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Wells Fargo | Violation Tracker
by Gunnar Larson 17 Sep '22

17 Sep '22

As we discussed, the Federal Reserve’s probing of Marcus is into around a $4.6B loss by Goldman Sachs: Goldman Sachs Faces Fed Scrutiny of Money-Losing Marcus Consumer Unit https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-16/goldman-faces-fed-scruti… Moreover, xNY.io - Bank.org points out that Wells Fargo has paid fines of over $21B+ below: https://violationtracker.goodjobsfirst.org/parent/wells-fargo We have a FOIL Probe Into Wells Fargo that NY-DFS keeps delaying. Violation Tracker Current Parent Company SummaryCurrent Parent Company Name: Wells Fargo Ownership Structure: publicly traded (ticker symbol WFC) Headquartered in: California Major Industry: financial services Specific Industry: banking Penalty total since 2000: $21,881,892,841 Number of records: 222 TOP 5 OFFENSE GROUPS (GROUPS DEFINED <https://violationtracker.goodjobsfirst.org/pages/offense-groups>)PENALTY TOTALNUMBER OF RECORDS financial offenses $10,402,453,489 121 consumer-protection-related offenses $6,421,664,484 36 competition-related offenses $3,148,000,000 3 government-contracting-related offenses $1,204,046,786 2 employment-related offenses $705,192,082 54 TOP 5 PRIMARY OFFENSE TYPESPENALTY TOTALNUMBER OF RECORDS mortgage abuses $5,625,783,671 7 banking violation $4,023,432,386 17 toxic securities abuses $3,637,750,000 7 fraud $3,000,000,000 1 investor protection violation $2,487,362,735 82

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2023 photo of Cinco De Mayo at Martha's Vinyard
by Gunnar Larson 17 Sep '22

17 Sep '22

2023 photo of Cinco De Mayo at Martha's Vinyard: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DzLtsV9KxBNGnTII0XeHXjHdMvTqpSng/view?usp=…

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Turkey Seeks to Be First NATO Member to Join China-Led SCO
by Gunnar Larson 17 Sep '22

17 Sep '22

Turkey Seeks to Be First NATO Member to Join China-Led SCO https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-17/turkey-seeks-china-led-b…

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Old Cypherpunk Proverb (3)
by Gunnar Larson 17 Sep '22

17 Sep '22

1) - "Rather than a merry-go-round, the process of change and innovation is like a slide." 2) - "What would Steve Jobs say?" 3) - "Long live Brody!"

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Fwd: [OpenRecords] Request FOIL-2022-056-01966 Acknowledged
by Gunnar Larson 17 Sep '22

17 Sep '22

We have not heard from Officer Covo. I have left her several messages. No response on or about Wednesday, August 3, 2022 was received. The original request was made on February 10, 2022. So, we are six months out on this matter. ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: <donotreply(a)records.nyc.gov> Date: Thu, Feb 10, 2022, 2:46 PM Subject: [OpenRecords] Request FOIL-2022-056-01966 Acknowledged To: <g(a)xny.io> The New York City Police Department (NYPD) has *acknowledged* your FOIL request FOIL-2022-056-01966 <https://a860-openrecords.nyc.gov/request/view/FOIL-2022-056-01966>. You can expect a response on or about Wednesday, August 3, 2022. Additional Information: Your request has been assigned to Police Officer Covo (646-610-6458). *Note: Due to issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic there may be extensive delays, lasting up to one year, in determining your request.* Please visit FOIL-2022-056-01966 <https://a860-openrecords.nyc.gov/request/view/FOIL-2022-056-01966> to view additional information and take any necessary action.

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Cryptocurrency: Gives Users Equality In Tax Priviledges Like King Charles
by grarpamp 17 Sep '22

17 Sep '22

No taxes for them, nor for the coming masses of crypto users either... https://www.businessinsider.com/charles-doesnt-have-to-pay-inheritance-tax-… https://old.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/xd5mqk/taxes_are_for_peasants_… https://www.bbc.com/news/explainers-57559653 https://www.thedailybeast.com/prince-andrew-sold-off-a-gift-from-the-queen-… https://www.royal.gov.uk/TheRoyalHousehold/Royalfinances/Sourcesoffunding/P… "The government takes about 50% of your income, and of the fraction that you get to save, it takes 40 percent when you die. The government takes about 75% of what you have earned throughout your life. Property and inheritance taxes are flat out evil."

