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Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome to the latest episode from the

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Speaker 1: midweek edition of the coin Bureau podcast. Every week, I

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Speaker 1: pick out two of my favorite videos from coin Bureau's

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Speaker 1: YouTube channel to present to you in podcast form. The

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Speaker 1: audio you're about to hear is from those videos I've

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Speaker 1: chosen this week. Many of you have been in touch

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Speaker 1: to ask whether it's possible to listen to our videos

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Speaker 1: in podcast format, and so your wish is my command.

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Speaker 1: This week will be taking a look at the devastating

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Speaker 1: effects that inflation is having, not just on the global economy,

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Speaker 1: but on the environment as well. Will also be lifting

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Speaker 1: the lid on a new bill that seeks to ban

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Speaker 1: insider trading by US government officials. Both provide insights into

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Speaker 1: the accelerating decline of the FIAT financial system. First up,

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Speaker 1: inflation is a word that's on everyone's lips at the moment,

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Speaker 1: as virtually every country in the world is experiencing it

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Speaker 1: to a greater or lesser degree. But inflation isn't just

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Speaker 1: pushing prices up and hurting our purchasing power. It's also

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Speaker 1: fueling war, climate change, inequality, and much more. Besides, it

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Speaker 1: also ensures that the wealthy and powerful get to hold

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Speaker 1: on to their wealth and influence at the expense of

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Speaker 1: everyone else. Put simply, inflation is the enemy of the people,

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Speaker 1: and if left unchecked, will continue to make us poorer

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Speaker 1: and our world a more polluted, unfair, and unsafe place

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Speaker 1: to live. So in the first part of today's video,

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Speaker 1: we'll see how inflation perpetuates all these evils and look

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Speaker 1: at what a solution to it could be. Speaking of

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Speaker 1: the rich and powerful, It's been well known for a

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Speaker 1: long time that US politicians and other government officials have

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Speaker 1: been abusing their privileged positions to make money from insider trading.

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Speaker 1: Attempts have been made before to try and but to

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Speaker 1: stop to this, but still it goes on well. A

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Speaker 1: new bill titled Combating Financial Conflicts of Interest in Government

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Speaker 1: Act was recently proposed, and in the second part of

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Speaker 1: today's episode, we take a look at what's in it,

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Speaker 1: what it's hoping to achieve, and why it could end

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Speaker 1: up being bad for cryptocurrency. I hope you enjoy listening

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Speaker 1: to these two pieces, and I will be back talking

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Speaker 1: crypto with Mike very soon, so be sure to stay tuned,

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Speaker 1: and if you want even more content from coin Bureau,

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Speaker 1: be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and visit

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Speaker 1: us on social media too. War famine, economic inequality, pollution, corruption,

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Speaker 1: climate change, unaffordability, low paying jobs, no upward mobility. These

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Speaker 1: are just a few of the issues that the world

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Speaker 1: has been grappling with for years. But believe it or not,

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Speaker 1: all these issues have a shared cause, and that inflation,

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Speaker 1: more accurately, the ability to create money out of thin

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Speaker 1: air with the help of a central or commercial bank. Today,

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Speaker 1: I'm going to reveal where all this inflation is coming from,

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Speaker 1: explain exactly how this inflation is causing these issues, and

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Speaker 1: why the solution might require just a single step. Okay,

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Speaker 1: let's start with where this inflation is coming from. Imagine

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Speaker 1: you were given the bank account with an unlimited amount

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Speaker 1: of money. What would you do. Well, You'd probably start

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Speaker 1: by buying a nice house, going on a fancy holiday,

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Speaker 1: getting yourself a very silly car, and all the other

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Speaker 1: things that the average person would do. Once you've had

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Speaker 1: your fun, you would start doing the same for your

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Speaker 1: friends and family, buying them houses, cars, holidays, the whole shebang. Next,

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Speaker 1: you'd probably start donating your money to charities, investing in startups,

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Speaker 1: building cutting edge tech, and all the other kinds of

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Speaker 1: stuff rich people do. Now, I think we can all

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Speaker 1: agree that spending money on all of the above is

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Speaker 1: an effective allocation of that capital. In other words, it's

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Speaker 1: the right way that money should be spent, improving the

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Speaker 1: quality of life for yourself and others, and then trying

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Speaker 1: to take humanity itself to the next level. Given enough time, however,

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Speaker 1: you'll inevitably start spending your money on stupid stuff. Maybe

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Speaker 1: you'll start buying ship coins that you know will probably

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Speaker 1: go to zero, or marry a reality TV star, or

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Speaker 1: construct a secret underground layer and try and take over

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Speaker 1: the world. Why because you can, or rather because you've

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Speaker 1: run out of ways to allocate that capital effectively. What

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Speaker 1: I've just described is the financial system in a nutshell.

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Speaker 1: When a currency is first created, its purpose is to

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Speaker 1: improve the quality of life of the people using it.

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Speaker 1: The institution that issues the currency is often instructed to

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Speaker 1: ensure that it operates in accordance with this purpose when

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Speaker 1: it is established. Now, this currency issuing institution is a

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Speaker 1: central bank or a commercial bank. Whereas the central bank

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Speaker 1: has the power to print currency, commercial banks have the

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Speaker 1: power to create currency out of thin air through fractional

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Speaker 1: reserve banking a k a. Lending out more than they

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Speaker 1: have on their balance sheets. The people with exclusive access

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Speaker 1: to these money sources basically have their own bank accounts

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Speaker 1: with unlimited money supplies. This isn't a problem at the start,

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Speaker 1: because the private sector uses its accounts to invest in

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Speaker 1: innovation and the public sector uses its accounts to develop infrastructure.

