WSJ Ed. Board Decries Senate’s ‘Sloppy’ Crypto Crackdown: Legislating at the ‘Last Minute on Issues They Don’t Understand’

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The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board took umbrage with the Senate on Tuesday, saying it was “sloppy” to pass a strangely-worded provision about cryptocurrency in an infrastructure bill.

The Journal noted the Senate’s infrastructure legislation passed on Tuesday defined as a broker “any person who (for consideration) is responsible for regularly providing any service effectuating transfers of digital assets on behalf of another person.” The definition technically includes software and hardware developers who do not have the ability to track their users, meaning the legislation would end large parts of the cryptocurrency industry in the United States if federal regulators decided to enforce it.

Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden (OR) and Republican Sens. Cynthia Lummis (WY) and Pat Toomey (PA) proposed an amendment to fix the provision. The Senate was prepared to adopt by unanimous consent. But Alabama Republican Sen. Richard Shelby (AL) objected to it out of spite after the Senate rejected his request for another $50 billion in military spending, which resulted in the Senate passing the faulty law in its final infrastructure plan.

Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) suggested regulators would understand the intent of the provision through floor speeches made by members of the Senate, but the Journal argued that was not good enough.

“Portman brushed off the defeat by noting that Senate floor speeches showed lawmakers’ intent,” the WSJ’s editorial board wrote. “But what matters is what the law says, not what some senators say they think it should say. Treasury would no doubt prefer to retain maximum regulatory discretion, even if it creates substantial uncertainty for the industry and slows financial innovation.

“The provision has a chance of getting fixed in the House,” the authors added. “But something so complex never should have been stuffed into unrelated legislation merely to grab revenue. When Congress moves fast, it breaks things.”