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Wall Street's Corruption of the Democrats Is Broader Than Crypto
The struggle for the soul of the Democratic Party needs to be understood as two different kinds of conflicts. One is wonky and principled. The other is opportunistic and corrupt.
Consider the corrupt part first. Crypto is only the latest and most extreme case of the financial industry using its money to neutralize the Democratic Party as a plausible champion of ordinary working people.
As David Dayen has explained better than anyone, the crypto industry showered so much political money on so many elected Democrats that the skids were greased for quick passage of a bill that would allow crypto into the regulated financial system, just like financial derivatives in the 2000s. But some community banking interests are fighting back, and there is a quixotic effort brewing in the Senate to attach a bill to increase competition in the payments space that the credit card industry hates.
For the moment, the bill is blocked, but this predatory industry will only become more powerful over time. Its political influence is pure corruption.
Crypto is only the latest iteration in the all-too-successful hostile takeover by the financial industry of Democratic politics. The deregulation of finance under Bill Clinton and Robert Rubin can be understood as an ideological expression of “neoliberalism,” but it is better understood as simple corruption.
Consider the corrupt part first. Crypto is only the latest and most extreme case of the financial industry using its money to neutralize the Democratic Party as a plausible champion of ordinary working people.
As David Dayen has explained better than anyone, the crypto industry showered so much political money on so many elected Democrats that the skids were greased for quick passage of a bill that would allow crypto into the regulated financial system, just like financial derivatives in the 2000s. But some community banking interests are fighting back, and there is a quixotic effort brewing in the Senate to attach a bill to increase competition in the payments space that the credit card industry hates.
For the moment, the bill is blocked, but this predatory industry will only become more powerful over time. Its political influence is pure corruption.
Crypto is only the latest iteration in the all-too-successful hostile takeover by the financial industry of Democratic politics. The deregulation of finance under Bill Clinton and Robert Rubin can be understood as an ideological expression of “neoliberalism,” but it is better understood as simple corruption.
https://prospect.org/power/2025-06-10-wall-streets-corruption-of-democrats-broader-than-crypto/