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TWA-800: Shot Down By US Military [ref 9/11 UFO JFK etc Coverups]
by grarpamp 17 Sep '22

17 Sep '22

6 years old - 279 views. US Navy Sailor tells how TWA 800 was shot down. A true Holy Sh!t video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0vJFVm6Osk William Teele TWA-800 Downed USMil "upload_date": "20150718" https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnfVT07_75-mQvUEn9EUP1w https://twitter.com/willteele 88 Photos and videos southbayesupport.com Joined July 2013 Tweets 534 Following 624 Followers 102 Likes 1,072 William H. Teele III @willteele 21h Today is the day the @FBI lied to you!!! And as I continue to say I was there!! #TWA800. “Battle E” is the story! William H. Teele III @willteele 21h @kevinroose @TWAFlight800Doc @latimes @CNN @BBC William H. Teele III @willteele 21h https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=/R0vJFVm6Osk Truth to What Happen to TWA 800 19 years later, I have to tell it! May the good Lord continue to bless us ALL! William H. Teele III @willteele 21h https://www.pennlive.com/life/2022/07/dont-be-afraid-to-cry-remembering-the… ‘Don’t be afraid to cry’: Remembering the crash of TWA Flight 800 TWA Flight 800 left John F. Kennedy International Airport at 8:02 p.m. on July 17, 1996. At 8:31 p.m., the Boeing 747-100 exploded over East Moriches, New York, 12 miles off the coast of Long Island,... "text": "The Lord Jesus Christ is so wonderful and will heal whatever you have going on and give you forgiveness.", "time_text": "24 minutes ago", "author": "momislazy", "text": "Respect brother thank you for sharing you story so long ago. Just imagine all the recent videos with no views we cant find hidden by the algorithm exposing current events 😩", "time_text": "31 minutes ago", "author": "Starmade Productions", "text": "please stay safe man. telling the truth now a days paints a target on people unfortunately", "time_text": "59 minutes ago", "author": "Toyo", "text": "Thank you my friend. You are a righteous man", "time_text": "59 minutes ago", "author": "bridgeheadprod", "text": "Wow", "time_text": "1 hour ago", "author": "John Job", "text": "Thank you William! You are a brave and extraordinary person for bringing this knowledge to the world. Your truth honors those who died and their families. I hope and I know your testimony will lead others. Never let weak men intimidate brave men!", "time_text": "4 hours ago", "author": "Jay", "text": "Thank you for putting this out there. I wish more like you could find the courage to speak up.", "time_text": "5 hours ago", "author": "sub dialect", "text": "I totally believe this man. I'd love to hear what the rest of CIC saw and heard that night. I feel bad for the poor FCman who fired the missile.", "time_text": "8 hours ago", "author": "Don Holt", "text": "I have names of all who knows including the shop that shot!", "time_text": "7 hours ago", "author": "William Teele", "text": "God bless you. Are you all right? You're a hero for sharing.", "time_text": "9 hours ago (edited)", "author": "jdennis187", "text": "I’m doing well, thank you. I am aware of what’s to come or been coming. I was warned the day it happened!", "time_text": "7 hours ago (edited)", "author": "William Teele", "text": "Blow up the truth in your face with the style I run with\nLike the Navy missile that shot down Flight 800 - Immortal Technique", "time_text": "12 hours ago", "author": "Serena Dawes", "text": "Stay safe my Navy brother ..", "time_text": "12 hours ago", "author": "Se7en", "text": "Take care brother.", "time_text": "13 hours ago", "author": "Chris Hricik", "text": "Hope God protect him and his family...", "time_text": "14 hours ago", "author": "Alexander Urena", "text": "I don’t Hope, I know! That’s what’s me doing this ever more so real. A living sacrifice.", "time_text": "7 hours ago", "author": "William Teele", "text": "Hope you are fine after revealing truth cause the truth can hurt.", "time_text": "1 year ago", "author": "garry weinberg", "text": "It truly do, especially since I’m in contact with one the fathers of a kids on the plane.", "time_text": "7 hours ago", "author": "William Teele", "text": "I do recall jazz great’s wife , Wayne Shorter was on plane. Again thanks for bravery. Things seem pretty blurry these days only because powers to be write the script. PEACE.", "time_text": "54 minutes ago", "author": "garry weinberg", "text": "god bless.....", "time_text": "6 years ago", "author": "Navy XA",

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Cryptocurrency: ETH and Regulation - Week in News
by grarpamp 17 Sep '22