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Speaker 1: As time goes on, however, the stupidity sets in. The

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Speaker 1: people in the private sector engage in reckless financial speculation

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Speaker 1: and enforce their ideologies on society. The people in the

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Speaker 1: public sector purchase political popularity through public programs and increase

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Speaker 1: the surveillance and control of their citizens. All these endeavors

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Speaker 1: require creating lots of currency, and that eventually results in inflation.

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Speaker 1: It also results in a collapse in the confidence of

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Speaker 1: the institutions that issue the currency, including the ones in

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Speaker 1: the private sector that have exclusive access to the institutions

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Speaker 1: that issue the currency. This is why every fiat currency

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Speaker 1: that's ever been issued has eventually failed, and it's why

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Speaker 1: any form of currency created by people is destined to fail.

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Speaker 1: And yes, it is the cause of all the issues

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Speaker 1: I mentioned in the introduction. Now, a topical issue to

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Speaker 1: begin with is war any student of history out there

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Speaker 1: will know that when countries go to war, their governments

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Speaker 1: take on unbelievable amounts of debt to finance that war.

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Speaker 1: This is much more significant than you think. And to

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Speaker 1: explain our paraphrase macro analyst Mike Green, when a government

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Speaker 1: must borrow massive amounts of money to do something that

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Speaker 1: it wants, then it's often, if not always, because it's

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Speaker 1: something it knows that its citizens do not want or

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Speaker 1: do not need. It's something that it knows its citizens

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Speaker 1: would not fund with their taxes. If it was something

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Speaker 1: the citizens wanted or needed, then the government would have

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Speaker 1: a much easier job of selling the idea to them.

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Speaker 1: Raising taxes to pay for things people actually want is

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Speaker 1: a lot more straightforward than doing so for something they don't.

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Speaker 1: Not surprisingly, war is very low down on the list

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Speaker 1: of things that citizens of any country want or have

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Speaker 1: ever wanted. However, it has always been and will always

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Speaker 1: be high on the list of things that the powerful

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Speaker 1: public and private people and institutions have wanted because they

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Speaker 1: always want more growth. Now, of course, this urge to

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Speaker 1: grow bigger and better is often a good thing. When

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Speaker 1: you throw the ability to create money into the mix, However,

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Speaker 1: it can become a very bad thing because it opens

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Speaker 1: the door to reckless spending and war. Without the ability

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Speaker 1: for people to create money to finance these war was,

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Speaker 1: they would happen a great deal less frequently. Now. Another

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Speaker 1: hot topic these days is climate change. If you watched

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Speaker 1: our video about the U N's upcoming individual carbon credit score,

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Speaker 1: you'll know I briefly noted that inflation is causing this

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Speaker 1: environmental breakdown. One of the comments asking exactly how was

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Speaker 1: in fact the inspiration behind this video, So to recap,

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Speaker 1: inflation ultimately comes from excessive money creation driven by public

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Speaker 1: and private institutions that are abusing their infinite money bank accounts.

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Speaker 1: I suppose this really depends on your definition of inflation,

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Speaker 1: but let's roll with it for the sake of simplicity.

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Speaker 1: In practical terms, inflation means that a currency is losing

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Speaker 1: value by the day. This is simply because the gradual

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Speaker 1: increase in the supply of that currency makes it gradually

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Speaker 1: less valuable. It's basic economics. The more of something you have,

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Speaker 1: the less it is worth relative to other things. So

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Speaker 1: riddle me this. What happens when people can see that

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Speaker 1: their currency is slowly losing value by the year, by

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Speaker 1: the month, or even by the day. Well, obviously they're

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Speaker 1: incentivized to get rid of that currency by buying something.

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Speaker 1: That's because they know everything else will be more expensive

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Speaker 1: in the future. Now, the effects of inflation are arguably

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Speaker 1: felt most by those with massive amounts of money. That's

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Speaker 1: because a one percent devaluation on one hundred dollars is

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Speaker 1: just one dollar. A one percent devaluation on one million dollars, however,

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Speaker 1: is one million dollars. That's an amount of purchasing power

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Speaker 1: anyone would notice losing. And because the only way to

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Speaker 1: preserve this purchasing power is to buy something else with

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Speaker 1: that money, that's exactly what the rich do. They use

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Speaker 1: their money to buy assets, and then they borrow money

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Speaker 1: against these assets to buy even more assets, which continue

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Speaker 1: to appreciate in value due to inflation. As we've learned,

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Speaker 1: this infinite money glitch inevitably results in the misallocation of capital,

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Speaker 1: specifically over consumption. Now, over consumption is what lies at

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Speaker 1: the core of climate change and all other environmental issues

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Speaker 1: we're experiencing, and the rich are the largest consuming class. Now,

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Speaker 1: don't get me wrong, the urge to consume can be

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Speaker 1: a good thing inasmuch as it keeps the economy going.

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Speaker 1: When you throw an inflation based infinite money glitch into

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Speaker 1: the mix, however, it quickly becomes a very bad thing

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Speaker 1: because it leads to the kind of over consumption that

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Speaker 1: destroys the environment. This ties into another big issue that's

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Speaker 1: been fueled by money creation, and that's all the issues

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Speaker 1: with employment. This includes low paying jobs, the inability to

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Speaker 1: move upwards within those jobs, and jobs where nothing of

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Speaker 1: value is being produced, or, to use the scientific term,

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Speaker 1: bullshit jobs. I'll start by saying that the issues in

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Speaker 1: the job market are not due to inflation alone. There

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Speaker 1: are a few other factors involved, including demographics, migration, and globalization.

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Speaker 1: That last factor is probably the primary cause of low wages,

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Speaker 1: since an increase in the supply of labor drives wages down.

