Newsletter: Crypto bills have passed the House with “2, 3, 4 o’clock” phone calls from Trump to give “a little love” to Republican holdouts, $6.9 million in crypto lobbying, and a $141 million midterm threat. The bills feature few consumer protections and destabilizing loopholes.

Read the latest issue of Citation Needed:

Trump thanked the crypto industry for their support at the Genius Act signing ceremony, remarking, “half of you were under arrest for no reason”. He later added, “I got you guys out of so much trouble”. “They’ve got plenty of cash, and it’s great that you’re on our side.”

The Genius Act, the one bill of the three that is now law, claims to provide oversight to stablecoin markets. It mostly serves to legitimize stablecoins — Trump’s among them — and has little in the way of consumer protections.

Right around the time Trump signed the crypto bill, his 52%-owned TMTG company announced it had acquired $2 billion in bitcoin. This makes it the sixth largest BTC treasury company, alongside companies connected to Trump’s sons or Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

The DOJ and CFTC have shut down their investigations into whether crypto-denominated betting platform Polymarket has been allowing US bettors, despite it being common knowledge that Americans are widely the platform despite claimed restrictions.

Also, the Ninth Circuit has overturned part of the October 2023 decision in Bored Apes creator Yuga Labs’ case against Ryder Ripps and his knock-off Bored Apes project — a decision that ultimately sought $9 million from the defendants.

All that and more in this issue. Citation Needed is independent and entirely reader-funded. Consider a pay-what-you-want subscription to help me continue this work.