My colleagues in Congress are making a mistake advancing these crypto bills
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Bitcoin Hits Record $120K as Congress Begins Crypto Week
Above: Signage for Bitcoin at a cryptocurrency exchange in Hong Kong, China, on July 14, 2025. Image copyright: Paul Yeung/Bloomberg/Getty Images
The Spin
Republican narrative
Pro-free market Republicans, led by President Trump, have created the environment for the recent rise in crypto value. By pushing pro-crypto legislation and stablecoin frameworks, they've fostered innovation and corporate adoption, with firms like MicroStrategy and Tesla stockpiling bitcoin. This vision positions the U.S. as a crypto leader — boosting economic growth while rejecting government red tape and surveillance.
Democratic narrative
This legislation isn't aimed at protecting average Americans but at enriching Trump and his associates while enabling fraud and corruption. These bills weaken consumer protections, exempt decentralized finance from oversight, and prioritize Wall Street over small innovators. They invite a crypto crisis, repeating past financial disasters while serving Trump’s rentier politics over the public interest.
Establishment-critical narrative
Both parties are equally as enthusiastic about crypto because they want to enrich their donors and give themselves more power. By legitimizing volatile stablecoins, Congress risks financial crashes and taxpayer bailouts. Crypto's anonymity also fuels crime, not commerce, and its integration into finance, backed by figures like Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, creates a dystopian system to monitor and manipulate citizens' economic lives.