Maxine Waters Sounds Alarm: Crypto Regulation Storm Clouds Gather in 2025

Brace for impact—Washington's crypto crackdown is coming.

### The Regulatory Hammer Hovers

Congresswoman Waters drops bombshell warning about pending legislation that could reshape the digital asset landscape. No specifics yet—just classic political theater keeping markets guessing.

### Decentralization vs. Bureaucracy

Behind closed doors, lobbyists and lawmakers battle over frameworks that could either legitimize crypto or strangle innovation. Spoiler: Wall Street banks will probably get preferential treatment—again.

### The Clock Is Ticking

With midterms approaching, this legislation might move faster than a Solana transaction. Whether that's good news depends on which side of the regulatory fence you're on.

Funny how 'protecting investors' always seems to align with protecting legacy financial institutions' profits...

Colleagues’ Potential Oversight in Crypto Legislation

In her piece titled “My Colleagues are Making a Big Mistake”, Waters emphasized that the crypto legislation could trigger a full-scale financial collapse. Highlighting Bloomberg’s calculations of the TRUMP family earning $620 million from crypto ventures, Waters noted her concerns about the President’s “unprecedented conflict of interest”. She asserts that the bills would weaken transparency, creating a diluted legitimacy within the crypto market.

Furthermore, Waters sought to convince voters that the bills transitioned from protective shields to masked threats. The GENIUS and Clarity bills, she argued, WOULD leave regulatory bodies under-resourced, limiting SEC’s proactive measures and enabling malicious actors due to weak enforcement.

Waters Targets GENIUS and CLARITY Laws

The GENIUS Act, which passed the Senate, imposes net capital and reporting requirements on stablecoins fully backed by the U.S. dollar or equivalent liquid assets. However, Waters claims that the law lacks sufficient budget allocation for oversight and enforcement, rendering protective measures merely theoretical.

Similarly, the Clarity Act seeks to clarify jurisdictional boundaries between the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in the crypto market, imposing conditions on companies to separate customer assets from corporate balance sheets. Waters pointed out that this regulation does not provide the SEC with the authority for early intervention, nor does it include provisions prioritizing individual investors.

Democrats argue that both bills serve as tools of legitimization due to Trump’s favorable stance towards the industry. Therefore, they continue to caution their party colleagues ahead of the final vote.