17 Sep '22

Ethereums The Merge is finally live! Its quite fascinating that we had people buy BTC at $69k and sell it at $19k all in just one year. Justin Turdeau attacks Prime Ministerial candidate Pierre Poilievre for supporting Bitcoin: Telling people they can opt out of inflation is not responsible leadership My 2 year old daughter is finally part of the 21 million club. I did it for her future not mine. Dogecoin Creator: It Annoyed Me When Musk Promoted Meme Currency Bitcoin Mining powered by used cooking oil The Merge Is Killing Nvidia GPU Prices Ethereums 99.95 % drop in energy usage will be equal to 15 big nuclear reactors, or 11 000 wind turbines Heres what mining BTC with a pencil and paper looks like Ethereum cryptocurrency completes move to cut CO2 output by 99% Vitalik Buterin Says Ethereum Merge Cut Global Energy Usage by 0.2% Bitcoin tops $22,000, hitting highest in nearly a month ahead of inflation data and The Merge Google adds Ethereum Merge countdown clock as searches reach all-time high I started accepting Moons at my business as a payment method. King Charles on Bitcoin: Very interesting development Brace yourselves for the upcoming campaign against bitcoin As a Bitcoiner, sometimes it is difficult to focus on the right thing in period of financial turmoil. The Merge is now live on the Ethereum mainnet! One small step for the validator, one giant leap for mankind The car does not match the plates one bit. Dogecoin Becomes Second Largest Proof Of Work (PoW) Crypto I feel bad for canadians they will be the next country to have the exits sealed off. Beer paid for by random twitter user after tweeting QR code for the invoice. Magic internet money! Biden White House just put out a framework on regulating crypto Cryptos market cap drops below $1 trillion after disappointing inflation data Arrest warrant issued for Lunatic crypto baron behind this years $40 billion crash 52% of total ETH staked by 3 entities Michael Saylor Publishes Open Letter Discussing the Sheer Volume of Misinformation Tied to Bitcoin Bitcoin Island is over 100 businesses now President of Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis on CBDC: What problem is this solving? I can see why China would do it Environmentalist are attacking BTC and other PoW coins, SEC is grinding PoS coins since the Merge. Is Any Coin Left? White House just released framework for cryptocurrency regulation. Over $320,000,000 in Bitcoin and Crypto Liquidated in Just 24 Hours, With Ethereum the Most Impacted Dive Bar in Detroit Suburbs Gamers want fun, not a grind fest for tokens Animoca subsidiary Poll: How long have you been investing in crypto? KPMG digital forensics team conclude Craig Wright falsified documents It looks like Ethereum is now deflationary as the burn rate is at least 5% higher than the reward The Hands #31 sold for $1400 today - how do you see the future of reddit avatars? Oh thats so Cool First time Bitcoin Cash user shares her excitement at the speed of a BCH transaction! Ukrainian Supermarket Chain to Accept Cryptocurrencies Through Binance Pay Summary of the Whitehouse Fact Sheet on Digital Assets Bitcoin ATM in a mall in Madrid Are we about to have our final capitulation moment to mark the bottom? Yes, *IF* crypto history repeats itself Popular Crypto Exchange Expands To Denmark To Boost User Base Across Europe Coinbase increased the ETH staking yield to 3.77% APY post-Merge. I think it will go much higher in the coming weeks and months going forward. Ethereum block times: before and after The Merge Powering down last ETH mining rig the only proper way. With Bagpipes. Craig Wright Tells Court He Stomped on the Hard Drive Containing Satoshi Wallet Keys Changing to proof of stake saved 0 energy, miners just moved to another coin. Does anyone else kind of enjoy the ETH vs. BTC war going on right now? Vitalik Buterin explains why he transitioned Ethereum to Proof of Stake (9/15/22) Why is this Bear Market different? Well, in the last one we were declared dead and in this one we are being widely adopted! Dont worry I made a list to back this up! ATH hashrate but where are the miners? Everywhere! Watch ETH burn in realtime! The next few months will be interesting Someone Just Minted an NFT of Ethereums Last Proof-of-Work Block Only 2 addresses control 46% of all Ethereums PoS nodes for processing transactions post-Merge Michael Saylor: The clear theoretical cut off, I think, is 4 years. If you want a safe, a really safe, cut off, look at the 4-year moving average of Bitcoin. If you have money that you can afford to put away and hold for more than 4 years, you would be foolish to store it in a currency. Yesterday, you could earn $1.50 in profit each day with a 3080. Today, you can only earn -$0.19 in profit each day (at median US electricity prices). Vitalik Buterin’s philosophical essays: theyre not good Coinbase Now Lets Users Check Which Politicians Are Crypto-Friendly We are gathered here today to bid farewell to wen merge memes.

