The Crypto Rot of the American Dream: Congress, Money, and Gray Money

The United States has moved one step closer to passing a massive bill aimed at putting cryptocurrencies on a secure footing; the bill emerged unscathed from the Senate's banking committee. Opinions are divided on what this law means: while the crypto community is overjoyed, everyone who is an expert in money laundering is terrified. The passage of the so-called CLARITY bill has been one of the core goals of crypto enthusiasts since Donald Trump came to power; because this law will give them legal certainty regarding 'financial innovation' without the fear of returning to the policy of trying to be regulated like ordinary people during the Biden era.

While committee chairman Tim Scott is highly pleased with the passage of the law, he explains this situation with a highly personal justification: he states that his mother raised him and his siblings with faith, perseverance, and determination, and that the American Dream must be accessible for every family—including single mothers trying to build a better life for their children. The main reason for quoting Scott's words is that it is a highly bizarre justification for requiring the passage of crypto regulation (or perhaps he always says such things about everything he does?), and also because it is quite clearly understood that the law, in its current form, will be a disaster for the vulnerable people he claims to defend.

As a sign of experts' concerns, the US office of Transparency International published a statement conveying almost all of the most respected voices in America on the subject of money laundering, who argue that the law needs better protections against dirty money. Former US Global Anti-Corruption Coordinator and Special Assistant for Iran Richard Nephew says, "At a time when we know that hostile actors like the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps are trying to evade US sanctions to rearm and threaten Americans and US interests worldwide, opening new and effective channels for sanctions violations is inconceivable to me." Greenaway, on the other hand, issues a very serious warning from a criminal perspective.

Huge amounts of money are circulating in the crypto world, and Tether alone currently has three people among the 100 richest people in the world. While the wealth of Tether's largest single shareholder Giancarlo Devasini rose from 9.2 billion dollars in 2024 to 89.3 billion dollars now, CEO Paolo Ardoino and former CEO Jean-Louis van der Velde have also done quite a good job. However, none of them have done as good a job as Changpeng "Binance" Zhao, the sole centibillionaire of crypto (for now). Meanwhile, in the UK, there is major concern over millions of pounds going from crypto investors to Reform Partisi's Nigel Farage; Farage has become a crypto champion—undoubtedly not by coincidence.

But does the rest of the world have to care that this is happening? Polymarket, although blocked in the US despite being a Trump Jr. investment, was used by the US military to bet on Maduro's capture. Such restrictions can easily be bypassed using a Virtual Private Network; therefore, US regulators are using artificial intelligence to track insider trading on Polymarket. However, it should not be forgotten that this much money not only helps supporters win, but also terrifies opponents: standing against the crypto lobby guarantees that you will be drowned in hostile advertisements.