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Speaker 1: That said, there still seems to be a very strong

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Speaker 1: correlation between currency creation and depressed wages. This can be

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Speaker 1: seen in this chart here. Some of you may recognize

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Speaker 1: this chart from the website wtf Happened in ninety one?

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Speaker 1: Well one is when Fiat currencies officially stopped being backed

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Speaker 1: by gold. To be clear, there was already lots of

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Speaker 1: unbacked feed currency supply in circulation prior to ninety one.

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Speaker 1: The thing is that it hadn't been officially sanctioned, so

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Speaker 1: to speak. Going off the gold standard effectively gave the

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Speaker 1: green light to central banks and commercial banks to create

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Speaker 1: as much money as they wanted. This allowed a handful

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Speaker 1: of corporations with close connections to both types of bank

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Speaker 1: to get their hands on easy money. They use this

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Speaker 1: easy money to expand their empires into other countries and

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Speaker 1: lobby poly petitions to pass regulations that would prevent any

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Speaker 1: competition from catching up. So what happens when a corporation

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Speaker 1: can borrow almost as much money as it wants? Obviously

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Speaker 1: that corporation is less incentivized to care about its actual

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Speaker 1: operations that generate actual income. This includes the employees of

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Speaker 1: the company. If corporations were not able to borrow almost

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Speaker 1: as much money as they wanted, then they would be

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Speaker 1: forced to pay extra close attention to what employees want.

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Speaker 1: This is because they would need to create favorable conditions

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Speaker 1: for productivity. But I suppose this incentive falls apart when

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Speaker 1: globalization comes into play. In any case, the employment issues

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Speaker 1: caused by inflation are even worse in the public sector.

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Speaker 1: That's because When a government can borrow as much money

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Speaker 1: as it wants to finance its operations, it doesn't need

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Speaker 1: to care much, if at all, about the productivity of

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Speaker 1: its employees. To make things worse, many governments have policies

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Speaker 1: to reduce funding for a department if it man just

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Speaker 1: to do its job within its annual budget. This inadvertently

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Speaker 1: creates an incentive for these departments to spend more money

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Speaker 1: so they can keep their budgets or even increase them. Now,

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Speaker 1: another significant issue being caused by money creation is economic inequality.

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Speaker 1: Economic inequality in almost every country around the world exploded

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Speaker 1: to record highs during the pandemic, and that is not

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Speaker 1: a coincidence. In response to the pandemic, central banks around

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Speaker 1: the world dropped interest rates on borrowing to zero. By now,

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Speaker 1: you'll know that the entities with close connections to central

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Speaker 1: banks and commercial banks were the only ones who were

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Speaker 1: able to borrow at a near zero percent rate, otherwise

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Speaker 1: known as free money. These entities use this borrowed money

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Speaker 1: to buy up all the assets they could get their

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Speaker 1: hands on. That's why the prices of houses, stocks, and

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Speaker 1: cryptocurrencies went vertical. As the primary holders of assets, the

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Speaker 1: rich got richer. And everyone else saw their hopes and

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Speaker 1: dreams become that bit further out of reach. The worst

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Speaker 1: part is that this dynamic didn't start with the pandemic.

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Speaker 1: It started as soon as the current financial system was

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Speaker 1: created in the aftermath of the Second World War, and

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Speaker 1: it was significantly accelerated by the dropping off the gold

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Speaker 1: standard that I talked about earlier. Now there's even a

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Speaker 1: phrase for this phenomenon, by borrow die. The elites start

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Speaker 1: by making it big, usually through legitimate means, and then

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Speaker 1: they buy up as many assets as they can. By

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Speaker 1: now you'll know that the elites will then borrow against

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Speaker 1: their assets to buy more assets until they own all

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Speaker 1: the assets. Now I've done a video on this practice,

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Speaker 1: which I will leave linked to below in the description

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Speaker 1: for you. Anyways, once they own all the assets, many

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Speaker 1: of them have nothing better to do than to force

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Speaker 1: the world to comply with their ideology. The best example

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Speaker 1: here is Black Rock forcing it's E s G ideology

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Speaker 1: into every institution in world, despite it being inherently unprofitable,

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Speaker 1: only possible thanks to money printing. The best part is

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Speaker 1: though they pay no tax as part of this process.

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Speaker 1: That's because you only pay tax on something when it's

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Speaker 1: sold in most countries. Anyhow, borrowing against an asset is

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Speaker 1: therefore tax free because that money didn't come from the sale.

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Speaker 1: It came out of thin air at a low interest

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Speaker 1: rate courtesy of the banks. Meanwhile, the inflation caused by

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Speaker 1: all this money creation has been destroying the purchasing power

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Speaker 1: of the average person. The unprecedented money creation we saw

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Speaker 1: in response to the pandemic put the pedal to the

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Speaker 1: metal on inflation, and we are continuing to feel the

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Speaker 1: effects of that now. As messed up as all these

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Speaker 1: issues are, there's an easy way out of them. That's

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Speaker 1: to take away the ability of central banks and commercial

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Speaker 1: banks to create unlimited amounts of money. One way to

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Speaker 1: do this would be to move to a sound money system,

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Speaker 1: so just one where currencies are once again backed by gold.

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Speaker 1: It doesn't necessarily have to be gold either, I reckon.

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Speaker 1: There are ways to back currencies with other commodities, and

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Speaker 1: even cryptocurrencies with gold like attributes, such as BTC. In

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Speaker 1: a sound money system, the only way you can really

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Speaker 1: create money is to produce something of value that someone

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Speaker 1: will give you money for. Because the supply of sound

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Speaker 1: money isn't constantly expanding, that means that the purchasing power

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Speaker 1: will be preserved over time. And not only that, but

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Speaker 1: you'll be able to preserve your purchasing power by just saving.

