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Tag: US government

  • Both parties brace for a ‘long conflict’ as government shutdown hits two-week mark

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    At the two-week mark, Republicans and Democrats are bracing for a long government shutdown, with both parties seeing more upside in persisting with their conflicting demands.

    As a result, neither side is willing to give an inch in the standoff, now the fifth-longest shutdown in the country’s history.

    Republicans say their message is simple: Senate Democrats should vote for the short-term funding bill to reopen the government that passed the House last month and pursue their policy demands separately. They accuse Democrats of holding the government “hostage” to their goals.

    But Democrats are eager to continue a national debate they’ve forced about a looming health care cliff, by demanding any funding bill be tied to addressing expiring Obamacare subsidies. The health care money is popular, even among self-described MAGA supporters, and has divided Republicans — although they are unified in saying it must be dealt with separately, outside the context of a government funding bill.

    “It feels like both parties are digging their trenches and preparing for a long conflict,” said Ian Russell, a former national political director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “This is Washington, so things can obviously change very quickly. But you get the sense from leadership suites on both sides that both parties feel like they’re either maximizing their strengths or certainly not exposing themselves to serious vulnerabilities.”

    The Senate on Tuesday night voted for the eighth time to reject the GOP’s short-term funding bill, which required 60 votes to advance. The vote was 49-45, with no senators changing their positions from recent past votes. Republicans need at least five more Democrats to break a filibuster and have made no progress since the shutdown began.

    On Wednesday, the Senate will vote for a ninth time on the House-passed stopgap bill, which would fund the government through Nov. 21.

    Russell said Democrats see the Obamacare funding as a way to “reset the narrative” and “unite” a party that has clashed about the way forward after their devastating defeat in 2024.

    House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., slammed the expiring Obamacare subsidies at the center of the government funding standoff as a “boondoggle” as the shutdown approaches the two-week mark with no end in sight.

    “We took back the House in 2018 while campaigning on health care. We’re able to unite the factions in our own path when we’re talking about health care,” Russell said. “For Democratic leadership it makes sense to have this fight now, on these terms.”

    Earlier this week, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said the nation could be “barreling toward one of the longest shutdowns in American history.”

    Recent polls show that more voters are generally blaming President Donald Trump and Republicans for the shutdown than Democrats. But a Reuters/Ipsos survey released last week showed that clear majorities of Americans are placing “at least a fair amount” of blame on Trump, Republicans and Democrats.

    The overall public opinion deficit for the GOP is narrow enough not to move them off their position — particularly as Trump has taken on a posture of all-out political war with Democrats, including by telling GOP leaders not to bother negotiating with the opposition in the run-up to the shutdown.

    On Tuesday, Johnson insisted — again — that he won’t negotiate with Democrats on their demands because House Republicans have already passed a stopgap funding measure with no extraneous policy provisions.

    “I don’t have anything to negotiate. … We did not load up the temporary funding bill with any Republican priorities or partisan priorities at all. I don’t have anything that I can take off of that document to make it more palatable for them,” Johnson told reporters at his daily shutdown news conference in the Capitol.

    “So all I am able to do is come to this microphone every day, look right under the camera and plead with the American people … to call your Senate Democrats and ask them to do the right thing,” he continued. “We’re not playing games; they’re playing a game.”

    House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., praised Senate Democrats on Tuesday for continuing to block the GOP funding bill, while saying he’s “flummoxed” that House Republicans are keeping the chamber in recess for a fourth consecutive week.

    He said Democrats aren’t intimidated by the White House’s attempts to lay off federal workers.

    “For the Republicans, cruelty is the point,” Jeffries said. “And the fact that they are celebrating, meaning the extremist, the extreme MAGA Republicans, the fact that they’re celebrating firing hard-working federal employees doesn’t strengthen their position with the American people. It weakens it because the American people don’t accept that kind of cruel and callous behavior.”

    House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries discuss their parties’ stances on the continuing government shutdown.

    The war of words between the party leaders comes as Trump and his administration have begun to mitigate some of the critical pain points of the shutdown that were expected to drive the two sides to the negotiating table.

    A food aid program assisting women, infants and children had been set to run out of money because of the shutdown, but Trump officials said they would shift $300 million in tariff revenue to the WIC program to keep it running temporarily.

    This Wednesday was a key date, with more than 1 million active-duty service members set to miss their first paycheck due to the shutdown impasse. But Trump directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to move money around again to ensure the troops got paid.

    Hundreds of thousands civilian federal workers, however, have missed part of their paychecks and will miss a full paycheck on Oct. 24. And many government contractors also are not being paid during the shutdown, and won’t receive backpay unlike federal workers.

    Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday representing Maryland and Virginia — states with a large number of federal workers — railed against what they described as Trump’s “illegal” move Friday to fire roughly 4,000 federal workers through a “reduction in force,” or RIF.

