Democrats Explain Why Josh Riley’s Embrace Of Cryptocurrency Is A Calamity
Josh Riley of Ithaca embraced Donald Trump’s plans for deregulated cryptocurrency.
In this episode, listen to Democrats in Congress explain why that’s a Big Mistake.
This episode is dedicated to one of the two cryptocurrency bills that Congressman Josh Riley voted in favor of: H.R. 3633, the so called Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, which would be more aptly named as the Calamity Act.
Josh Riley voted along with all of the Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives, and he voted along with Donald Trump, who has enthusiastically supported this legislation and quickly signed it into law.
Think about why it is that Donald Trump is such a big supporter of this bill. It enables cryptocurrency businesses to run amok without adequate oversight.
Now, Congressman Josh Riley has sent out communications over the last week claiming that this bill is somehow deregulation and makes things tougher. That's absolutely not true.
By the end of last year, the Biden administration was moving toward tough cryptocurrency regulations. Those have been dismantled and been replaced by HE 3633, which is much, much weaker.
I don't want you to take my word for it, because, the truth is I have been a Josh Riley supporter for a long time. In 2022, I was a volunteer and a donor. In 2024, I was a volunteer, I was a donor. I voted for Josh Riley both times.
But you may think I'm just a guy with a podcast.
Okay. Forget about me and what I say. This episode, I want you to listen to Democratic members of Congress who have studied this legislation. I want you to listen to what they have to say about what Josh Riley has voted for.
Let's start out with Maxine Waters.
“I look how hard Republicans worked to strip health care from 17 million Americans, shutter rural hospitals, and take food assistance from 12 million people just to hand the richest way 1% of Americans a tax break they don't need.
No one should be surprised that the Republicans's next order of business is a billion dollar handout to the President himself. In just six months, President Trump has enriched himself and his family to the tune of $1.2 billion, and that's just the beginning.
President Trump used to call crypto a scam in 2021. Trump said, and I quote, ‘Bitcoin, it just seems like a scam. I don't like it because it's another currency competing against the dollar.’
Melania was actually first to get involved in the crypto ecosystem. In January 2022, she announced an auction of her fungible token, or NFT collection.
Trump then followed suit in December , 2022, launching his own NFT collection, ditching his concerns about crypto because he saw it as a way to pad his pockets. Now, during the campaign trail, Trump ramped up his crypto involvement. In September 2024, he and his family launched World Liberty Financial, a crypto trading platform.
Days before the inauguration, Trump launched his meme coin, which he later used to offer access to the White House to the highest bidder, foreign and domestic.
His family's crypto empire hasn't stopped there. World Liberty Financial launched a stableorn called USD1. Shortly after that, the Abu Dhabi backed investment firm MDX bought $2 billion worth of Trump's coin to make an investment in Binance. Trump's family has also launched a Bitcoin mining operation , and multiple crypto exchange traded funds, or ETFs.
All of this comes at the same time that the Trump administration has taken away the independence of the financial regulators, like the securities and Exchange Commission. He issued Executive Order 14255, which now requires all rules written by the financial regulators to be reviewed and approved by guess what: The White House Budget Office.
This means this bill would hand over to the President the ability to write write the rules he wants to advance his crypto operations. Not only that, but under the Trump administration, the SEC has said that memecoins, stablecoins, and Bitcoin mining all do not fall under their oversight.
Can you imagine that? Do these assets sound familiar? Oh, yes, they do, because these are all ventures that Trump and his family are pursuing now, with no oversight , no oversight, and no Wall Street cop on the beat. That is the SEC.
Surely, each of you can see how this is a blatant conflict of interest, right? Well, Democrats do.
It's why I introduced the Stop Trump In Crypto Act to ban the president, vice President, and all the members of Congress from crypto corruption. If we do not ban elected officials, including the president or vice president from the crypto corruption in HR 3633, each of us will be complicit.
Yet, even if we included language to stop the crypto con, this bill, which should be called the Calamity Act, is bad public policy. Plain and simple, the bill would lead to increase investor harm, plant the seeds for the next financial crisis, and endanger our national security.
Just last week, the former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission warned that this bill would allow to traditional companies like Apple or Google to evade securities laws. They could walk away from the disclosure, any fraud liability, and corporate governance protections that investors have relied on for 90 years. The bill blocks all state regulators from protecting seniors against fraud and crypto.
Additionally, the Calamity Act does not address illicit finances and other crimes commonly seen in the cryptospace. It does not provide nearly enough direction to agencies, which would be required to match the level of financial crimes and noncompliance seen in the industry. Nor does it provide sufficient funds for federal agencies to examine and enforce these laws.