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Speaker 1: You won't have to invest in high risk assets that

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Speaker 1: are being manipulated by well capitalized speculators. Now the only

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Speaker 1: problem is, of course, that the elites that have their

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Speaker 1: wealth in these assets that they've borrowed against would be

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Speaker 1: wiped out. That's because borrowing in a sound money system

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Speaker 1: would be much more expensive. It would no longer be

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Speaker 1: possible for those with close connections to banks to borrow

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Speaker 1: money for free at close to zero percent. This includes

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Speaker 1: governments which have taken on unbelievable amounts of debt to

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Speaker 1: mostly do things that their citizens do not want and

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Speaker 1: do not need. Now, the rich could probably find a

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Speaker 1: way to unwind their debts, the government not so much.

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Speaker 1: They would almost certainly default, and it will result in

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Speaker 1: regime change in every country, along with a complete restructuring

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Speaker 1: of government operations. As an added bonus, unaccountable international organizations

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Speaker 1: that are sustained by made up money would completely dissolve,

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Speaker 1: and their explicit plans to create a centralized global government

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Speaker 1: would dissolve with them. Remember World domination is only possible

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Speaker 1: through money manufacturing. Now, the only issue a sound money

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Speaker 1: system could possibly create is something called a deflationary death spiral.

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Speaker 1: This is when everyone realizes that their purchasing power is

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Speaker 1: increasing over time, so they reduce their spending to a

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Speaker 1: bare minimum. This does serious damage to the economy. The

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Speaker 1: thing is that this is an issue that only ever

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Speaker 1: existed in theory, and if you ask me, it's one

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Speaker 1: that's been made up by the elites to scare people

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Speaker 1: away from pursuing a sound money system. In addition, there

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Speaker 1: would still be some inflation in a sound money system

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Speaker 1: since more gold, BTC, et cetera is produced every day.

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Speaker 1: It seems that the ideal solution would be to have

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Speaker 1: an algorithmic currency whose supply expands and contracts based on demand.

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Speaker 1: This would make it possible to preserve purchasing power while

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Speaker 1: simultaneously allowing for more currency expansion when it's required by

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Speaker 1: the economy. Unfortunately, the current currency issuers would never allow

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Speaker 1: such a currency to take hold. This includes the stable

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Speaker 1: coin issuers in cryptocurrency, and you can learn about how

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Speaker 1: one of them is slowly taking over the crypto industry

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Speaker 1: using the link in the description. Last week, US politicians

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Speaker 1: introduced a bill that would see government officials banned from

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Speaker 1: holding stocks, cryptocurrencies, and other assets due to all the

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Speaker 1: insider trading that's been occurring of late. This bill is

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Speaker 1: quite timely, given that we appear to be on the

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Speaker 1: brink of a global recession. It's also a bit hypocritical

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Speaker 1: because the politician who apparently tabled it is infamous for

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Speaker 1: insider trading allegedly. So today I'm going to give you

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Speaker 1: a bit of background about this bill, explain what it

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Speaker 1: says in simple terms, assess where the loopholes are, and

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Speaker 1: tell you what it could mean for the markets. If

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Speaker 1: it's past. It should really come as no surprise that

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Speaker 1: the people in power are taking advantage of inside information

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Speaker 1: to enrich themselves. This practice probably dates back to the

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Speaker 1: dawn of time, but it has become more endemic in

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Speaker 1: recent decades as financial markets have evolved. The issue of

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Speaker 1: insider trading has been especially acute in the United States.

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Speaker 1: This is partly because it's home to the world's largest

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Speaker 1: financial markets, and partly because the decisions made there have

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Speaker 1: a huge impact on both the domestic and international economies.

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Speaker 1: The scrutiny of insider trading by US politicians arguably began

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Speaker 1: back during the two thousand and eight financial crisis. As

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Speaker 1: you might have guessed, many politicians got word of what

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Speaker 1: was going on in the markets long before the average American,

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Speaker 1: and it's believed that many of them cashed out before

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Speaker 1: the crash. This eventually led to the passing of the

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Speaker 1: Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge or Stock Act in as always,

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Speaker 1: kudos to whoever came up with that acronym. The Stock

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Speaker 1: Act requires US politicians and other public servants to disclose

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Speaker 1: any trades or investments over one thousand dollars within thirty

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Speaker 1: days of the trade or investment. What's hilarious is that

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Speaker 1: the punishment for failing to report on significant trades or

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Speaker 1: investments is a mere two hundred dollar fine. It's not

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Speaker 1: exactly a deterrent, is it. An investigation by The Insider

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Speaker 1: newspaper found that information about these fines is not public,

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Speaker 1: so nobody knows how often these fines are being issued

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Speaker 1: and whether they're being paid. To my knowledge, not a

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Speaker 1: single US politician has been fined for violating the Stock

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Speaker 1: Act or arrested for making millions from insider trading in

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Speaker 1: recent decades. For reference, the maximum prison sentence for insider

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Speaker 1: trading in the United States is twenty years. That is

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Speaker 1: what you and I would get for doing the same. Now,

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Speaker 1: if you're wondering why there have been lots of headlines

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Speaker 1: about insider trading over the last couple of years, that

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Speaker 1: is because of the pandemic. Many US politicians sold everything

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Speaker 1: when they heard about what was coming, some of them

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Speaker 1: up to two months before the pandemic was officially declared.