    “This is unjust. It is unjustified, and this is the feeling that we’ve awakened with this morning,” Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., said in her message to federal workers. “But I want them to recognize that another morning is surely coming, that none of this is sustainable. This evil cannot last.”

    Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump threatened to inflict more pain on the opposition by shutting down “Democrat programs.”

    “So we’re closing up programs that are Democrat programs that we wanted to close up … and we’re not going to let them come back. The Democrats are getting killed, and we’re going to have a list of them on Friday,” Trump said. “We’re not closing up Republican programs because we think they work.”

    During a government shutdown, federal contractors face a unique situation. They have the difficult job of trying to fulfill obligations to their employees even though the work and funding for those contracts has ceased. News4’s Jackie Bensen reports.

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    Sahil Kapur and Scott Wong | NBC News

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  • Bay Area airports not playing Noem video on shutdown impact

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    Bay Area airports and others around the country are refusing to play a video with a message from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in which she blames Democrats for the federal government shutdown and its impacts on TSA operations because of its political content.

    Airports in Las Vegas, Charlotte, Atlanta, Phoenix, Seattle and more say the video goes against their airport policy or regulations which prohibit political messaging in their facilities.

    In the Bay Area, the video is not running at San Francisco International Airport and Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport, officials said. A San Jose Mineta International Airport spokesperson, in a statement, said, “Operations at SJC are continuing without disruption, so no additional messaging in the Terminals is necessary. In the event of any operational impacts, airport-specific messaging will be used to keep passengers informed and ensure they have a seamless travel experience at SJC.”

    Various government agencies, in emails to workers and on websites, have adopted language that blames Democrats for the shutdown, with some experts arguing it could be in violation of the 1939 Hatch Act, which restricts certain political activities by federal employees.

    The shutdown has halted routine operations and left airports scrambling with flight disruptions. Democrats say any deal to reopen the government has to address their health care demands, and Republicans say they won’t negotiate until they agree to fund the government. Insurance premiums would double if Congress fails to renew the subsidy payments that expire Dec. 31.

    In the video, Noem says that TSA’s “top priority” is to help make travel pleasant and efficient while keeping passengers safe.

    “However, Democrats in Congress refuse to fund the federal government, and because of this, many of our operations are impacted, and most of our TSA employees are working without pay,” she continues.

    The Transportation Security Administration falls under the Department of Homeland Security. Roughly 61,000 of the agency’s 64,130 employees are required to continue working during the shutdown. The Department said Friday that the video is being rolled out to airports across the country.

    A DHS spokeswoman responded to a request for comment restating some of the message from Noem’s video.

    “It’s unfortunate our workforce has been put in this position due to political gamesmanship. Our hope is that Democrats will soon recognize the importance of opening the government,” spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said.

    The Harry Reid International Airport, in Las Vegas, said it had to “remain mindful of the Hatch Act’s restrictions.”

    “Per airport regulations, the terminals and surrounding areas are not designated public forums, and the airport’s intent is to avoid the use of the facility for political or religious advocacy,” the statement said.

    Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins said the county north of New York City won’t play the video at its local airport. In a statement, he called the video “inappropriate, unacceptable, and inconsistent with the values we expect from our nation’s top public officials,” and said its tone is “unnecessarily alarmist” as it relates to operations at Westchester County Airport.

    “At a time when we should be focused on ensuring stability, collaboration and preparedness, this type of messaging only distracts from the real issues, and undermines public trust,” he said.

    Even in red states, airports weren’t showing the video for various reasons. Salt Lake City International Airport wasn’t playing the video because state law prohibits using city-owned property for political purposes, said airport spokesperson Nancy Volmer.

    The airport in Billings, Montana, “politely declined” even though it has screens that could show the video with audio, assistant aviation director Paul Khera said Tuesday.

    “We don’t want to get in the middle of partisan politics,” Khera said. “We like to stay middle of the road, we didn’t want to play that video.”

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    Adriana Gomez Licon | Associated Press

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  • Beware of scams during government shutdown

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    In addition to creating hardship for hundreds of thousands of people, the government shutdown is also creating opportunities for scammers looking to cash in on the crisis.

    As scams start appearing, security experts say if any part of government is suddenly reaching out to you on a phone or laptop, be suspicious.

    “Hackers are opportunists,” said Aaron Rose with Check Point Software Technologies. “What they’re going to do is they’re going to say, ‘OK, we see this government shutdown. There’s no legitimate government organization that might be reaching out. How about we do that? We’re going to capitalize on that fear.’”

    The following are some of the top scams, according to Silicon Valley security companies.

    • Threats to take away your government benefits unless you hand over data
    • Offers for money to those worried about government funds, like Social Security, during the shutdown
    • Fake job offers

    Local security executive Michelle Dennedy said if an offer seems too personal or unusual in any way, don’t trust it.

    “Would my congressman or senator take the time to email me? Probably not,” Dennedy said. “Slow down. Think about does the DMV come to your home? No. Do they text me? No.”

