Infrastructure Bill: Blockchain Association Chair Makes Case for Pro-Crypto Version to Pass

The Senate goes to vote on the controversial infrastructure bill once again today. With much dissension in the bill threatening to stall the much needed bill to pass, the clause on crypto must be reconciled in order to have any major headway. 

However, the challenge before the lawmakers is which alternative to embrace, the Wyden/Lummis/Toomey amendment which seek to scrap the term crypto broker to include miners and other stakeholders in the nascent industry, or the Portman/Warner/Sinema version which seeks to exempt Proof-of-Work Developers from the reporting requirement.

The need to generate revenue from crypto taxes to fund the broader $1 trillion infrastructure bill is pressing, and the pressure from the crypto community is all but mounting. The latest amongst crypto voices to make a case for the Senator Wyden-led amendment is Kristin Smith, the Executive Director of the Blockchain Association, a unified body representing crypto interests.

According to Kristin, the reality that crypto has a large and passionate participant or user base culminating in over 50 million Americans holding digital assets  makes it more reasonable for the lawmakers to listen to the majority.

2/ SUPERPOWER #1: #Crypto has a *very big* and *very passionate* user/participant base. This includes the 50+ million people in the US who hold crypto assets.

— Kristin Smith (@KMSmithDC) August 7, 2021

Kristin also believes that the strength of the crypto industry which has drawn interests from businesses and independent individuals contributing to the development of the new ecosystem suggests the reverence with which the innovation in the nascent industry is thriving.

The Demand of the Crypto Ecosystem is Just Getting Started

Since the advent of Bitcoin (BTC) and the broader crypto ecosystem as a whole, this difference in opinion in the proposed infrastructure bill is one of the direct tackles the crypto stakeholders has given to the lawmakers. 

This trend, Kristin notes, is just the beginning and that the crypto community is getting smarter with American politics and are willing to “Take Action,” in making their interests registered. 

6/ So that’s why the community has been able to cause such a stir this week.

It will not stop here… this is a smart crowd of doers who like to *take action.* The community is getting smarter on politics (and has a long memory). This is only going to get more intense.

— Kristin Smith (@KMSmithDC) August 7, 2021

Until the end of the Senate plenary Session on Saturday before the fate of the crypto developers which the bill directly affects will be known. If the crypto ecosystem is clear on one thing at this time, it is the readiness of the Feds to control and gain a sweeping oversight on the digital currency transactions across the board. 

This is against the ethics upon which the system thrives, and more fights may be registered irrespective of who wins the current fight per the passage of the current infrastructure bill.

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