America COMPETES Act 2022: unlimited power to Treasury

? American regulators are showing increasing autocratic ambitions, and it’s dangerous not only for the #crypto industry, but for the whole country.

The 2022 edition of the America COMPETES Act vows to “reinvigorate the innovation engine of our economy to outcompete China and the rest of the world for decades to come”.

After reading some of its provisions, however, one might get an impression that the White House wants to not outcompete, but to imitate China.

?? Remember Janet Yellen? The 74-year-old ex-Fed Chair and presently Treasury Secretary, she is a notorious crypto hater, rumoured to have helped push Infrastructure Bill’s reporting obligations, disastrous for many crypto businesses. She is also known for having earned at least $7M in “speaking engagements” with banks and other financial institutions in 2020, while holding office.

⚠️ If America COMPETES Act of 2022 passes as is, Janet Yellen will have the right to prohibit any kind of financial transaction (including crypto transactions) without any process, consultation, rulemaking, or limitation on the duration of the prohibition. This effectively means an unlimited power to ban any type of financial asset.

Currently, the Treasury must engage in a public rulemaking before prohibiting whatsoever, and surveillance is limited to 120 days. The “special measures” provision will allow it to eliminate the public notice and comment requirement, as well as the 120 days surveillance limit ?

?️ Public institutions are led by people who naturally pursue their own ego-driven goals (we all do), and the more power these people get, the more harm they can inflict on society, willingly or not.

What would Mrs Yellen do with her new superpower of picking winners and losers, holding a Damocles sword over essentially business ?

We would rather not know.