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    Scott Budman

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  • What we know about how a government shutdown would unfold

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    The threat of a government shutdown has become a recurring event in Washington, though most of the time lawmakers and the president are able to head it off. This time, however, prospects for a last-minute compromise look rather bleak.

    Republicans have crafted a short-term measure to fund the government through Nov. 21, but Democrats have insisted that the measure address their concerns on health care. They want to reverse the Medicaid cuts in President Donald Trump’s mega-bill passed this summer as well as extend tax credits that make health insurance premiums more affordable for millions who purchase through the marketplaces established by the Affordable Care Act. Republicans say that’s all a non-starter.

    Neither side is showing any signs of budging, with the House not even expected to be in session before a shutdown has begun.

    Here’s a look at how a shutdown would occur.

    What happens in a shutdown?

    When a lapse in funding occurs, the law requires agencies to cease activity and furlough their “non-excepted” employees. Excepted employees include those who perform work to protect life and property. They stay on the job but don’t get paid until after the shutdown has ended.

    During the 35-day partial shutdown in Trump’s first term, roughly 340,000 of the 800,000 federal workers at affected agencies were furloughed. The remainder were “excepted” and required to work.

    What government work continues during a shutdown?

    A great deal, actually.

    FBI investigators, CIA officers, air traffic controllers and agents manning airport checkpoints continue to work. So do members of the Armed Forces.

    Those programs that rely on mandatory spending also generally continue during a shutdown. Social Security checks continue to go out. Seniors who rely on Medicare coverage can still go see their doctor and health care providers can still submit claims for payment and be reimbursed.

    Veteran health care also continues during a shutdown. VA medical centers and outpatient clinics will be open and VA benefits will continue to be processed and delivered. Burials will continue at VA national cemeteries.

    Will furloughed federal workers get paid?

    Yes, but not until the shutdown is over.

    Congress has historically acted after shutdowns to pay federal workers for the days they were furloughed, though there were no guarantees it would do so. In 2019, however, Congress passed a bill enshrining into law the requirement that furloughed employees get retroactive pay once operations resume.

    While they will eventually get paid, the furloughed workers as well as those who remain on the job may have to go without one or more of their regular paychecks, depending upon how long the shutdown lasts, which will create financial stress for many families.

    Service members would receive back pay for any missed paychecks once federal funding resumes.

    Will I still get mail?

    Yes, the U.S. Postal Service is not affected by a government shutdown. The U.S. Postal Service is an independent entity that is funded through the sale of its products and services, and not by tax dollars.

    What closes during a shutdown?

    All administrations get some leeway to choose which services to freeze and which to maintain in a shutdown.

    The first Trump administration worked to blunt the impact of what became the country’s longest partial shutdown in 2018 and 2019. But in the selective reopening of offices, experts say they saw a willingness to cut corners, scrap prior plans and wade into legally dubious territory to mitigate the pain.

    Each federal agency develops its own shutdown plan that in the past was accessible on the Office of Management and Budget’s public website. So far, those plans have not been posted. The plans outline which agency workers would stay on the job during a government shutdown and which would be furloughed.

    In a provocative move, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget has threatened the mass firing of federal workers in the event of a shutdown. An OMB memo released Wednesday said those programs that did not get funding through Trump’s mega-bill this summer would bear the brunt of a shutdown.

    Agencies should consider issuing reduction-in-force notices for those programs whose funding expires Oct. 1, that don’t have alternative funding sources and are “not consistent with the President’s priorities,” the memo said.

    That would be a much more aggressive step than in previous shutdowns when furloughed federal workers returned to their jobs once Congress approved government spending. A reduction in force would not only lay off employees but eliminate their positions, which would trigger yet another massive upheaval in a federal workforce that has already faced major rounds of cuts this year due to efforts from the Department of Government Efficiency and elsewhere in the Trump administration.

    Shutdown practices in the past

    Many shutdown plans submitted during the Biden administration are publicly available and some plans can be found on individual agency websites, providing an indication of past precedent that could guide the Trump administration.

    Here are some excerpts from those plans:

    • Education Department: “A protracted delay in Department obligations and payments beyond one week would severely curtail the cash flow to school districts, colleges and universities, vocational rehabilitation agencies, and other entities that depend on the Department’s discretionary funds to support their services.”
    • National Park Service: As a general rule if a facility or area is inaccessible during non-business hours, it will be locked for the duration of the lapse in funding. At parks where it is impractical or impossible to restrict public access, staffing will vary by park. “Generally, where parks have accessible park areas, including park roads, lookouts, trails, campgrounds, and open-air memorials, these areas will remain physically accessible to the public.”
    • Transportation: Air traffic controller hiring and field training would cease, as would routine personnel security background checks and air traffic performance analysis, according to a March 25 update.
    • Smithsonian Institution: “The Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, like all Smithsonian museums, receives federal funding. Thus, during a government shutdown, the Zoo — and the rest of the Smithsonian museums — must close to the public.”
    • Food and Drug Administration: “Work to protect animal health would be limited, only addressing imminent threats to human life. Similarly, food safety efforts … would be reduced to emergency responses, as most of its funding comes from appropriations. Longer-term food safety initiatives, including the prevention of foodborne illnesses and diet-related diseases, would be halted.”