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Speaker 1: This insider trading was so significant that there's even a

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Speaker 1: Wikipedia page about it. Dozens of US politicians sold before

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Speaker 1: the news broke, brought back their stocks when they got

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Speaker 1: word of the Fed's emergency measures, and loaded up on

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Speaker 1: pharmaceutical stocks when solutions entered the picture. While another investigation

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Speaker 1: by The Insider newspaper found that seventy two US politicians

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Speaker 1: have violated the Stock Act over the last few years,

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Speaker 1: it's not known how many are guilty of actual insider trading.

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Speaker 1: The poster girl, or rather post a grandmother, has been

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Speaker 1: Nancy Pelosi, but she is just the tip of the iceberg.

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Speaker 1: Many US politicians have net worths that are completely out

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Speaker 1: of proportion with their standard six figure incomes. Although some

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Speaker 1: of these U s politicians come from long lines of

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Speaker 1: wealth or own lucrative businesses. For most, there's only one

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Speaker 1: other explanation, insider trading or bribery, maybe a bit of both. Now,

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Speaker 1: it's not just US politicians either. If you watched our

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Speaker 1: video about the Federal Reserve scandal, you'll know that Fed

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Speaker 1: officials have been caught buying and selling stocks before and

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Speaker 1: after important monetary policy announcements. You know, I can't recall

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Speaker 1: there being any punishments there either. Now, in what was

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Speaker 1: likely an attempt to appease American voters who were understandably upset,

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Speaker 1: multiple US politicians tabled various bills that would ban public

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Speaker 1: officials from trading or holding assets of any kind. Naturally,

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Speaker 1: none of these bills made it past the first stage

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Speaker 1: of deliberation. The bill I'll be discussing today is not

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Speaker 1: all that different, as it was only introduced last week.

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Speaker 1: The only difference is that this bill was reportedly expected

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Speaker 1: to pass with bipartisan support. That was until the current

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Speaker 1: ority party decided to postpone voting on the bill until

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Speaker 1: after the mid term elections. Regardless, though I reckon this

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Speaker 1: bill is worth examining as it's likely to eventually pass

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Speaker 1: in some shape or form. As you'll see, it also

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Speaker 1: pertains to cryptocurrency. So the bill is titled Quote Combating

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Speaker 1: Financial Conflicts of Interest in Government Act, and I will

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Speaker 1: leave a link to the full text in the description

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Speaker 1: if you're interested. Now, the very beginning of the bill

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Speaker 1: specifies that its purpose is quote to restrict trading and

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Speaker 1: ownership of covered investments by senior government officials. This includes

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Speaker 1: not just senior US politicians, but federal judges, the Federal Reserve,

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Speaker 1: Board of Governors, and of course the President. Next, the

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Speaker 1: bill goes through a handful of amendments that should be

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Speaker 1: made to the Ethics in Government Act of This Act

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Speaker 1: was passed in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal that

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Speaker 1: engulfed former US President Richard Nixon, and it's where political

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Speaker 1: disclosures of investments and trades were first proposed. The amendments

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Speaker 1: in the current bill include stuff like clarifying language around

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Speaker 1: how trades and investments should be reported, and the definitions

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Speaker 1: of various assets such as securities and commodities. It is

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Speaker 1: mostly tedious legal ease, but a few things here caught

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Speaker 1: my eye. The first is that the bill clearly states

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Speaker 1: that any US politician who tries to invest in any

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Speaker 1: asset using a trust by a third party after the

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Speaker 1: bill is passed must divest, a k A sell the

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Speaker 1: asset no later than eighteen months after the bill has passed.

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Speaker 1: This is significant because investing through third parties is probably

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Speaker 1: how most US politicians currently get away with insider trading.

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Speaker 1: The beginning of this bill therefore suggests that this loophole

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Speaker 1: will be closed, but as you'll see, this isn't entirely clear.

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Speaker 1: The second thing that caught my eye was that the

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Speaker 1: bill notes cryptocurrency as one of the assets that cannot

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Speaker 1: be held or traded. Oddly enough, the bill also notes

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Speaker 1: that US politicians will still be allowed to invest in

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Speaker 1: popular e t f s like the S and P

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Speaker 1: five hundred, as well as various forms of government debt.

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Speaker 1: This ties into the third thing that caught my eye,

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Speaker 1: and that's the US politicians can still invest in other

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Speaker 1: assets via blind trusts. For those who don't know, blind

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Speaker 1: trusts give total control of a person's assets to a

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Speaker 1: third party who's supposed to be independent. Totally not a loophole.

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Speaker 1: The fourth thing I spotted is that the family members

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Speaker 1: of US government officials in question are also not allowed

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Speaker 1: to hold or trade the assets in question. This is

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Speaker 1: important because the spouses and children of many US politicians

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Speaker 1: have likewise gotten rich from insider trading. Speaking which, if

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Speaker 1: you're wondering who the richest people in crypto are and

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Speaker 1: how they got there, check out the link in the description. Now,

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Speaker 1: the bill goes on to detail exactly what US government

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Speaker 1: officials will have to do with their assets if and

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Speaker 1: when the bill becomes law. This is where things get

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Speaker 1: a bit confusing, because the author's note that US government

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Speaker 1: officials have sixty days to buy or trade forbidden assets

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Speaker 1: after the bill becomes law. However, the very next sentence

435
00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:35,480
Speaker 1: reads that quote, a covered person shall divest of any

436
00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:39,920
Speaker 1: covered investment within one d eight days of the effective date.

437
00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:43,240
Speaker 1: In other words, you can buy for sixty days after

438
00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:46,120
Speaker 1: the bill becomes law, but you have to sell everything

439
00:27:46,359 --> 00:27:50,040
Speaker 1: one eighty days after the bill becomes law. Mm hmm.

