SVET Reports
House Financial Services Committee Hearing on Libra
I'm sure we all have enjoyed watching subdued and somber Mr. Marcus facing over-exited and righteous members of House Financial Services Committee. For those few of us who didn't here's a summary: "I don’t think you should launch Libra at all" (Maloney), 'Facebook is dangerous' (Brown), "I don’t trust Facebook’s repeated deceit" (McSally), '... big question on how every voice is going to be heard in this incredibly powerful association headquartered in Switzerland' (Smith), "The real risk of Libra is crooked developers" (Sinema), "My worst day in Congress" (Meeks).
I want for the sake of limited space and time to put aside a question how much these hearings were about FB in particular and how much about crypto-currencies in general. Let say it was 50/50. Even then, those of us who still believe in a bright future of crypto-currencies in U.S.A. might be perturbed after witnessing this macabre theater. However, IMHO, they shouldn't be. What senators are really doing is sending us a signal.
In March there was a research cited in this group, which showed that "80 Firms including MasterCard, Coinbase spent $42 Mln lobbying Crypto in Q1". Compare that to about $3.5 billion spend in 2018 on lobbying US senators (according to the Center for Responsive Politics). Theoretically (according to Statista) it puts DLT in one range with largest political donors such as "Insurance" and "Electronics" (150-200 million a year). However, given the level of political risks involved with publicly supporting crypto-currencies, we can not seriously expect to be treated as grownups by those elderly ladies and gentlemen unless we beat "Pharmaceuticals", can we?
There's a hope, however. Same report indicates that "The number of lobbies working on blockchain technology issues in Washington D.C. tripled in 2018". It means that in a few years DLT's lobbying spending might be exceeding 300 million threshold, established by the worst of all industries. Btw, do not forget that this 3.5 billion doesn't include financial support of numerous political campaigns such as federal and state elections (f.e. only banking industry alone spent $2 bln. during 2016).