After Republicans took back the Senate with the help of money from the crypto industry. They now have a plan to return the favor. And I want you to listen to this part, because no one's really talking about this, but the the elements of the plot are just there in plain sight. [00:00:15] It's truly one of the most audacious schemes I've ever seen in Congress. Here's why. Crypto played a massive role in the previous presidential election. In fact, crypto money has been pouring into campaign coffers. And the big question has been why? What is the big game here? What kind of policies are they trying to get implemented? [00:00:33] Well, Chris Hayes broke down a crypto friendly bill that would use up to $100 billion in American taxpayer money on Bitcoin. Now it is fittingly called the Bitcoin Act of 2024, and it would create [00:00:50] a Federal Reserve of Bitcoin holdings. The bill was introduced by a Republican senator by the name of Cynthia Lummis. Let's watch her complain her own. Watch her explain her own bill in her own words. - We got a present. - For President Donald Trump. [00:01:09] Here it is. This is the Bitcoin reserve bill in the Senate of the United States. To establish a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve, [00:01:25] a network of secure storage vaults, purchase program and other programs to ensure the transparent management of Bitcoin holdings of the federal government. Over five years, the United States [00:01:43] will assemble 1 million Bitcoin 5% of the world's supply, and it will be held for a minimum of 20 years and can be used for one purpose reduce our debt. [00:02:04] How does spending $100 billion in taxpayer money toward bitcoin reduce our debt? Anyway, look, I mean, think about it. A strategic reserve of Bitcoin that the United States government would spend $100 billion on and keep for 20 years, [00:02:23] thus, inflating the value of Bitcoin. Interesting. Now, with that in mind, let's watch Chris Hayes explain why crypto interests are actually trying to pursue this policy. Let's watch rich folks who own a lot of crypto have a problem, right? Cryptocurrency. [00:02:38] Bitcoin in particular is a very valuable asset. Single Bitcoin worth over 100 grand. Some very, very wealthy people own hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin. David Sacks, for instance, has a lot of crypto. That said, it's not a liquid asset like cash that you can easily spend or invest [00:02:54] or use for practical purposes. It has no practical use really, outside of a few gimmicks, and it's very useful for criminal cartels. So if you're an investor, you're sitting on this speculative asset. You can't actually do anything with it, but it's worth a lot of money. What's more, if you try to sell it all off right, to get rid of it, the hordes [00:03:14] of Bitcoin on the exchanges that's going to flood the market and tank the price. So what's the solution? They're going to sell it to the U.S. Government. The plan is that the Bitcoin Act would have the government sell off some of its gold reserves, you know, the stuff from Fort Knox and use the money to buy [00:03:29] a billion Bitcoin at current market value. That would cost $100 billion. Now the actual price would likely be much higher because that market value would almost certainly rise. As a result, when a new buyer enters the market and boosts the price of the asset [00:03:47] the buyer is now legally obligated to buy. - What did I say? - Yeah, what did I say? So listen, this was one of the best segments Chris Hayes has done and tremendous credit to him. Nice job Chris. So, this is a robbery and we have to stop it. [00:04:04] So, and this here, there could be a huge difference between right wing leaders and right wing voters. And so we'll see how that plays out. But let me keep explaining why this is a disastrous idea. First of all, as Anna pointed out, their excuse for, oh, [00:04:20] this is going to help us pay down the debt is totally and utterly nonsensical. We have to take money out of all of our pockets. $100 billion worth to buy crypto for the government. And who are they going to buy it from? The people who currently hold lots of crypto, and you're going [00:04:37] to be shocked to find out. My guess. My guess is that the first people who cash out are donors to Donald Trump, okay? Because they're holding giant amounts, amounts of crypto. And as Chris explained, they're selling it is really problematic because once you [00:04:52] start selling it, it starts deflating. So the more you sell, the more it deflates in value. And so they've got to find a way to sell a significant amount of crypto. We're not talking about the average crypto holder, right. You guys are going to be left holding the bag anyway. [00:05:08] We're talking about the big guys here. So if on the other hand, the government comes and gives them this giant gift of I will buy $100 billion of your crypto. Number one, they're going to get the cash out in a way that they couldn't before and turn their fake money into real money. And then secondly, when the government says we're going to buy $100 billion [00:05:26] of crypto, you know what happens? The crypto price goes up. Now, again, if you're holding crypto, maybe you take advantage and then you dump it right at the same time if you can. Right. But if you don't dump it there, it's going to crash later because it was artificially inflated by the government buying $100 billion worth of crypto for no reason. [00:05:44] And and the bottom line of it, and the most important part, guys, is they're taking our money, taxpayer money and giving it to the crypto guys. Why do you think that the crypto guys were doing all of these ads and political spending, right. [00:05:59] Not only do they support Republicans, they also supported corporate Democrats in primaries against progressives. Remember, Nina Turner had a huge lead in Cleveland and it was taken down by two groups Democratic majority for Israel and AIPAC related, [00:06:18] PACs that were supporting Israel and the crypto bros, including Sam Bankman fried. Right. So no, no, I have no interest in you taking