440
00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:55,680
Speaker 1: If that wasn't peculiar enough, US government officials don't necessarily

441
00:27:55,720 --> 00:27:58,960
Speaker 1: have to sell their assets after half a year. Instead,

442
00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:02,439
Speaker 1: they can give those assets away as a gift or

443
00:28:02,560 --> 00:28:07,680
Speaker 1: make a quote charitable donation. Alternatively, they can put everything

444
00:28:07,800 --> 00:28:12,360
Speaker 1: into a blind trust, which I'm sure will be very blind. Now,

445
00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:16,240
Speaker 1: what's promising is that the bill explicitly states that any

446
00:28:16,320 --> 00:28:20,480
Speaker 1: violation of these new laws will be publicly revealed within

447
00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:24,960
Speaker 1: thirty days of the violation. Recall that the information about

448
00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:29,920
Speaker 1: Stock Act violations and inside trading is not currently public available.

449
00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:33,800
Speaker 1: What's not so promising, however, is there is a long

450
00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:37,560
Speaker 1: list of exceptions to these rules. Some of these exceptions

451
00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:42,520
Speaker 1: makes sense, but others not so much. For example, quote

452
00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:47,680
Speaker 1: investments held in trusts or other complex financial arrangements can

453
00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:52,160
Speaker 1: be granted temporary exemptions from scrutiny. The authors do note

454
00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:55,280
Speaker 1: that these exemptions will be made public within thirty days

455
00:28:55,320 --> 00:28:58,920
Speaker 1: of their enactment, just like with violations of the bill's rules.

456
00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:02,640
Speaker 1: They also know that these exemptions can only last from

457
00:29:02,720 --> 00:29:07,160
Speaker 1: maximum of ninety days. Now, this does make me wonder

458
00:29:07,240 --> 00:29:09,719
Speaker 1: what this bill could mean for all the US government

459
00:29:09,720 --> 00:29:13,080
Speaker 1: officials who are staking eth. I know it's sounds silly,

460
00:29:13,120 --> 00:29:17,000
Speaker 1: but as more institutions start to offer eath steaking, it's

461
00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:19,560
Speaker 1: more than likely that a few officials will not be

462
00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:22,760
Speaker 1: able to sell their stake deeth. I suppose that's good

463
00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:25,960
Speaker 1: news depending on who you ask. If you're wondering when

464
00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:28,360
Speaker 1: it would be possible for people to sell their stake teeth.

465
00:29:28,560 --> 00:29:31,080
Speaker 1: You can refer to our recent Ethereum update using the

466
00:29:31,120 --> 00:29:35,760
Speaker 1: link in the description. I digress. Now regarding the specific

467
00:29:35,800 --> 00:29:38,720
Speaker 1: penalties for violating the rules set forth in the bill,

468
00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:42,240
Speaker 1: the author's note that a small fine of one thousand

469
00:29:42,240 --> 00:29:46,000
Speaker 1: dollars will apply to each violation at the discretion of

470
00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:50,520
Speaker 1: the Supervisory Committee. Now, obviously this amounts to a slap

471
00:29:50,520 --> 00:29:53,040
Speaker 1: on the wrist for the millions upon millions being made

472
00:29:53,080 --> 00:29:57,320
Speaker 1: from insider trading. This is probably why the bill includes

473
00:29:57,360 --> 00:30:00,480
Speaker 1: a provision which requires ten percent of the value of

474
00:30:00,560 --> 00:30:03,600
Speaker 1: the violating asset to be handed over to the government.

475
00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:07,800
Speaker 1: This ten applies to the value of the violating asset

476
00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:11,200
Speaker 1: at the beginning of the thirty day violation period, which

477
00:30:11,280 --> 00:30:15,240
Speaker 1: means it's probably still possible to come out with a profit.

478
00:30:16,320 --> 00:30:19,000
Speaker 1: As a cherry on top, the bill allows for the

479
00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:23,280
Speaker 1: Supervisory Committee to waive or reduce these penalties in the

480
00:30:23,320 --> 00:30:28,320
Speaker 1: event of quote extraordinary circumstances. For what it's worth, waiving

481
00:30:28,440 --> 00:30:32,480
Speaker 1: or reducing the penalty will be made public. The bill

482
00:30:32,560 --> 00:30:35,880
Speaker 1: also leaves the door open to civil penalties where appropriate,

483
00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:38,520
Speaker 1: which is not that big of a deal since civil

484
00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:42,840
Speaker 1: cases tend to result in fines, not jail time. Some

485
00:30:42,880 --> 00:30:45,680
Speaker 1: would say that jail time is exactly what many of

486
00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:49,760
Speaker 1: these politicians need, but let's not go there now. The

487
00:30:49,840 --> 00:30:53,400
Speaker 1: next part of the bill pertains to the quote Accountability

488
00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:58,400
Speaker 1: and public disclosure of enforcement measures. This section starts with

489
00:30:58,480 --> 00:31:01,920
Speaker 1: a blurb about how any court willfully violating the would

490
00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:04,520
Speaker 1: be laws in the bill will find themselves face to

491
00:31:04,560 --> 00:31:09,080
Speaker 1: face with the Attorney General. Scary. Now, what's interesting is

492
00:31:09,080 --> 00:31:12,400
Speaker 1: that any reports by the Attorney General and the Compliance

493
00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:15,880
Speaker 1: Office about violations will be submitted to Congress on an

494
00:31:15,920 --> 00:31:20,200
Speaker 1: annual basis. This is interesting because it means that any

495
00:31:20,320 --> 00:31:24,040
Speaker 1: violations will likely be disclosed to the public long after

496
00:31:24,360 --> 00:31:27,640
Speaker 1: they have occurred, i When they are no longer relevant.

