With the government shutdown successfully averted, we thought it was high time that we check on the progress of the several crypto-related bills currently trudging through the muck of Congress.

There’s a bright, crypto future on the horizon, but we don’t have to wait for a sneak peek.

It’s time to get out our trusty thermometer and check on the health of our darling crypto bills.

How are the bills doing? Are they sick? Are they healthy? Or are they just faking sick to avoid that playground bully who keeps calling them an “anthropomorphized piece of paper?”

Espresso Shots

☕️ House Speaker Ousted

Kevin McCarthy has been removed as Speaker of the House. This is the first time an individual has been stripped of the post in the 234-year history of the governing body.

The vote of no confidence to remove McCarthy was decided in a 216-210 vote, with eight Republicans breaking rank to side with the Democrats.

A Republican, McCarthy alienated his party by relying too heavily on Democratic support to avoid the government shutdown, as well as McCarthy’s ongoing cooperation with President Biden to bring additional support to Ukraine.

McCarthy was pro-crypto, but Patrick McHenry, McCarthy’s replacement as pro tempore Speaker of the House, is even more crypto-friendly.

Honestly, the entire thing reminds me of when my dad was kicked out of the house, and Democrats and Republicans voted on who would get to date my mom.

☕️ The Mooch on SBF

Anthony Scaramucci, former White House Communications Director and founder of Skybridge Capital, is ready to talk about Sam Bankman-Fried.

Scaramucci claims that he acted as a mentor to SBF. FTX acquired 30% of Skybridge Capital in 2022. As part of the acquisition, Skybridge was required to invest $40 million in cryptocurrencies, $10 million of which were in FTX’s native token, FTT.

So, Scaramucci was burned by FTX just as badly as any victim, but he’s more upset about what SBF did to crypto’s reputation.

“If someone is committing fraud, they can commit fraud in any industry across the spectrum. And so, I just think it’s really sad that he’s giving the cryptocurrency world a bad moniker as a result of all this,” said Scaramucci in an interview with CNBC.

Which isn’t quite how you use “moniker,” but we digress.

Scaramucci had also remarked that he won’t serve as a witness in SBF’s trial and it’s going to be “very, very tough.”

But not as tough as Scaramucci. His mama says he’s the toughest boy in Long Island and he can do 150 pushups.

☕️ Investors Drop Terraform Lawsuit

The investors bringing a class-action lawsuit against Terraform Labs and founder Do-Kwon have decided not to proceed with the suit.

The investors filed a notice of voluntary dismissal with the California courts in late September and Terraform was quick to celebrate.

The defendants have not revealed their reasoning for abandoning the lawsuit, but a spokesperson for Terraform told Cointelegraph that the "briefing process exposed weaknesses in their cases" and the firm expects to see future "meritless legal claims fail".

It could be that like Do-Kwon himself, motivation for the lawsuit was just… really difficult to find.

📩 Polled Brew 👇

Spilling the Beans

How a Crypto Bill Becomes a Law ⚖️ 📕

Last Saturday, Congress passed a bipartisan bill to prevent what was supposed to be the next government shutdown.

They got it in just under the buzzer. Three hours, in fact, before the deadline.

And as you saw in our top espresso shot, the whole operation cost Speaker Kevin McCarthy his job.

But government shutdowns are strange, and occur with unnecessary regularity in the United States.

In other countries, when the government shuts down it’s because of a revolutionary coup or natural disaster.

Here in America, our government shuts down when Congress fails to enact twelve annual appropriation bills.

In short, the American government shuts down over budget disagreements.

And these government shutdowns aren’t catastrophic so much as annoying. They slow the already laborious process of getting bills ratified into law.

So, it was with a collective sigh of relief we witnessed this next government shutdown averted, since there are many items on Congress’s docket that we’re anxious to see resolved.

Namely, crypto regulation.

Foremost among those concerns is the regulatory outcome of the wave of Bitcoin ETF applications.

The SEC announced it would delay those decisions until after the government shutdown.

Now that the shutdown… isn’t happening. Should we expect a speedier verdict on the BlackRock, Bitwise, Galaxy, Invesco, and several other ETF applications that have spent months waiting in the wings?

Unfortunately, it’s not likely. The SEC had suggested that we would start getting decisions in late October, or early November, and sadly we don’t see a world where the regulatory body is going to use its extra allotted time to work faster.

The SEC has been a bulwark against American crypto innovation, and when these decisions do eventually arrive, we’re sure they won’t be without their caveats and rejections.

But outside of SEC approval, there are some larger crypto developments in the pipeline.

The Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT), the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, the Clarity for Payment Stablecoins Act, and the Keep Your Coins Act were all passed by the House Financial Services Committee in July.

Now that those bills have been passed by the committee, they may be taken to House floor vote in the current session of Congress.

And the voyage of these bills has been markedly shorted by skirting this government shutdown.

Though, according to Ron Hammond, the Blockchain Association’s Director of Government Relations, these bills may not be out of the woods yet.

Even with approval from the House Financial Services Committee, that committee is at odds with the Senate Banking Committee, which is prioritizing marijuana legislation and executive compensation over crypto.

There are no sure things in the halls of Congress, and even a strong backing isn’t a guarantee of a favorable outcome.

But we would like to think that the bipartisan bills, such as FIT and the Clarity for Stablecoins Act, stand a stronger chance than most.

And even if we’re disappointed with the results, the 2024 election cycle always shakes up the pachinko chips of Washington leadership. We may find that crypto is in a more favorable political position by the end of 2024.

But in the meantime, we’ll see you at the next possible government shutdown. Which could be as soon as November 17!

Crypto 101

Double Spend: As a fully digital currency, crypto runs the risk of being copied and spent over and over again. Bad actors might attempt to reclaim spent crypto and regain their buying power.

But the blockchain and consensus mechanism prevent double spending by broadcasting the first genuine transaction so that attempted double spends wouldn’t be accepted.

The Last Sip

The Last Sip: We can’t resist mentioning that Kevin McCarthy tweeted this.

As threats and rumors swirled in the days before his removal as Speaker, McCarthy took the tone of a veteran boxer. Naturally, we think gathering support for a vote of no confidence would always be more exciting if it were set to the background music of HBO’s “Succession.”

Stay Caffeinated,

Coffee & Crypto Team

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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.