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Cryptocurrency: PoW over PoS
by grarpamp 17 Sep '22

17 Sep '22

Privacy-enabled coins ftw! All commodities require energy. Since crypto is a commodity it can serve as global digital money. The economic function is to provide property rights to 8B people as well as a global settlement network that has already cleared $17T in 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIj-r7kR6N4 https://preview.redd.it/o04z31jyocn81.jpg?width=1199&format=pjpg&auto=webp&… Proof of Work is the most important innovation within blockchains and why blocks in blockchains even exist. The key aspects as to why Proof of work is so important and cannot be replaced by PoS are: 1) Fair Coin Distribution No scammy ICO , premine or instamine is created and miners are forced to sell most of their coins to cover the expense (mainly ASICs + electricity) which allows a fair distribution and competition in the minting process. 2) long term incentives With coins that have premines/instamines/ICOs the incentives are such that the creators benefit from pumping and dumping and creating more altcoins/ICOs to "fundraise" more rather than miners who have sunk infrastructure costs on mining a particular algo(The more we approach Moore's cliff the longer these time preferences become as we have been seeing) 3) Decentralization of Minting Since mining BTC is so competitive, profit margins are typically thin and thus new entrants that either use a better tool to mine (ASIC) or find cheaper sources of power(typically green due to the economics) can quickly gain market share making lasting monopolies difficult. Even if a main ASIC manufacturer appears to have a large market share we can see this quickly change due to a single malinvestment or a mistake when developing the newest ASIC. Power is a resource that comes from many sources and allows many locations around the world to remain competitive for unique reasons. 4) Sybil resistant Proof of work allows miners to order transactions where there are real tangible costs to transaction selection and fake nodes cannot simply flood the ecosystem in order to attack the network 5) Game Theory The game theory of Bitcoin is such that it is more profitable to mine bitcoin and secure the network than attack it because any attempt at a 51% attack or reorg the chain would quickly be caught once the attack was executed and the loss in resources would be profound. 6) Objective Security - Proof of work gives us an objective and measurable degree of security where risk assessments can be made with greater precision that isn't afforded with more subjective forms of security. 6) Less Regulatory Scrutiny - One critical aspect to how securities are defined and regulated by governments(for the USA research into "Howey Test" but other countries have similar regulations) deals with who controls the money/investment and a common enterprise profiting from it. Because Proof of work allows anyone to become a bank that mints and secures the network that no-one can control courts have already determined that Bitcoin cannot be considered a "security" and thus would not fall under those regulations like other coins/ICOs that lack Proof of Work. PoW alone is not the only determining factor on defining what is and isn't a security but an important one. 7) Incentives to resist centralization The game theory and incentives of Proof of stake all lead to centralization because there is no external need to compete for energy and efficiencies. The creators or large whales who buy into the coin will all form a controlling oligopoly who can simply collect taxes (fees) for no effort and censor with no effort unlike with proof of work Proof is stake has nothing at stake. They all try to somehow artificially make up for the fact there's no cost to attack. They're all basically trying to fake work without doing work. The slashing or whatever the preminers are calling it is after the fact. After the rich guys have forked off, which they can do because they're both producers and validators, they don't care about the value of that other chain left behind. The majority staked coins have already decided what's the main chain. Now if you want to overrule them, the CEO of that blockchain is going to need to repeatedly roll back and convince everyone to stick to the chain he decides by his authority as the valid chain. This has already been done after an embarrassing smart contract hack where the premine gang lost their coins. Proof of work attack cost is upfront cost and easily identifiable so the rogue miners will have lost money doing nothing except attempt a single double spend before nodes reject their blocks. Yes they can carry on attack for a long time and publish a long reorg which would have massive cost but a small fork choice change to automatically reject reorgs past certain number of blocks including any double spend will fix that. All it takes to overpower rogue miners in bitcoin is $50 rasp-pi rig. When security of blockchain depends on the coin created by itself and only people with staked coins can validate blocks, you're FUBAR when someone with enough coins wants to attack the chain or force changes to their own benefit. Moores cliff means old ASICs do not become obsolete as quickly. The newest ASICs are already down to 3nm , to put things in perspective Intels most expensive retail chips are still at 10nm , there really isn't that much more room for BTC ASICs to shrink which means decentralization of mining . There are also many fundamental misunderstandings people have towards the advantageous and disadvantageous in industrial mining. A few things you need to understand about mining – Chipmakers like TSMC and Samsung as 2 examples (Soon to add intel to this list) are the ones that are commissioned to make most ASIC chips(not the full assembled ASIC miner) based upon designs from Bitcoin ASIC manufactures. These foundries are involved in diverse chip making and obviously aren't directly involved in Bitcoin or its politics but fulfilling large orders from whoever commissions them. The most popular ASIC manufacturers for Bitcoin right now are Whatsminer, Innosilicon, Bitmain, Caanan, Ebit, and Ebang. Many more ASIC manufacturers exist but they come and go based upon merit in a highly competitive race. For example Bitfury used to be one of the best manufacturers , and now has very little market share. Bitmain used to dominate , and than made some poor design decisions (lead engineer left them) and now competes with at least 4 others for the most efficient ASICs. This is a highly competitive and changing ecosystem. Large miners main advantage is economies of scale over smaller miners. If you are an ASIC manufacturer