497
00:31:28,640 --> 00:31:32,479
Speaker 1: After describing all the contents of public disclosures, the authors

498
00:31:32,520 --> 00:31:36,600
Speaker 1: pivot to more amendments to the aforementioned Ethics in Government Act.

499
00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:41,400
Speaker 1: These include adjusting the income reporting requirements for US government

500
00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:46,240
Speaker 1: officials in a way I honestly don't quite understand. Now.

501
00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:49,440
Speaker 1: The amendment that caught my eye was about the quote

502
00:31:49,600 --> 00:31:54,480
Speaker 1: disclosure of cryptocurrency and other digital assets. Here, the author's

503
00:31:54,520 --> 00:31:58,640
Speaker 1: amend the Ethics in Government Act to include cryptocurrencies as

504
00:31:58,680 --> 00:32:02,520
Speaker 1: part of its scope. This is pretty significant as it

505
00:32:02,760 --> 00:32:07,560
Speaker 1: further validates cryptocurrency as an asset class. What particularly eye

506
00:32:07,560 --> 00:32:10,720
Speaker 1: catching is a paragraph wherein the authors seem to imply

507
00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:16,200
Speaker 1: that cryptocurrencies are not securities in the traditional sense. This

508
00:32:16,320 --> 00:32:20,800
Speaker 1: is because they specifically reference quote other forms of securities

509
00:32:20,840 --> 00:32:26,080
Speaker 1: and cryptocurrency or other digital assets. Sounds like two separate

510
00:32:26,120 --> 00:32:29,840
Speaker 1: categories to me. Another interesting set of provisions can be

511
00:32:29,880 --> 00:32:33,720
Speaker 1: found a few paragraphs later. These relate to the oft

512
00:32:33,800 --> 00:32:37,000
Speaker 1: cited Ethics Committee, which will have the final say on

513
00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:40,520
Speaker 1: how the rules in the bill are applied. This is

514
00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:44,360
Speaker 1: significant in the context of cryptocurrency, as the Ethics Committee

515
00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:49,440
Speaker 1: will decide which digital assets are a boten What's somewhat

516
00:32:49,480 --> 00:32:53,160
Speaker 1: concerning is that this Ethics Committee will also have the

517
00:32:53,200 --> 00:32:57,000
Speaker 1: power to write new rules and regulations related to trading

518
00:32:57,080 --> 00:33:02,120
Speaker 1: and investment by US government officials. This reminds me of

519
00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:05,160
Speaker 1: the powers in the Dodd Frank Act, put together by

520
00:33:05,160 --> 00:33:08,520
Speaker 1: the current Vice Chair for Supervision at the FED. More

521
00:33:08,560 --> 00:33:12,080
Speaker 1: about that guy in the description. Now, the last two

522
00:33:12,120 --> 00:33:15,440
Speaker 1: pages of the bill are about quote new and strengthened

523
00:33:15,440 --> 00:33:20,200
Speaker 1: penalties for non compliance. What are these new and strengthened penalties,

524
00:33:20,200 --> 00:33:24,600
Speaker 1: you ask, Well, it involves increasing that two hundred dollar

525
00:33:24,640 --> 00:33:27,440
Speaker 1: slap on the wrist to a five hundred dollar slap

526
00:33:27,480 --> 00:33:30,880
Speaker 1: on the wrist. This is again confusing because earlier in

527
00:33:30,920 --> 00:33:33,240
Speaker 1: the bill it said that the punishment will increase to

528
00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:37,600
Speaker 1: a terrifying one thousand dollars slap on the wrist. Well,

529
00:33:37,640 --> 00:33:39,680
Speaker 1: at least the part about taking ten percent of the

530
00:33:39,680 --> 00:33:48,120
Speaker 1: trade or investment is still consistent. And last, but not least,

531
00:33:48,160 --> 00:33:51,360
Speaker 1: a public website will be created that will contain all

532
00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:54,800
Speaker 1: the information about violations of the provisions in the bill.

533
00:33:55,240 --> 00:33:58,600
Speaker 1: This includes information about the government officials who were granted

534
00:33:58,680 --> 00:34:03,320
Speaker 1: temporary exemptions for the rules and regulations. Funnily enough, you

535
00:34:03,360 --> 00:34:06,480
Speaker 1: can already kind of check this information in real time.

536
00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:11,000
Speaker 1: There are multiple websites that track the stock trades of politicians,

537
00:34:11,080 --> 00:34:14,200
Speaker 1: and even a few Twitter accounts tracking the trades of

538
00:34:14,320 --> 00:34:18,880
Speaker 1: repeat offenders. Too bad, these Twitter accounts keep getting banned

539
00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:22,560
Speaker 1: for no apparent reason. So this brings me to the

540
00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:25,359
Speaker 1: big question, and that's what this bill will mean for

541
00:34:25,400 --> 00:34:29,440
Speaker 1: the markets if it becomes law. I'll start by reiterating

542
00:34:29,480 --> 00:34:32,759
Speaker 1: that this bill is not guaranteed to pass, even with

543
00:34:32,920 --> 00:34:38,080
Speaker 1: bipartisan support. That's simply because government officials have benefited greatly

544
00:34:38,320 --> 00:34:41,279
Speaker 1: from their blatant insider trading. Who wants to put the

545
00:34:41,320 --> 00:34:45,239
Speaker 1: brakes on their own gravy trainer. As I mentioned in

546
00:34:45,280 --> 00:34:48,520
Speaker 1: the introduction, this fact makes the timing of this bill

547
00:34:48,680 --> 00:34:52,640
Speaker 1: quite suspicious. I mean, the only reason why politicians would

548
00:34:52,640 --> 00:34:55,800
Speaker 1: ban together to support a ban on investing and trading

549
00:34:56,160 --> 00:34:58,759
Speaker 1: is because they know there's no more money to be

550
00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:01,239
Speaker 1: made in the short to meet um term. It's a

551
00:35:01,280 --> 00:35:04,560
Speaker 1: red flag, similar to Elon Musk selling his Twitter stock

552
00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:07,920
Speaker 1: near the top, or all the other CEOs and billionaires

553
00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:11,600
Speaker 1: bailing on their companies shortly before the market started crashing.