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    Kevin Freking | The Associated Press

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  • U.S. releases Emmett Till investigation records ahead of 70th anniversary of his killing

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    Just days ahead of the 70th anniversary of his killing, the federal government made public thousands of pages of records Friday on the lynching of Emmett Till.

    The records in the National Archives, released by the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board, detail how the Justice Department, the FBI, and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights responded to the 1955 killing of 14-year-old Till. The records were released in accordance with the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act of 2018.

    “Our thoughts are with the Till family,” the National Archives and Records Administration said in a news release.

    The Chicago teenager was falsely accused of whistling at a white woman at a grocery store in rural Mississippi. Four days later, Till was abducted from a great-uncle’s home in the predawn hours by Roy Bryant and John William “J. W.” Milam. The white men tortured and killed Till in a barn in a neighboring county, and his body was later found in the Tallahatchie River.

    Bryant and Milam were charged with murder in Till’s death but were acquitted by an all-white-male jury. Bryant and Milam later confessed to a reporter that they kidnapped and killed Till.

    His killing galvanized the Civil Rights Movement after Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, insisted on an open casket so that the country could see the brutality. In 2022, President Joe Biden signed a bill named for Till that made lynching a federal hate crime. And in 2023, Biden signed a proclamation establishing a national monument honoring Till and his mother.

    Many of the records have never been seen by the public. They include reports, telegrams, case files and correspondences and documents from the NAACP, the White House, and FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, among others.

    The records can be viewed in the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection on the National Archives and Records Administration website.

    A member of the Till family did not immediately return a request for comment.

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    Graham Lee Brewer | The Associated Press

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  • ICE Signs $2 Million Contract With Spyware Maker Paragon Solutions

    ICE Signs $2 Million Contract With Spyware Maker Paragon Solutions

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    Paragon was founded in 2019 by veterans from the Israel Defense Forces’ powerful intelligence Unit 8200 with the active involvement of former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak as an investor who is estimated to own a sizable slice of the company.

    The company has received investment from the Boston-headquartered Battery Ventures, “considered to be one of the world’s top venture capital firms,” and two of its founders formerly worked for Blumberg Capital, another large US venture capital firm.

    Israeli media reported in June that a US private equity fund with a portfolio of security companies has been in talks to acquire control of Paragon, estimating its valuation at $1 billion.

    To secure its unique US-approved, “ethical” positioning, Paragon has made “deliberate efforts” since its establishment to break into the US market, notes the Atlantic Council.

    In 2019, as Paragon was developing Graphite, the company enlisted WestExec Advisors, a prominent Washington, DC, consulting firm cofounded by former Obama administration officials, including current US secretary of state Antony Blinken, to advise on its “strategic approach to the US and European markets,” a company executive told the Financial Times. Avril Haines, a former WestExec staffer, is now the US director of national intelligence.

    To remain in the US government’s “good graces,” Paragon in February 2023 hired another DC-based lobbying firm, Holland & Knight, “with a good track record in avoiding sanctions,” as some reports point out. Lobbying expenditure disclosure reveals a spend of a minimum $280,000 in 2023 and 2024 for this campaign.

    The fact that the spyware vendor has neither been placed on an entity list nor have any of its executives been sanctioned by the Biden administration suggests that Paragon’s lobbying efforts have been successful.

    In addition, Biden’s executive order leaves enough margin for the deployment of tools like Graphite. When a senior US administration official was asked specifically about potential abuses of Paragon’s flagship product, they said that the executive order “requires the heads of agencies to review any activity that might be relevant,” without excluding the possibility of lawful use.

    Meanwhile, the company continues to grow and is advertising several roles in Israel. In the US, Paragon boosted its presence in the wake of the signing of the executive order and started hiring intelligence veterans, including former CIA and FBI officers at its subsidiary, “hoping it would pick up new business.” Fresh reports from February 2024 confirmed the steady growth.

    Paragon’s $2 million contract with ICE is tangible proof that the company’s approach is paying off. It remains to be seen whether Graphite’s deployment will align with the protection of human rights, privacy, and democracy.

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    Vas Panagiotopoulos

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  • UnitedHealth says Change Healthcare hacked by nation state, as pharmacy outages drag on | TechCrunch

    UnitedHealth says Change Healthcare hacked by nation state, as pharmacy outages drag on | TechCrunch

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    U.S. health insurance giant UnitedHealth Group said Thursday in a filing with government regulators that its subsidiary Change Healthcare was compromised likely by government-backed hackers.

