BREAKDOWN: A Partial Victory in the Infrastructure Bill Battle
CoinDesk Podcast Network
CoinDesk
4.8 • 689 Ratings
🗓️ 2 August 2021
⏱️ 17 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Crypto allies rally to soften the more problematic parts of the bill.
This episode is sponsored by NYDIG.
First, the Brief:
- Bank of America’s research highlights the pros of El Salvador's bitcoin law
- Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard discusses the need for a U.S. CBDC
- Bank of China intends to continue significant pressure on crypto
- No sign of a slowdown in U.S. bitcoin mining industry
- Kentucky as the fifth state to stop BlockFi
- Lastly, a record week for NFTs and the emergence of a new institutional narrative
Our main discussion centers on the ongoing battle surrounding a crypto provision within the highly debated infrastructure bill. The original language of the draft targeted crypto intermediaries, from hardware wallet manufacturers to miners, mandating that they report transactions made through their services. Doing so would be virtually impossible and hinder the U.S. crypto industry.
In response, the community rallied for an updated bill with more forgiving standards. Crypto allies, from industry heavy hitters like Coin Center’s Jerry Brito to Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, expressed their discontent with the original language of the draft. With an amendment process underway, will these statements be enough to make a significant change?
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NYDIG, the institutional-grade platform for Bitcoin, is making it possible for thousands of banks who have trusted relationships with hundreds of millions of customers, to offer Bitcoin. Learn more at NYDIG.com/NLW.
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The Breakdown is written, produced by and features NLW, with editing by Rob Mitchell and additional production support by Eleanor Pahl. Adam B. Levine is our executive producer and our theme music is “Countdown” by Neon Beach. The music you heard today behind our sponsor is “Razor Red” by Sam Barsh. Image credit: Samuel Corum/Getty Images, modified by CoinDesk.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to The Breakdown with me, NLW. |
| 0:09.0 | It's a daily podcast on macro, Bitcoin, and the big picture power shifts remaking our world. |
| 0:16.1 | The breakdown is sponsored by Nidig and produced and distributed by CoinDesk. |
| 0:22.4 | What's going on, guys? |
| 0:23.5 | Today is Monday, August 2nd, and there was a flurry of activity this weekend as crypto advocacy groups, legal experts, and other industry supporters pounded the pavement to try to change language in the draft infrastructure bill that could have |
| 0:38.2 | massive implications for crypto in the United States. So were they successful? Well, partially. |
| 0:45.2 | Full story on that in a minute, but first let's do the brief. And today's brief is going to be |
| 0:50.0 | just a little bit different. There are a ton of updates on ongoing stories I've been covering, |
| 0:55.4 | so I'll do a few more than normal with slightly less depth. Let's kick it off with something positive. |
| 1:01.5 | Most of the world of traditional finance has not been super enamored of El Salvador's decision to make |
| 1:06.8 | Bitcoin legal tender. The World Bank famously denied a request from El Salvador to help with |
| 1:11.5 | the implementation. This is why it's all the more encouraging to see a Bank of America global |
| 1:16.4 | research brief call the move financial digitization with a progressive touch. They point to a couple |
| 1:22.2 | things. First, they point out that the plan could attract foreign direct investment by bringing |
| 1:26.7 | mining and other crypto-related businesses to El Salvador. They did share some skepticism around the cost |
| 1:32.3 | of electricity, but we know that there's all sorts of volcano plans going on, so Bitcoin mining |
| 1:37.4 | in El Salvador might be on the menu. They also came down strongly on the side of this Bitcoin |
| 1:42.7 | bill increasing consumer choice. Here's the statement. One could on the side of this Bitcoin bill increasing consumer choice. |
| 1:45.7 | Here's the statement. |
| 1:46.7 | One could make the case that adopting Bitcoin as legal tender is about giving more choice |
| 1:50.9 | to consumers, embracing innovation, and doing more business with American companies. |
| 1:56.0 | Consumers will not be forced to use it, and businesses can decline to accept it if they lack |
... |
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