Tag Archives: Crypto

Cryptocurrency

Why Crypto is not the Solution to Financial Inclusion

Americans for Financial Reform and the Take on Wall Street campaign gathered several experts on July 1 to lay out the multiple ugly truths about crypto and addressed a few reasons why we should not take the promises made by its most enthusiastic advocates at face value, and why regulators need to use the authority they already have to oversee this market.

News Release: Public interest groups call on Congress to scrutinize Google’s foray into cryptocurrency

Today, in a letter to Congress, 17 national advocacy organizations representing consumers, investors, and digital rights concerns called on the House Financial Services Committee to hold a hearing scrutinizing the steps tech giant Google (Alphabet) is taking to enter the cryptocurrency and digital assets markets, and how such moves might negatively impact privacy rights, consumer protections and safeguards against economic concentration. The call echoes concerns raised previously by advocates regarding Facebook’s designs on the financial services sector with the introduction of its now scuttled stablecoin, Libra (renamed Diem). 

the us capitol

Letters to Congress: Letter to Congress Regarding Google’s Entrance into Digital Asset Markets

We, the undersigned organizations, write to you as advocates of transparency in digital asset markets. The cryptocurrency market boom has led to large corporations investing in the field, including Facebook (now Meta), whose problematic “Libra” cryptocurrency proposal was scrutinized in a 2019 hearing held by the Committee, at your direction. Facebook has since abandoned the project in light of the concerns raised at this hearing and due to push back from policymakers, public interest organizations, and financial regulators. 

the outside exterior of the U.S. Treasury Department building

News Release: Statement in Response to Biden Administration Executive Order on Digital Assets

“The administration’s order includes the recognition that the rapid growth of digital assets as instruments for financial speculation is creating a wide range of serious risks and harms for consumers, investors, and the public at large.  It is important that the order recognizes and articulates a set of these risks, and a whole of government approach can help address the scale and scope of the potential harm. It will be important for the studies authorized by the order to generate useful data and momentum for decisive regulatory action,” said Mark Hays, senior policy analyst with AFR and Demand Progress.

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Letters to Congress: Statement to House Financial Services Committee on Facebook Libra Proposal

The AFR Education Fund sent a statement for the record to the House Financial Services Committee concerning Facebook’s proposal for the Libra digital token and payment system. The statement describes ways in which Facebook is attempting to create an unregulated financial product of potentially global scale and the dangers this would pose to the users of the token and the broader financial system.