration, and general educational and cosmopolitan values polarization.
This is a very tenuous coalition.
The reason top tech companies often hire foreign-born & first-generation engineers over “native” Americans isn’t because of an innate American IQ deficit (a lazy & wrong explanation). A key part of it comes down to the c-word: culture. Tough questions demand tough answers & if we’re really serious about fixing the problem, we have to confront the TRUTH:
Our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long (at least since the 90s and likely longer). That doesn’t start in college, it starts YOUNG.
A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers.
A culture that venerates Cory from “Boy Meets World,” or Zach & Slater over Screech in “Saved by the Bell,” or ‘Stefan’ over Steve Urkel in “Family Matters,” will not produce the best engineers.
(Fact: I know *multiple* sets of immigrant parents in the 90s who actively limited how much their kids could watch those TV shows precisely because they promoted mediocrity…and their kids went on to become wildly successful STEM graduates).
More movies like Whiplash, fewer reruns of “Friends.” More math tutoring, fewer sleepovers. More weekend science competitions, fewer Saturday morning cartoons. More books, less TV. More creating, less “chillin.” More extracurriculars, less “hanging out at the mall.”
Most normal American parents look skeptically at “those kinds of parents.” More normal American kids view such “those kinds of kids” with scorn. If you grow up aspiring to normalcy, normalcy is what you will achieve.
Now close your eyes & visualize which families you knew in the 90s (or even now) who raise their kids according to one model versus the other. Be brutally honest.
“Normalcy” doesn’t cut it in a hyper-competitive global market for technical talent. And if we pretend like it does, we’ll have our asses handed to us by China.
This can be our Sputnik moment. We’ve awaken from slumber before & we can do it again. Trump’s election hopefully marks the beginning of a new golden era in America, but only if our culture fully wakes up. A culture that once again prioritizes achievement over normalcy; excellence over mediocrity; nerdiness over conformity; hard work over laziness.
That’s the work we have cut out for us, rather than wallowing in victimhood & just wishing (or legislating) alternative hiring practices into existence. I’m confident we can do it. 🇺🇸 🇺🇸
22
34
236
97,124
Yeah, this is an example of a game of telephone going wild. Gary’s odds of being Treasury Secretary are lower than mine of starting this week for the Braves on the mound.
Ignore this.
they hate us, they hate freedom, they want to re-intermediate everything and regulate every money-freedom tool into oblivion
Trump/Vance it's that simple . . .
washingtonreporter.news/edit…
22
23
237
70,174
Noting that the Shapiro pick would’ve been targeted at other voters (ideological moderates I suppose), I think there’s a good argument that Shapiro wouldn’t have been counterproductive with swing voters as Walz seemed to in some data on margin.
17
4
232
38,799
Why does every country do this? Well, the short answer is that modern life is very complicated. No legislature has the time to deal with every granular part of policymaking, and technical expertise is often important.
Congress doesn’t want to dictate jet engine specs.
5
11
215
43,530
Current crypto owners ultimately voted for Trump over Harris by a margin of 55-42. Non-crypto owners were tied.
This was the margin of difference in the popular vote. Crypto mattered at the ballot box, as we have been saying for years.
8
44
227
93,099
As promised, here’s my analysis on the new joint House Financial Services and House Agriculture Market Structure bill on crypto. This is the bill that will, finally, provide a clear regulatory regime on crypto that many have been calling for.
Thread.
Full analysis coming shortly this afternoon. Here's a teaser:
TLDR:
The market structure draft is an incremental, albeit meaningful, rewrite of FIT21 that tightens affiliate sale rules, replaces the idea of the SEC certifying decentralization with an ongoing “mature blockchain” regime, and channels exchange oversight through existing alternative trading system infrastructure.
Overall, this bill again would make the CFTC the dominant crypto regulator, but still gives the SEC jurisdiction until a network establishes decentralization.