For all of these reasons, I strongly, strongly oppose this bill.”
Maxine Waters knows what she's talking about. She is the ranking member of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee. She's saying that this bill provides no funds for any regulation of cryptocurrency to take place.
How is that regulation? It's not. It's deregulation of cryptocurrency.
Now, let's listen to another member of Congress, Nydia Velazquez.
“Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong position to this bill. It is ironic. We are debating a bill called the Clarity Act, when it offers no clarity on one of the biggest issues in crypto: The blatant conflicts of interest inside our own government.
Since returning to office, President Trump has turned the presidency into a crypto cash machine. It is now estimated that crypto makes up the majority of Donald Trump's net worth.
Foreign investors, some under federal investigation, are pouring millions into these ventures, buying access, influence, and favorable treatment.
So I ask, what are we doing here? With this bill, not only are we continuing to allow President Trump to issue his cryptocurrency, we are allowing him and his cronies to be in charge of the regulators overseeing that venture ands compromising the stability of capital markets.
I urge my colleagues to vote no.”
When U.S. Representative Nydia Velazquez talks about compromised capital markets, that sounds quite abstract.
Keep in mind that capital markets hold the investments that now form the majority of most Americans’ retirement funds. Middle class people have been working hard. The bills that Josh Riley voted for take a major step toward integrating cryptocurrency into those markets.
Cryptocurrencies are infamously unstable. So, when Congressman Josh Riley voted for H.R. 3633, he voted for an expansion of economic insecurity and volatility in the markets Americans depend upon to retire.
You cannot claim to stand up for the middle class, Congressman Riley, and at the same time compromise the ability of the working class to retire after a long life of work, undermining the investments that they've put together through so much labor over so many years, with so much compromise to the quality of their lives.
Let's hear what Democratic Congressman Bill Foster has to say about Josh Riley's decision to vote for this bill.
“I rise in opposition to the Clarity Act, which claims to bring digital assets under a regulatory umbrella, but fails in two major areas.
First, because it has no KYC, Know Your Customer requirements for self-hosted wallets, it allows anonymous trading on defi exchanges on the dark web, which means there is no way to prevent wash trading, front running, corruption, ransomware, extortion and kidnapping payoffs, and all the parade of horribles that unregulated crypto has unleashed upon the world.
This legislation simply applies a patina of regulation, while codifying loopholes that leave large parts of the industry, including the President's own meme coin schemes completely unregulated.
Secondly, the Clarity Act also lacks basic investor protection present in the securities laws. For example, firms are not required to serve the best interests of their investors, or to separate critical market functions, and many other basic protections.
Now, I am not ideologically opposed to crypto, and both of these flaws are fixable, but in Clarity, they have not been fixed, and so I opposed this bill and urge my colleagues to vote no.”
This bill that Josh Riley voted for, along with the Republicans, helping Donald Trump to pass into law, this bill takes the regulations that we had a year ago that could have applied to cryptocurrencies, and instead applies a lower standard that enables scammers who are exploiting ordinary working people across America, to get away with their abuse, operating anonymous accounts.
It's not just me saying that. It's U.S Representative Bill Foster saying that.
The voices that you’re hearing are all Democrats in Congress, opposing HR 3633. Why did Josh Riley stand with Donald Trump instead of with his fellow Democrats?
Let's listen to another Democratic member of Congress. Let's listen to Ayanna Pressley, a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts, and a Democrat.
“Mr. Speaker, I rise in vigorous opposition to the Clarity Act. This bill gives a green light to self-enriching crypto schemes where officials at the highest levels of power, including in the White House, have generated hundreds of billions of dollars in personal profit.
We need legislation that stops financial abuse, not encourages it, especially during time when the SEC has dropped enforcement actions against major crypto firms and undermined investor safety.
Across our country, millions of working families are battling rising costs. Our elders are targeted by financial scams, and investors are trying to recover from volatile markets, but Republicans are ignoring all of that to prioritize the crypto industry's wish list.
To be clear, the people deserve crypto legislation that is fair, transparent and accountable, not a bill that opens the floodgates to conflicts of interest and weakens investor protections.
The Clarity Act fails that test.
Republicans need some clarity, all right, moral and legislative.
I agree with Ranking Member Waters, this is really the Calamity Act.”
Ayanna Pressley is right. We do need moral clarity about this legislation.