554
00:35:12,560 --> 00:35:15,360
Speaker 1: In retrospect, we should have taken their actions as a

555
00:35:15,400 --> 00:35:19,080
Speaker 1: sign to do the same lessons for next time, I suppose.

556
00:35:19,800 --> 00:35:22,200
Speaker 1: As I mentioned earlier, though, it looks like this bill

557
00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:25,640
Speaker 1: won't be voted on anytime soon, and that suggests there

558
00:35:25,680 --> 00:35:28,960
Speaker 1: could still be a few more big bear market rallies

559
00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:34,200
Speaker 1: before the midterm elections. Some politicians are actually upset about

560
00:35:34,239 --> 00:35:37,440
Speaker 1: the vote being postponed, but who knows who's in their pockets.

561
00:35:38,440 --> 00:35:40,800
Speaker 1: Call me crazy, but I think this so called stock

562
00:35:40,800 --> 00:35:44,800
Speaker 1: trading ban is meant to not so subtly target cryptocurrency.

563
00:35:45,360 --> 00:35:48,720
Speaker 1: That's simply because US government officials will still be allowed

564
00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:52,319
Speaker 1: to invest in traditional assets like stocks and government debt,

565
00:35:52,400 --> 00:35:56,879
Speaker 1: albeit in a more limited manner. Cryptocurrencies, on the other hand,

566
00:35:56,960 --> 00:35:59,840
Speaker 1: will be severely restricted, and the wording of the bills

567
00:36:00,080 --> 00:36:03,320
Speaker 1: jests that even n f t s will not be allowed.

568
00:36:03,960 --> 00:36:07,000
Speaker 1: Then again, it appears that the Ethics Committee will have

569
00:36:07,120 --> 00:36:10,880
Speaker 1: the final say on which specific coins and tokens government

570
00:36:10,880 --> 00:36:14,479
Speaker 1: officials will be allowed to hold. If you're wondering why

571
00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:18,080
Speaker 1: cryptocurrencies are being singled out, it looks like it's because

572
00:36:18,120 --> 00:36:21,320
Speaker 1: the people in power know that if politicians hold crypto,

573
00:36:21,560 --> 00:36:25,280
Speaker 1: they will be more likely to pass pro crypto regulations.

574
00:36:25,880 --> 00:36:29,440
Speaker 1: This is why the US Office of Government Ethics banned

575
00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:33,680
Speaker 1: policymakers from holding crypto earlier this year. Now, believe it

576
00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:36,719
Speaker 1: or not, but the anti crypto provisions in this bill

577
00:36:36,800 --> 00:36:40,880
Speaker 1: could actually backfire if it becomes law. That's because it

578
00:36:40,960 --> 00:36:43,920
Speaker 1: could put pressure on the SEC to pass a spot

579
00:36:43,960 --> 00:36:47,680
Speaker 1: bitcoin e t f as. Then US government officials would

580
00:36:47,719 --> 00:36:50,560
Speaker 1: be allowed to invest, at least according to my admittedly

581
00:36:50,640 --> 00:36:54,839
Speaker 1: amateur understanding of the bill. One thing is for sure, though,

582
00:36:54,880 --> 00:36:57,799
Speaker 1: and that's that government officials won't be getting away with

583
00:36:57,880 --> 00:37:01,279
Speaker 1: insider trading for too much longer. People are starting to

584
00:37:01,320 --> 00:37:04,960
Speaker 1: wake up to what's happening, and the increasing tensions between

585
00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:09,160
Speaker 1: the halves and have nots means that such politicians will

586
00:37:09,280 --> 00:37:12,319
Speaker 1: be voted out. It just goes to show you that

587
00:37:12,400 --> 00:37:17,360
Speaker 1: transparency and accountability are key to running a robust society.

588
00:37:18,120 --> 00:37:21,719
Speaker 1: These are two things that crypto does really well, and

589
00:37:21,840 --> 00:37:25,000
Speaker 1: with a bit of luck, crypto based community government systems

590
00:37:25,200 --> 00:37:29,160
Speaker 1: will replace the governments and all their corrupt officials. More

591
00:37:29,200 --> 00:37:32,080
Speaker 1: about the power of crypto governance using the link in

592
00:37:32,120 --> 00:37:35,560
Speaker 1: the description. Thank you so much for listening to the

593
00:37:35,680 --> 00:37:39,320
Speaker 1: coin Bureau podcast. If you'd like to learn more about cryptocurrency,

594
00:37:39,600 --> 00:37:42,480
Speaker 1: you can visit our YouTube channel at YouTube dot com

595
00:37:42,520 --> 00:37:45,399
Speaker 1: forward slash coin Bureau. You can also go to coin

596
00:37:45,440 --> 00:37:48,759
Speaker 1: bureau dot com for loads more information about all things crypto.

597
00:37:48,840 --> 00:37:51,280
Speaker 1: You can follow me on Twitter at at coin bureau

598
00:37:51,400 --> 00:37:54,560
Speaker 1: or one word, and I'm also active on TikTok and

599
00:37:54,719 --> 00:38:02,080
Speaker 1: Instagram took co