17
42
226
86,018
It’s a joy and a privilege to announce that I’m joining the fantastic team at @paradigm to assist them with policy. I’m incredibly grateful to @alanapalmedo, @matthuang, and @FEhrsam for the opportunity. Thread.
paradigm.xyz/2022/02/joining…
14
6
222
Median swing voter in the 240th-310th electoral vote states, all in the upper Midwest, is unhappy, so entire system has to be junked.
9
4
225
7,717
I think all these voters voted for Harris. These are “mainlining weekend shows on MSNBC” voters more than “I’m so into Chapo I do vlogs summarizing each episode” voters.
2
1
221
6,014
Among people who have bought crypto, the election is a dead tie at 47-47.
This is marked improvement from the 9 point deficit Joe Biden had among crypto purchasers back in March of this year. policy.paradigm.xyz/writing/… 10
245
23
179
262,717
18-24’s political views were in a more formative stage over last few years and they are responding to unpopularity of/events during Biden Admin.
7
1
198
12,529
So, the modern administrative state (which exists in basically every major economy) is built on a pretty basic system: the legislature passes laws and then agencies issue regulations to implement those laws.
2
16
193
40,403
Something insufficiently discussed:
When you have a gerontocracy, your leadership seems to constantly be trying to restore the lost country of their youth rather than build a new future.
As someone else said today, it’s Bob Dole’s 1996 convention speech as North Star.
Between Bernie attacking H1Bs, Biden blocking inward investment by Nippon, and Trump threatening tariffs, we've got 3 guys who came of age in a totally different economy failing to understand how economic connection with the rest of the world makes America stronger in 2025.
8
33
212
16,758
Over the weekend, @sheila_warren and I published an op-ed on how many of my fellow progressives are making an analytical mistake when it comes to crypto.
This is probably the most personal work I've done in a long time.
fortune.com/crypto/2023/08/1…
13
53
204
50,864
The more interesting point is that Chevron was originally a means to stop a liberal judiciary from messing with conservative rules, and now it’s being taken away so a conservative judiciary can stop liberal rules. The ongoing multi-round of politics will continue.
3
27
193
20,410
I think a lot of people are struggling with how inflation is different than other economic metrics.
When unemployment goes down, things are getting objectively better.
When inflation goes down, prices are still rising albeit less quickly. So things are getting worse, slower.
Sorry but everyone saying the polling on the economy is grounded in material reality cannot explain the *decline* in polling as the single biggest issue (inflation) has gotten better.
10
21
193
149,858
This is a key point. The Biden Admin went heavy on the idea that people’s top identity is their identity as workers rather than consumers.
But we all have a lot more identities in this post material time. You can find niche communities online that aren’t geographically close.
Workshopping: Democrats are an outdated pocketbook party in a smartphone world. Republicans recognize that people identity themselves now by what they consume in their personal time rather than what they do for a living
4
15
193
18,084
In that alternative universe, the debates wouldn’t be about whether Matt Gaetz has a prayer about being confirmed or if there can be work requirements on Medicaid, but whether there should be Medicaid anymore.
2
1
193
14,005
It may be seen that moderate inflation (3-4% annually) even outpaced by wage gains is more politically toxic than many of us on the center-left expected in 2011-2020.
If that’s the lesson from all this, it would be very bad for large scale progressive policymaking going forward.
Hard to overstate how much damage short-sighted progressives are doing to the larger progressive project by insisting that any inflation is too much, REGARDLESS of whether incomes keep pace. It’s a brainless retreat to crankdom and despair and it empowers your enemies.
18
22
169
34,542
This honestly matches what @pmarca said over the summer: there was an unspoken deal between tech and Dems that started to break in 2016, worsened in 16-20, and absolutely collapsed over 2021-2024.
VP Harris tried to remediate the split but those small actions came much too late.
Meta's shift to the right was caused by several factors - the growth of the original fight against misinformation to include hate speech and other topics, and a sense of aggrievement in tech that Democrats had broken an unspoken deal.
14
24
197
62,153