you have large advantage over others because you can premine off your newest hardware and sell you last generation ASICs to others. This does occur , but is simplistic view and not the full picture. The reality is ASIC manufacturers Sell their newest ASICs with partners for industrial mining , sell their latest hardware to smaller miners for a premium, and mine themselves, while at the same time selling older ASICs on the market. Why do they do this? Because ASIC manufacturing is highly competitive and they need to hedge their investments as quickly as possible and de-risk from regulatory concerns as well. Amateur mining doesn't come with many risks of manufacturers who come and go (they are forced to make huge investments in ASIC orders and have long development pipelines fraught with risks) Amateur mining does not have the overhead of employees , security, regulatory compliance, building costs, tax liabilities , etc... Now here is what is interesting, this last generation of ASICs that went from 7nm to 5nm in size did not have the same efficiency jumps as previous drops. This is because 5nm is already at the edge of what can be done with silicone, we can possibly shrink down to 2-3nm but it gets extremely difficult as the gates start to get the size of a few atoms wide and quantum concerns and heat become a very big concern. Why is any of this important? In the past when ASICs went from 14nm to 12nm there was larger improvements in efficiencies which gave an advantage towards those who could manufacture and mine themselves and their partners. ASICs would become obsolete sooner 8 months to 1 year at times which makes it difficult for amateur miners to recoup their investment in an ASIC especially those that by the slightly older generation equipment. As moore's cliff approaches (we are already there as I don't see 2nm anytime soon) this means that this latest generation of ASICs will have a much longer shelf life which means the variable above is much less important and the greater importance is a complex mix of what sort of electrical rates you can get - overhead costs. Now remember what I said about the advantageous of amateur mining. Industrial mining has other advantageous too like economies of scale and specialization but many disadvantageous as well. What this ultimately means is we are entering a period of commoditization in mining(the opposite of centralization). The economics force this direction. industrial miners will still exist but more and more amateur miners will enter the ecosystem. Eventually new companies will be also created that create products to recycle the waste heat (already exists , but prices will start to drop considerably for consumers) In POS, as far as I understand, any small time player can stake and get the same return on investment a huge whale would get. The largest whales will always get more and more stake for 0 effort due to collected fees from staking which is proportional to their stake . Thus even if you equally distribute all the stake initially it will become centralized over time. https://youtu.be/bBC-nXj3Ng4 https://youtu.be/ncPyMUfNyVM The "environmental impact of using electricity" seems very pedantic and cherry picks cases for criticism. There are countless other uses of electricity in the world which no one is talking about which provide very little contribution to societies. People are so brainwashed it's sad, when presented with a system to move away from the global rot of fiat currencies and central banks, as well as solving the unbanked crisis (to name but 2 crucial benefits). All they can talk about is energy use. Nothing of value can exist without energy. "Physics of value". How much energy do sport events use and environmental damage do they cause, for entertainment purposes. God forbid humanity uses some of it's electricity so countries can have financial security and protection from the countless financial crashes imposed on the populous. No let's stick with the same corrupt and limiting system which only serves the 1% I.e. those living furthest up stream and closest to the source. Excellent logic, at least you'll all be able to blame your respective governments for the continued increase in cost of living, lack of access to education, housing, food and energy. Because of course....these issues couldn't possibly be linked to the current system for value exchange and "wealth preservation". No let's stick with the debasement of fiat currencies and the completely unbalanced distribution of economic gain leading us to war and social unrest. Yeah that sounds so much better for the planet. Our children will be eternally thankful we were too manipulated to create a better future. Privileged middle and upper class people living in the developed world can easily ask; "Yeah, but, do we need to use so much energy for something that presently provides so little benefit?" But try asking someone in Africa, South America and any of the other financially ravaged countries where people have their fiat savings taken away by governments the same question. I think you'll get a far better answer from them than you will on Reddit. As for energy think of how much energy countries, people and creatures require to protect themselves. Is the amount of military spending carried out by America and Europe useful energy consumption. I would argue yes, you cannot protect your way of life without energy and force. Again, physics, energy and force. You require energy for protection, most things require energy to exist. You are falling straight into the elitist trap of daring to tell people what they can use their energy for which they either create or purchase. Very slippery slope which will not end at Bitcoin mining. The Bitcoin network requires energy to protect itself, the energy to protect it's network participants stake. It's never been hacked. The most secure digital network with a non biased approach to users and participants, accessible 24/7, border-less and with no single point of failure. No to think about it, you're completely correct, there's no benefit to such a digital facility in an ever increasing digital age with debasement of fiat and soaring inflation. This narrative will be proven baseless eventually like so many other misinterpretations of positive developments in human history. The lies and manipulation always get uncovered in the end, just a shame so many people have to suffer as a consequence of propaganda and conformist indoctrination. Those opposing it are supporting oppression on the unbanked and those impoverished by their centralised currencies and governments. But Bitcoiners are the ones being questioned on their ethics and morals. How beautifully ironic this tale currently is.