    In a filing Thursday, UHG blamed the ongoing cybersecurity incident affecting Change Healthcare on suspected nation state hackers but said it had no timeframe for when its systems would be back online.

    UHG did not attribute the cyberattack to a specific nation or government, or cite what evidence it had to support its claim.

    A company spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment at the time of writing.

    Change Healthcare provides patient billing across the U.S. healthcare system. The company processes billions of healthcare transactions annually and claims it handles around one-in-three U.S. patient records, amounting to around a hundred million Americans.

    The cyberattack began early Wednesday, according to the company’s incident tracker.

    Change Healthcare has not yet disclosed the specific nature of its cyberattack.

    Pharmacies across the U.S. are reporting that they are unable to fulfill prescriptions through patients’ insurance due to the ongoing outage at Change Healthcare, which handles much of the billing process.

    Several people who work in the healthcare space and whose work is affected by the outage tell TechCrunch that they are experiencing downtime because of the ongoing cyberattack.

    UHG said in its filing that it has “retained leading security experts, is working with law enforcement and notified customers, clients and certain government agencies.”

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    Zack Whittaker

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  • A taxing year for digital assets begins

    A taxing year for digital assets begins

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    Disclosure: The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to the author and do not represent the views and opinions of crypto.news’ editorial.

    A bull market for digital assets is on the horizon for 2024. With abundant investment opportunities abound digital asset investors should be aware that the IRS announced that during 2024, it would focus on compliance initiatives associated with digital assets, FBAR, high-income and high-wealth taxpayers.

    The veil on the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, the author of Bitcoin’s White Paper that proposed the blockchain-based decentralized cryptocurrency,  still has not been lifted.  This  “‘identity issue,’ namely whether Dr. Craig Wright is the pseudonymous ‘Satoshi Nakamoto,’ i.e., the person who created Bitcoin in 2009” or not, according to High Court Judge John Mellor, is still being litigated in the United Kingdom with the support of Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund set up by Block CEO Jack Dorsey. As Jack explained:

    “The Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund is a nonprofit entity that aims to minimize legal headaches that discourage software developers from actively developing Bitcoin and related projects such as the Lightning Network, Bitcoin privacy protocols, and the like.”

    Unfortunately, the self-proclaimed inventor of Bitcoin, Dr. Craig Wright, is only one of many to claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto, according to the article “The Faketoshi,” authored by Arthur van Pelt.

    Adding layers to Satoshi’s identity mystery is a Binance wallet sending approximately $1.2 million worth of Bitcoin (BTC) to Satoshi’s Genesis wallet on January 5, 2024, which coincided with Judge Mellor’s order to Dr. Craig to pay over $1M to the court and was two days after BTC’s 15th birthday.

    The mist around Dr. Craig’s ‘identity issue’ is expected to lift Judge Mellor said, “By 4 pm on January 18, 2024, [when] Dr. Wright and COPA [Crypto Open Patent Alliance] shall exchange and shall serve on the Developer Defendants expert reports on (a) forensic document analysis in respect of the Additional Documents,—[95 documents dating back to 2007]—stored on the Samsung Drive, and the BDO Drive; and (b) LaTeX software.”

    Once the identity of Satoshi is known, if this person is a US person with an estimated BTC wealth of $40 billion, the US taxpayer is expected to file Form 8300 with the IRS by January 20, 2024, for the $1.2M in BTC received since effective January 1, 2024, any crypto transaction over $10,000 must be electronically (if they are required to file certain other information returns electronically) reported. Noncompliance with Form 8300 results in subjecting taxpayers to civil and criminal penalties.

    While the “real”  author of the Bitcoin White Paper continues to be debated in the United Kingdom’s court system, the digital asset industry went through a cleansing of bad actors in the US during 2023. The world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance, and its CEO pleaded guilty to federal charges. They agreed to pay over $4B to resolve the Justice Department’s investigation into the Bank Secrecy Act violations, failure to register as a money-transmitting business, and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).  

    Binance, Coinbase, Terraform Labs, and others also faced action by the SEC for operating unregistered securities exchanges, which are still ongoing. As Sergiu Hamza, CEO of Coincub, a company that has prepared reports on the US money services business (MSB) and global  Virtual or Digital Asset Service Providers (VASPs), explained to me in a private interview:

    “In 2023, the US experienced significant regulatory shifts, particularly in response to the FTX collapse, which was followed by five crypto-friendly bank failures. The Biden administration’s ‘regulation by enforcement’ strategy shaped the federal landscape, spearheaded by Gary Gensler and the SEC. Amidst this, states like Colorado stood out as beacons for the crypto industry, accounting for 33% of all U.S. crypto businesses. This success is primarily attributed to forward-thinking measures such as Colorado’s ‘Digital Token Act’ and key initiatives like ETH Denver, all nurtured under Governor Jared Polis’ vision.”