HR 3633, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, which Josh Riley voted for, is a special giveaway to economic elites, the politically connected and the financially powerful. That’s immoral.
H.R. 3633 is not helping anybody in upstate New York's 19th congressional district.
Think about it. Do you know anybody who is getting by economically on the basis of cryptocurrency? No, of course you don’t, because cryptocurrency is a tool that people who are already wealthy use to launder money, to engage in schemes to exploit other people financially, and to engage in acts of political corruption, buying access to government power.
If you’re like most people, you don’t have rich and powerful friends. Perhaps Congressman Josh Riley does have rich and powerful friends.
Now, let's listen to what Brad Sherman, U.S. Representative from California, and another Democrat, has to say about this bill that Josh Riley voted for.
“This bill's an attack on working families, which is why the AFL-CIO says no, and they are scoring it.
This bill prohibits Congress members from sponsoring cryptocurrencies because of the obvious corruption and conflict of interest, but it allows the President to create electronic monopoly money.
And who's buying? Abu Dhabi is buying $2 billion of Trump’s stable coin, while the Chinese interests behind TikTok are buying $300 million worth of Trump coin.
And that's just what we know about. There's a lot we don't know about because cryptocurrency literally means hidden money.
It allows for bailouts under Section 133 of the Federal Reserve Act. J Powell won't do it, but the next guy will. Congress won't stop him because crypto spends more in super PACs than any under industry by far - five times more than the combination of Big Oil and Big Pharma.
It allows for the purchase of Bitcoin and Trump coin, and Trump has announced that he's going to do just that with our tax dollars going into his crypto.
And finally, this creates the perfect financial tool for drug dealers and for tax evaders.”
HR 3633, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, is bad for working people. It's great for financial elites and people who have political connections in Washington, D.C. It's terrible for the rest of us.
The AFL CIO, organized labor, says so. Are they wrong? Are all of these Democrats who oppose this bill wrong ?
Why did Josh Riley split off from these Democratic Party voices to go stand with Donald Trump?
Let's's listen to another Democratic member of Congress, to hear what they have to say about this legislation.
The next voice you’ll hear from is U.S. Representative Sean Casten, a Democrat.
“The only thing you need to know about the Clarity Act is that it is designed to destroy U.S. capital markets.
U.S capital markets are the envy of the world because investors like putting their money in them. They are the envy of the world because we provide robust investor protections when people put their money in them, and part of the Security Exchange Commission .
Yet, the Clarity Act would allow companies to raise up to $200 million without any disclosure, without any transparency, just by tokenizing their security. Let's be clear, putting a security on the blockchain doesn't make investors safe.
It might make money for the crypto industry. I know you all like that.
It might make it possible for the companies to temporarily raise more money from dumb investors because they don't get that protection, but if we stop protecting investors, why would investors put their money in the stock market? They will abandon the U.S to go to places with a better risk reward.
I understand we got a lot of fraud and grift in the White House. I understand you are a big fan of fraud and grift to the White House, but we don't need any more.
Let's protect Americans’ hard-earned savings. Let's protect markets and not just make crypto bros richer.
I urge a resounding hell no.”
I want to take a moment to explain what Democrat Sean Casten is talking about when he refers to the tokenization of securities. The tokenization of securities is the idea that, with the legislation written by cryptocurrency lobbyists, that Josh Riley helped the Republicans and Donald Trump put into law this week, you can have a stock which is highly regulated by the SEC that then can have a companion token. Investing in that token, instead of buying the original stock, becomes a way essentially to invest in that company and to invest in that stock without having any of the consumer investor protections that you get from the SEC.
So not only do these bills deregulate cryptocurrency, in effect they also deregulate the stock market. What are the dangers of that?
Think about the Great Depression, which took place after finance was deregulated. That’s what we are at risk of, thanks to Josh Riley’s vote for H.R. 3633.
We are at risk of everyday hardworking Americans being cheated by insiders and cryptocurrency scammers. Josh Riley is standing up for cryptocurrency con artists, not for you and me.
I hate to say this, because I voted for Josh Riley. I volunteered for him. I gave him my money for his campaign.
Now, Josh Riley is making me feel like a sucker, because after everything that the Democratic Party and the Democratic rank-and-file did to elect him, he is not standing with the Democrats.
Josh Riley is standing with Donald Trump, and with crypto bros.
Let's listen to another Democrat in Congress explain why Josh Riley's support for this bill, is so dangerous. The following voice is U.S. Representative Sydney Kamlager-Dove.
