🧵 Legal thread of the week: They fired every regulator who said no 👇
[1/7] A senior #CFTC official sent staff a pre-written memo recommending approval of a firm's application.
Standard practice: staff write recommendations for commissioners.
She wrote her own.
She is now general counsel of that same firm.
[2/7] Three firms sat at the center of the NYT investigation.
#Polymarket, invested in by a firm partly owned by Donald Trump Jr., who also advises it.
Cryptocom, exclusive partner of Trump Media & Technology Group.
Gemini Titan, founders back American Bitcoin, co-founded by Eric Trump.
Each needed CFTC sign-off. Each got it. Staff who objected were placed on leave.
[3/7] The enforcement numbers tell the rest.
Biden CFTC: 80+ cases involving digital asset firms.
Trump's second term so far: 2.
Both against individual operators.
Zero against prediction-market platforms. Zero against the firms whose applications were fast-tracked.
[4/7] The revolving door, documented:
Caroline Pham, then-acting Chair, pushed approvals through over staff objections. Now at MoonPay, which holds an exclusive partnership with Polymarket.
Brigitte Weyls, senior counsel, wrote Gemini Titan's approval memo herself. Now its general counsel.
This isn't a scandal. It's a business model.
[5/7] Congress is now moving the #CLARITY Act, a bill that would hand the CFTC sweeping new authority over spot commodity markets.
Senate Banking Committee advanced it 15-9 earlier this month.
Expanding jurisdiction to an agency this structurally exposed is not oversight reform.
It's a larger attack surface for the next political cycle.
[6/7] The real lesson isn't about Trump.
When regulators control market access, political incentives will always, eventually, control regulators.
Permission systems don't fail because of bad actors. They fail because the incentive to capture them is always greater than the incentive to defend them.
Bitcoin doesn't petition the CFTC to settle a transaction. That's not a coincidence.
[7/7] The CLARITY Act passed the House. The Senate is moving.
If it passes with the CFTC in its current state, the question isn't whether the agency gets captured again.
It's which administration does the capturing, and which industries brought the checkbook.
🏛️ In today’s world, knowing #Bitcoin law isn’t optional, it’s essential for staying free and safe.
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