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Cryptocurrency: USA White House Framework Designed to Kill Crypto, Supplant With Fake
by grarpamp 16 Sep '22

16 Sep '22

Remember when cryptos told you to fight and adopt well before the coming war on crypto... but what did you do besides wank to shitcoins, you are so far years behind when you should have won by now, now you have to work 10x harder to win, best get on that... White House Releases 'First Ever' Comprehensive Crypto Regulatory Framework https://bitcoinmagazine.com/legal/-white-house-releases-digital-asset-regul… https://bitcoinmagazine.com/business/white-house-condemns-energy-use-of-min… https://bitcoinmagazine.com/markets/biden-signs-bitcoin-executive-order-tap… https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/09/16/fac… Tl; dr: Bitcoin bad, CBDC good... Following U.S. President Biden’s executive order, the White House published a framework for CBDC development and strict regulation of the ecosystem. The White House has published a legal framework for engaging with bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in the U.S. following a “whole of government” executive order (E.O.) from President Joe Biden earlier this year, per an official press release. The framework consists of seven sections: (1) Protecting Consumers, Investors, and Businesses; (2) Promoting Access to Safe, Affordable Financial Services; (3) Fostering Financial Stability; (4) Advancing Responsible Innovation; (5) Reinforcing Our Global Financial Leadership and Competitiveness; (6) Fighting Illicit Finance; (7) Exploring a U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). The “Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets” E.O. called on government agencies to produce varying forms of research regarding consumer privacy and protection, energy usage, and central bank digital currency (CBDC) benefits and risks. In accordance with the research provided, the White House intends to empower the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to “aggressively pursue investigations” in the digital asset space. Additionally, Biden’s administration will push the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to “redouble their efforts to monitor” the ecosystem as it relates to “unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices.” However, it is unclear what enables the determination of whether or not these agencies will begin monitoring for the aforementioned malicious behavior. Continuing on, the framework also calls on agencies to begin accepting “instant payment systems,” such as FedNow and the consideration of regulating non bank payment providers. Furthermore, the National Science Foundation (NSF) will research “technical and socio-technical disciplines and behavioral economics” in order to understand digital asset ecosystems. Following a recent report from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the Department of Energy (DoE) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are being tasked with “tracking digital assets’ environmental impacts; developing performance standards as appropriate; and providing local authorities with the tools, resources, and expertise to mitigate environmental harms.” In addition, the Bank Secrecy Act will be amended to apply to digital assets, leading to larger fines for unlicensed money transfers and stricter enforcement against digital asset service providers. Also, the U.S. Treasury department will complete a risk assessment as it relates to decentralized finance (De-Fi). Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Biden’s administration has developed “Policies for a U.S. CBDC System,” which details the government’s priorities as it relates to the release of a digital dollar. However, the release states that “further research is needed”. Agencies that were chosen to lead the ongoing working group for the research and possible development of a CBDC include the Federal Reserve, the National Economic Council, the National Security Council, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the Treasury Department.

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