    Best states for crypto businesses | Source: Coincub

    North American investors, money managers, and even CBOE Digital president John Palmer are confident that a new wave of institutional and pension fund investment will follow spot Bitcoin ETF approvals. Already, several spot BTC exchange-traded fund (ETF) applicants—such as Vaneck, Valkyrie, Grayscale Investments, Fidelity, BlackRock, and Bitwise—filed to register their funds as securities with the US Securities and Exchange Commission with an approval deadline of January 10, 2024.  The first spot BTC ETF application was made by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, filed on July 1, 2013, with the SEC a decade ago. As Sergiu Hamza commented in a private interview:

    “As we move into 2024, the launch of Bitcoin ETFs marks a significant milestone, particularly for Wall Street. This development enhances Bitcoin’s appeal and credibility, heralding a market ripe for expanded investment and engagement from political and financial sectors, potentially catalyzing the next chapter in Bitcoin’s growth.”

    After a bear market in 2022, Bitcoin’s value surged 160% during 2023 and continues on an upward trend. William Quigley, co-founder of Tether and WAX Blockchain, said to me, “Unlike previous crypto bull market years, crypto-focused investment funds have large reserves of investable cash. This is a positive factor in driving a crypto bull market.” He continues: 

    “There are many more investment funds operating in 2024, with much more crypto investing experience. ETFs are a mixed bag for crypto enthusiasts. While they provide a new way for institutional investors to acquire Bitcoin, they also provide an easy way for those investors to short Bitcoin. This might cancel out any sustained buying support for bitcoin in 2024.”

    In 2018, Russia took the lead in proposing a multinational stablecoin backed by commodities with the Eurasian Economic Union, or EAEU, and BRICS countries. At the beginning of 2024, five more countries joined BRICS, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (with a joint coin initiative, Aber), Iran, Egypt, and Ethiopia. At the beginning of the year, Russia was passed the baton of the BRICS chairmanship. 

    BRICS member countries plan to launch a common currency for their organization that could be a multinational digital currency backed by a basket of assets or gold. BricsTether has already launched a stablecoin backed by a basket of assets, providing greater stability and predictability than traditional cryptocurrencies.

    However, China’s top legal watchdog recently clamped down on Tether’s use by declaring that exchanging local currency for foreign ones using Tether-USDT stablecoin or providing technical support for exchange services for such transactions is unlawful.

    Furthermore, an order from Judge Jed Rakoff in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, who granted summary judgment for the SEC, stated that stablecoins  LUNA, UST, and MIR are securities. 

    Accordingly, BricsThether or BRICS-issued multinational stablecoin could be subject to SEC oversight as a security. US BricsTether or BRICS stablecoin holders may be subject to FBAR and Form 8938 Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) reporting requirements.

    With abundant investment opportunities abound digital asset investors should be aware that the IRS announced that in 2024, it would focus on compliance initiatives associated with digital assets, FBAR, high-income and high-wealth taxpayers. Noncompliance with FBAR FinCen Form 114 and Form 8938 subject taxpayers to severe civil and criminal penalties, potentially in excess of the unreported foreign assets. For institutions, noncompliance can result in exclusion from access to US markets.


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    Selva Ozelli

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  • In 2023, the US government tried to kill crypto | Opinion

    In 2023, the US government tried to kill crypto | Opinion

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    Disclosure: The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to the author and do not represent the views and opinions of crypto.news’ editorial.

    Conspiracy theorists aren’t surprised. They knew all along that central banks and governments would never allow a competitor to fiat money to exist. Even some regulators knew. For instance, Brian Brooks, former head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, an independent bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, has intonated as much. 

    Regulators put a thaw over the entire US-based crypto industry. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforced actions against regulated US crypto entities, including Kraken and Coinbase, while the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) sued Binance. 

    When the SEC came for Kraken a second time, founder and former CEO Jesse Powell took to Twitter to lament the implications. 

    Moreover, a Wells Notice was served in February to Paxos demanding the New York-based company stop minting the Binance USD (BUSD) stablecoin.

    Then there is the “Economic Report of the President,” in which the Biden Administration argued that cryptocurrency is not a useful technology while highlighting the pervasive fraud of the industry. 

    Additionally, the bank closures of three crypto-friendly banks—Silvergate, Silicon Valley Bank, and Signature Bank—have raised questions throughout a skeptical crypto industry as politicians such as Senator Elizabeth Warren call for a crypto crackdown. Warren went as far as to introduce legislation to outlaw self-custody in crypto. 

    Some players within the crypto industry pointed to these three bank failures as evidence of a conspiracy by federal agencies to destroy crypto—some have called it the new Operation Choke Point. In fact, even former Congressman Barney Frank has suggested that the bank for which he serves on the board, Signature, was shut down as part of an anti-crypto crusade. Frank served as a board member of Signature Bank. He believes the bank was forced into liquidation by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) because “regulators wanted to send a very strong anti-crypto message.” 

