Rep. Tom Emmer sees crypto as a means of opening up opportunities

Minnesota Representative Tom Emmer wrote to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on August 23 to express his concerns about the sanctioning of the privacy protocol Tornado Cash, an open source self-executing software that no one controls.

Driving the news: Axios contacted the rep. Emmer, who sits on the House Committee on Financial Services and chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee, to discuss his continued interest in cryptocurrency.

Catch up quickly: Emmer previously drew the attention of crypto residents when last December he tweeted just two letters: “gm”.

• At the time, NFTers were just entering the national conversation, and enthusiasts were fond of tweeting the acronym for “good morning” as a way to show digital collectibles was an upbeat and friendly culture.

What he says: “Technology is neutral, and the expectation of privacy is normal,” Emmer wrote in his letterrelated to the Tornado Cash campaign.

In an interview with Axios, he calls the ability to act with privacy essential. And he claims that Tornado Cash is just a way for people to shop privately.

• “Cash is king when it comes to bad actors, but we don’t sanction the briefcase. We find out who carries it at one end and who receives it at the other end,” he says.
• “You can give up so much of your freedom and your privacy that you literally become a prisoner of those you expect to protect you. That’s not how this country was designed.”

Brass pins: Most politicians talk about reducing the risk of crypto, but Emmer talks about allowing risk.

• “It’s related to capital formation. For me, what’s going to make this country better than anywhere else is – I don’t need to know somebody to be somebody,” he says.
• “Are we going to create an environment where people are making their investments right here in the United States and they’re growing these opportunities here, or are we going to play ‘I’m-afraid-of-what-I-don’t-understand?’ game.”

Emmer samples to get his colleagues to see his view that this is about opportunity for Americans.

• “I don’t want to see another Sam Bankman-Fried move down to the Caymans or the Bahamas. I want him here,” he says. “I want him in this country.”

Partisan distinction: Emmer says he first became interested in crypto in 2015 or 2016 and spent a lot of time talking to his colleagues behind the scenes. At first, everyone was against it, he says.

• As others have noted, crypto has gradually started to seem like a Republican thing over the last couple of years. Emmer can’t really explain it.
• To be sure, a number of progressives and senior Democrats have embraced the crypto industry, but the issue has divided the left. Emmer’s directed his criticism at the party’s most vocal critic.
• “What in God’s name is going on with Elizabeth Warren?” he says.

• The Massachusetts senator has been particularly skeptical of bitcoin and cryptocurrency during the boom, focusing on concerns about consumer protection and environmental issues.
• “Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile assets that offer little, if any, protection to retail investors,” she recently wrote to fellow senators in an effort to draw support for regulatory changes that would sever Wall Street’s link to the crypto industry.

While Emmer has always understood Warren as an advocate for ordinary people, he claimed, “Her actions protect the existing banking structure and the big guys.”

Of the note: Emmer says that he does not want to make the case a victory for his party. “I feel like this can’t be partisan,” he says. “This is literally about looking at America and opportunities for Americans.”

What he watches: In the immediate term, Emmer would like to see a safe haven for crypto entrepreneurs and some breathing room around taxation and new crypto enterprises.

• Bigger picture, he wants updated definitions of cash, commodities and securities, written with a digital economy in mind. “And don’t use the Howey test, it’s great for lawyers, but you don’t have to create full employment for them,” he says.

Bottom line: Emmer supports protecting consumers and countering fraud, but in Emmer’s view, elected officials have from the start focused too much on bad actors in the space.

• “If you try to take all the risk out of these things, well, you’re going to take away a lot of the opportunity. And that’s not what made this country great.”
• “It can either happen here in this country or it will happen somewhere else,” he said.