You Hate to See It
Bureaucratic infighting over crypto plays out.
The SEC and the CFTC are scrabbling over who gets to regulate crypto. It could be a huge market. It could be a huge source of power.
This kind of regulatory infighting can only take place in a legislative vacuum.
“I think there are certainly questions around who has the appropriate authority. There are people between the two agencies who are willing to work together, in fact, at Consensus Commissioner Peirce and I will be speaking together. We have some similar views. But it is a struggle because, sometimes where debate has been leveled – whether it's an enforcement case or another action we have said falls under our fraud and manipulation enforcement authority – we're seeing the SEC start to ask questions as though it falls under their jurisdiction. And so there is certainly some tension there. It’s largely the lack of clarity that's really causing the tension.”
SEC’s Gensler criticizes crypto regulation bill ahead of vote
Regulator pushes back on his legislative masters for limiting his ability to do things.
‘“Gensler said that the bill could erode the Howey test, a cornerstone in determining investment contracts, and allow crypto firms to circumvent SEC regulation by self-certifying their products as “decentralized” digital commodities.
‘Additionally, the FIT21 Act’s exclusion of crypto trading platforms from the definition of an exchange is seen by Gensler as a move that could undermine investor protection.’
House passes bill outlining new framework for crypto regulation despite SEC pushback
The SEC’s approval of ETFs may have been an attempted concession to legislators to permit the regulatory drift that he favored, one that would see the SEC as the dominant regulator in the crypto space. The House sees it differently. Let’s see what the Senate does. One thing this legislation would do is to provide greater regulatory certainty.
‘FIT 21 would classify digital assets, like crypto, as commodities regulated by the CFTC if the blockchain on which they run is “functional and decentralized.”
‘If their blockchain is “functional but not decentralized,” they would be considered securities and fall under the purview of the SEC.’
Senate votes to cancel Biden gas furnaces regulation with help from Democrats
The legislative branch can govern the regulatory state when it wants to.
“The Senate approved a resolution that would roll back the Department of Energy’s energy efficiency standards for gas furnaces, setting the measure up for an expected veto from President Joe Biden.
“The disapproval resolution, introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), would overturn a finalized rule from the DOE that would mandate energy efficiency standards for residential gas furnaces, with the aim of saving consumers money and cutting greenhouse gas emissions.”
Spacex’s Starship Faces Bureaucratic Hurdles in America’s New Space Age
The pace of innovation on scaled-up projects is dependent on regulatory review. Perhaps this is why some of the best US innovation starts out small and builds incrementally, playing against time to get big before the administrative state can take notice?
“The environmental impact statement process, the most thorough review under NEPA, can take a long time and potentially delay SpaceX’s goal of having Florida launch sites ready by 2025. George Nield, an aerospace industry consultant and former head of the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation, states in the piece that “a couple of years would not be a surprise” for these environmental reviews.”
From Lego to McKinsey, bureaucratic managers hurt companies
The cost of regulation is higher than people appreciate, which explains in part why there is too much of it. One of the consequences of government over-prescription is the way it imposes complexity where there should be simplicity. It is an under-estimated drag on performance in the private sector.
“Regulation not only diverts companies’ focus from outside (serving customers and mastering technological change) to inside (monitoring internal processes). It also contributes to internal bureaucratisation.”
Executives Bemoan Stifling Bureaucracies, Exhausted Bosses
More from the CEO of Bayer who is proselytizing for de-cluttering the enterprise. He has no choice. His business faces myriad pressures. Bureaucracy is a luxury he can afford no more.
‘Inside many large organizations, a thicket of bureaucracy and internal processes weighs on white-collar workers, making it tough for them to achieve any real results, one executive says.
‘“You kill the ability for individuals and small teams to take initiative, to take ownership, to make things happen, and to own the results,” said Bill Anderson, chief executive of the German company Bayer, who has spent years thinking about the way people work. “It’s pretty devastating.”’
The death of the AI safety movement?
There are still many bills at the state level, but the sense in Washington may be that AI is too important strategically to kill the baby in the cradle. Open AI is not doing anyone any favors, though, when it does things like stealing an actor’s voice against her will.
‘The safety movement probably peaked in March 2023 with a petition for a six-month pause in AI development, signed by many luminaries, including specialists in the AI field. As I argued at the time, it was a bad idea, and got nowhere.’
The IRS Money Hole Gets Deeper
What’s the deal with government and large technology programs?
“Another money pit is Direct File, the new government-run platform for submitting returns. Democratic lawmakers have sought in-house tax filing for years to push private preparers out of business, and they funded an IRS study of the program. Yet the IRS went ahead and launched a pilot this year, spending about $114 million for a platform currently serving only 140,000 filers.”