“I rise in opposition to the so called Clarity Act. Let me be clear. I support the growth of digital assets, blockchain innovation, and the promise crypto holds for expanding financial and economic justice, but this bill is not clarity. It is confusion cloaked in legislation.
It picks winners and losers, and the biggest winner is the President of the United States. Why is that office exempt from all the rules?
It undermines the SEC's ability to protect consumers and fast tracks deregulatory loopholes without addressing court issues like transparency, fraud prevention, or equity in access. The SEC doesn't even like this bill.
We need comprehensive, thoughtful regulation, not rushed frameworks driven by the people who will gain the most that ignore the voices of everyday investors, builders, and communities left behind. Crypto deserves rules that are smart, fair, and future facing.
The Clarity Act is none of these things, because if it was, Republicans would have had the votes much earlier. I urge my colleagues to vote no.”
Cryptocurrencies have been around for almost 20 years now. If they were truly innovative, financially or technologically, they would have taken off. They would have superseded conventional finance on their own merit. Instead, we see cycles of boom and bust in cryptocurrency markets.
Mostly cryptocurrencies are used to rip people off. Now, they're being used to bribe members of our government and to undermine democracy, to fuel the growth of fascism. A person can be in favor of cryptocurrency and still find problems with this legislation.
If cryptocurrency was really an effective financial tool, it should not need massive deregulation. Cryptocurrency should not need to have consumer protections taken away in order to thrive.
The next speaker is Stephen Lynch, U.S. Representative from Massachusetts, and again, this is a Democrat.
“I rise in strong opposition to HR 3633, the so called Clarity Act. I believe this misguided legislation will have devastating impacts on our financial stability, national security, and investor protections. While my Republican friends claim that this bill will regulate the crypto market structure, in reality, it eviscerates the longstanding history of investor protections that have made our markets the the envy of the world.
Most importantly, this bill, this push for crypto, will not end well for the U.S. taxpayer. This bill will lead to the next financial crisis, and the largest crypto donors who wrote this bill will walk away unharmed, because the worst aspect of this bill is that Republicans have repeatedly refused to include a single amendment preventing a federal taxpayer bailout of the crypto industry. That's what this bill does.
Additionally, this bill includes zero provisions to prevent the president, who has a $620 million conflict of interest, from continuing his ability to accept emoluments from foreign governments like Abu Dhabi, and I urge my colleagues to vote no and protect the American taxpayer.”
This shocks me. Under this bill that Congressman Josh Riley voted for, and helped the Republicans send to Donald Trump, who so enthusiastically, has signed it into law, we can have a U.S. Federal government bailout of cryptocurrencies. That means if cryptocurrencies are volatile, they go up and down, they can actually be bailed out by taxpayers, by people like you, hard working folks, the same people that Josh Riley keeps on telling us he's going to stand up for.
Josh Riley is asking those hardworking Americans, the middle class, the hard hardworking folks of New York's 19th congressional district to bail out cryptocurrency scammers. That can happen under this legislation.
There are so many reasons that this legislation is flawed. It's corrupt, it undermines our system. It almost seems designed to.
I'm not saying that U.S. Representative Josh Riley is trying to attack American democracy, but something is happening here. I have questions.
Is Josh Riley so much of a fool that he actually believes that all of these problems are just going to go away and not cause a financial crisis?
Let's listen to U.S. Representative Maxine Waters again to close out this episode.
“A vote for HR 3633 is a vote to give Trump the pen to write the rules that would put more money in his family's pockets.
A vote for HR 3633 is a vote for increased investor harm.
A vote for HR 3633 is a vote to plant the seeds for the next financial crisis, and a vote for HR 3633 is a vote to endanger our national security .
That is why I am voting no on HR 3633, the Calamity Act, and I urge all members: Don't give your vote to Trump to own crypto. Don't give your vote to the Vice President. They're the only two elected officials in this bill who can own crypto businesses.”
Do you know anybody who owns a cryptocurrency business? No, of course you don't. Cryptocurrency scamming is not the sort of thing that many people are involved in. Cryptocurrency is a platform for schemes run by a small minority of people.
Cryptocurrency is not a significant part of the economy of New York’s 19th district. So, standing up for cryptocurrency scammers is not standing up for New York's 19th congressional district.
When Joshua Riley voted against most Democrats, and with a two to one margin, Democrats voted against this bill, Riley went to stand with Donald Trump, who requested that this bill be passed.
Donald Trump has taken, so far, $1.2 billion of bribes in cryptocurrency. Why is Josh Riley is turning a blind eye to that?
Who is Josh Riley really serving in Congress?