    NYDFS denies Frank’s allegation. Reuters reported the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) would require any buyer of Signature Bank to restrict crypto clients’ banking services. Despite the fact that the FDIC denied buyers would forgo crypto clients, such clients were not included in the acquisition. 

    Notably, the present head of the FDIC is Martin Gruenberg, an architect of the original Operation Choke Point, which was met with lawsuits and hearings that concluded the US government abused its power. The FDIC made promises about reforms, which now seem to ring empty. 

    When regulators shut down Signature Bank, its managers were themselves surprised at the decision to place the bank into receivership. As Barney Frank, a Signature Bank board member known for the widespread banking regulation Dodd-Frank Act enacted in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, noted: 

    “I think that if we’d been allowed to open tomorrow, that we could’ve continued—we have a solid loan book, we’re the biggest lender in New York City under the low-income housing tax credit. I think the bank could’ve been a going concern.”

    Frank also said: “This was just a way to tell people, ‘We don’t want you dealing with crypto.” Frank, who chaired the House Financial Services Committee after the global financial crisis, went on to state at the time that there was “no real objective reason” that Signature had to be seized. He blames his bank’s shutdown on panic around cryptocurrency. He said: “We became the poster boy because there was no insolvency based on the fundamentals.” Frank added: 

    “The FDIC and the state of New York looked at things and made their decision. Frankly, I was surprised by it. They apparently had a more negative view of our solvency.” 

    Frank doesn’t think SVB nor his bank would have collapsed if FTX had not collapsed last year. It set off a panic that has yet to subside. The claimed justification for shutting down Signature was its Signet product, which was viewed as “systemic.” Signature’s asset portfolio, however, was nowhere near as bad as SVB’s. Regardless, as of this year, crypto’s three largest banking partners are now history. 

    2023 wasn’t all bad for the US crypto industry, as the US judicial branch pushed back some against agencies such as the SEC, even accusing the agency of engaging in deception. Nonetheless, it appears the damage had been done in many ways. 

    It seems clear now that the US government poses an existential threat to the nation’s cryptocurrency industry. It came for the industry in 2023, and 2024 might be more similar. Indeed, founders and established companies think the grass looks greener on the other side in jurisdictions where their right to innovation is respected. That’s a bloody shame for the so-called “land of the free” and the crypto industry as a whole. 

    Kadan Stadelmann

    Kadan Stadelmann is the chief technology officer of Komodo, an open-source technology provider and creator of AtomicDEX, a cryptocurrency wallet and decentralized exchange rolled into one dApp. Kadan is also a blockchain developer and operations security expert who previously worked in IT for the Austrian and Tunisian governments.


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  • Until Everyone Is Free: My Jewish, Anti-Zionist and Antiracist Journey Toward Collective Liberation

    Until Everyone Is Free: My Jewish, Anti-Zionist and Antiracist Journey Toward Collective Liberation

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    I grew up half Jewish and half Italian-Catholic. I made jokes about how these different identities left me mostly confused. Had Jesus risen again or not? I thought I had to choose one side rather than celebrating all the parts within myself, so I almost erased my Jewish half. I learned how to make risotto, but not matzah ball soup. 

    Christianity is the dominant culture in the United States and obscures the other religions. People would always say Merry Christmas to me, assuming everyone celebrated it, assuming it was the only holiday. I unconsciously accepted that and embraced my Catholic heritage more. I learned gospel hymns, but never learned the Hebrew blessings sung on Shabbat. 

    In addition to being stifled by Christianity’s dominant force, I also grew up internalizing sexism, striving to be like the men I deemed superior, by playing jazz and chess, composing music, reading philosophy, being stoic, and working hard.

    Weighed down by sexism from without and within, I was unaware of the ways I was also part of oppressive systems. In undergraduate jazz school I was so anxious about playing equally to men that I didn’t wake up to systemic racism. I took a jazz history class, where I learned about the racism Black musicians endured, but that felt like history, miles away. I couldn’t see my white privilege because I only noticed how inferior I felt to my male classmates.

    It wasn’t until I was 30 that I realized I had spent most of my life trying to prove I was as good as men, and this had distracted me from other issues. It wasn’t until I was 32, when I made a joke about Jewish people, that my Jewish friend let me know what I said was antisemitic.

    “But I’m Jewish!” I said, stunned. 

    It turns out antisemitism is everywhere. 

    Even inside me. 

    In my thirties, when I finally uncovered the side of me that was Jewish and uprooted my internalized antisemitism, I found the joy of being Jewish: dressing up for glittery Purim events in Brooklyn; going to a feminist, antiracist synagogue; and connecting to a community of inspiring Jewish activists. The more I learned about Jewish traditions, the more I realized there was so much of Judaism already flowing through me without me even knowing: my connection to the moon, my eco-spirituality, my humor, my animated hand gestures. 