my money, taxpayer money and giving it to crypto bros because they were your donors. [00:06:33] No interest at all. That's a robbery. Yeah, I totally agree. So Hayes does deserve credit for reporting on this, reporting on the so-called Bitcoin act. He also went out of his way to act like Republicans are the only ones who are [00:06:49] involved in these types of schemes. And to your credit, Jake, you've been drawing attention to how corporate Democrats have been involved in it. So let's just watch this final video from Chris Hayes and then we'll talk about it. Since Trump's election, cryptocurrency holdings have gone through the roof with the anticipation they will face a far more friendly [00:07:05] regulatory environment under Trump. In fact, just yesterday, the value of bitcoin, a Bitcoin, a single one, hit $100,000 for the first time. Crypto interests were one of the biggest spenders in this election cycle. They dropped a ton of money for Trump and against crypto skeptical Democrats, [00:07:22] including in primaries or in this Senate election in Ohio, where they dropped $40 million to oust the crypto skeptic Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio. So for very understandable reasons, Democrats and Democratic regulators have worked hard to keep crypto, which has been supremely volatile, [00:07:39] blocked off from the rest of the financial system so that if it crashes, it doesn't bring the entire U.S. Economy down with it, requiring a bailout. So this is. The one area of his reporting that I disagree with a little bit, because the fact of the matter is, the crypto related corruption is very much a bipartisan effort. [00:07:56] So in total crypto related political action committees and other groups tied to the industry reeled in over $245 million, according to Federal Election Commission data. Crypto accounted for nearly half of all corporate dollars [00:08:11] that flowed into the election, according to nonprofit watchdog Public Citizen. Now, the bipartisan PAC Fair Shake won all but three races in the general election, spending big on Republicans and Democrats gunning for key seats. [00:08:28] Protect progress, a PAC affiliated with Fair Shake, gave more than $10 million apiece to Democratic candidates for the Senate in Arizona and Michigan both won nearly 300 Pro-crypto lawmakers will take seats in the House and Senate, [00:08:45] according to stand with crypto, giving the sector unprecedented influence over the legislative agenda. Now, Kamala Harris, by the way, and her surrogates suggested repeatedly on the campaign trail friendlier regulations with the industry than what we had [00:09:02] under the Biden administration. And so the pro-corporate messaging coming from Kamala should not be ignored. When asked about her crypto stance. Billionaire investor Mark Cuban, a high profile Harris surrogate and crypto advocate, told reporters that people in her campaign are very clear in conversations with him [00:09:21] that they are not fans of regulation through litigation. Echoing a crypto industry complaint about federal regulators. And in August, senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand spoke at a crypto for a crypto for Harris Town hall. [00:09:38] Why are we here today? Because we all support Vice President Kamala Harris to be our next president, and we all believe in the future of crypto, said the Senate majority leader, who also announced his goal to pass crypto legislation by the end of the year. [00:09:55] So, Chris, got to be honest, it's not just a Republican thing. There are definitely Democrats involved. Yeah. So look, I agree with both of you guys. So Chris is right that Sherrod Brown was a skeptic and they spent a lot of money against crypto skeptics. Chris did mention the primaries. [00:10:11] He didn't get into Nina Turner and the others Summerlee etc. All these folks had crypto money spent against them. But but you are right that the Democratic Party does not have clean hands as he seemed to frame it there. And 300 out of 535 people in Congress is obviously a majority [00:10:31] and obviously includes tons of Democrats. And Kamala Harris was saying, hey, don't worry, don't worry, I'll help you in your scam to as long as you're spending in my direction. And this is exactly what we complain about with the donor class, that no matter who's in charge, the donor class wins, right? Right. And so now they're in the donor class. [00:10:47] It's just last two things here. Chris also mentioned that it might require a bailout later. Yeah. And that's how the financial system works when the government gets involved and then they're holding the money. Then after it crashes, they go, well, now there's nothing we can do, [00:11:02] but there is something we could do right now which is not buy $100 billion of crypto for no goddamn reason. Okay, so and then later they'll come and cry and say, oh no, we need to be bailed out, and I need another $100 billion. And that also has to come from you. Well, are you and I crypto billionaires? No. We're having trouble paying the bills. ET cetera. [00:11:19] ET cetera. And on top of all the problems that the American people have now, you got to go buy crypto on behalf of super rich people. No. And if you wanted to pay down the debt, how much sense does it make to buy 100 at $100 billion in debt and then say, but don't worry, we might or might not use it [00:11:35] to pay down the debt 20 years from now. - They think. - We're stupid. Yeah, that's exactly what that proposal is from the Republicans in the Senate that unfortunately, some Democrats will sign on to it. They might as well call it. We think you're stupid, Bill. Thanks for watching The Young Turks really appreciate it. [00:11:52] Another way to show support is through YouTube memberships. You'll get to interact with us more. There's live chat emojis, badges. You've got emojis of me Anna John Jr. So those are super fun. But you also get playback of our exclusive member only shows [00:12:09] and specials right after they air. So all of that, all you got to do is click that join button right underneath the video. Thank you.