    As I became in touch with the Jewish part of me that was lost and erased, I also learned about the Israeli government’s erasure and deliberate killing of a large amount of Palestinian people. US media and Zionist culture declare that Israel and Palestine are in conflict, it’s complicated, and there are two sides. But 5,590 Palestinians were killed from 2008-2020 compared to 251 Israelis killed. Human Rights Watch has declared Israel to be guilty of apartheid and human rights crimes. Israel has the largest army in the Middle East, funded by the US government’s aid of 3.8 billion dollars a year. Hamas, meanwhile, has rocks and rockets that are easily intercepted by Israel’s military system. Israel is the one with the power, and their government uses it to oppress and kill the Palestinian people.

    My Grandma had always talked about her love of Israel, and I absorbed that without any questions for too long. The truth of Israel’s aggression was hidden in plain sight. 

    Just as I first had to embrace Judaism within myself, and then awoke more to the antisemitism around me, so I learned about Zionism and Israel’s mass killings of Palestinians. The uncovering never ends, just like my battle with sexism delayed my awakening to racism. Different oppressions conceal other oppressions. Until they don’t anymore. Until we wake up from our individual struggles and realize how the system wants to keep people separated. 

    The veil that kept me isolated in my own struggle of sexism and antisemitism also became the path toward connection. Once we know there is a veil, we can then see through it, leading us to pursue solidarity with other causes. We can see how all the struggles overlap — that the Black Lives Matter movement is part of Palestinian liberation, part of queer and trans liberation, part of reproductive rights and feminism — that the intersection of all these injustices is where our community power lies. 

    When white supremacists stormed the capital on January 6th, some wore shirts that said “6MWE.” My stomach churned when I saw on Facebook what that meant: “6 Million Wasn’t Enough.” 

    I texted a friend: They’re talking about the Holocaust. They’re talking about me. 

    Some people hate me, which is sickening, and I am not going to hate or oppress anyone else. I know that it is, in the words of Jewish organization If Not Now, a “false choice between Palestinian freedom and Jewish safety.” The intergenerational trauma from the Holocaust has created an extreme militant Israeli government unable to see they are now harming others. Israel’s government is stuck in a pattern they feel is defensive but is actually violently aggressive. This round of Israeli bombing in May killed at least 256 Palestinians in Gaza, including 67 children, displaced tens of thousands, destroyed hospitals, schools, sewage systems, clean drinking water supplies, and the only COVID testing site. In contrast, thirteen Israelis were killed. That’s not Israel acting in defense — that is aggressive and violent, a series of human rights violations. When you bombard an area densely populated with civilians who are unable to escape, that’s a deliberate and horrific mass killing. That’s a war crime.

    The more I dig into the rich and beautiful culture of Judaism, I learn that there is a long history of anti-Zionism within Judaism. The Judaism that I know and love wants basic human rights for all people. If Not Now states, “Palestinian liberation and dismantling antisemitism are intertwined … We will not be pitted against each other … We won’t be distracted from our fight for freedom and safety for all people.” No one is free until everyone is free, and that includes Palestinians oppressed under apartheid; Black, brown, and Indigenous people brutalized and killed by the police in the US; transgender people who are horrifically murdered; Jews experiencing hate crimes; and people in other countries fighting totalitarian and fascist governments. Our liberation is bound up in each other’s.

    Still, some people try to link any opposition to Israel’s government as being antisemitic. As Palestinian-American writer and policy analyst Yousef Munayyer writes, “When people turn humanizing Palestinians into antisemitism, they not only enable the continued dehumanization of Palestinians but they also cheapen antisemitism by cynically weaponizing it.” 

    I, an American Jew, stand with Jews all around the world in protest of Israel’s government, because I know injustice, war crimes, human rights violations, and apartheid when I see them. I will fight for the rights of marginalized people until everyone is free.

    [Feature image: Close-up of barbed wire with the golden Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem visible in the distance under a blue sky. Source: @RJA1988 for Pixabay.]

    Mare Berger is a singer-songwriter, pianist, teacher, writer, improviser, gardener, and activist living in Brooklyn, NY. In April 2020 Mare released an album “The Moon is Always Full” featuring their original lyrics, songs and orchestration. You can buy Mare’s album here. Follow Mare @maremoonsong. Listen to music and read more of their writings at marielberger.com.

    TBINAA is an independent, queer, Black woman run digital media and education organization promoting radical self love as the foundation for a more just, equitable and compassionate world. If you believe in our mission, please contribute to this necessary work at PRESSPATRON.com/TBINAA 

    We can’t do this work without you!

    As a thank you gift, supporters who contribute $10+ (monthly) will receive a copy of our ebook, Shed Every Lie: Black and Brown Femmes on Healing As Liberation. Supporters contributing $20+ (monthly) will receive a copy of founder Sonya Renee Taylor’s book, The Body is Not An Apology: The Power of Radical Self Love delivered to your home. 

    Need some help growing into your own self love? Sign up for our 10 Tools for Radical Self Love Intensive!

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