​US president opposes debt deal “friendly” to crypto traders

What’s new? US President Joe Biden said that he is interested in reaching an agreement with lawmakers that will avoid the government defaulting on its debt obligations but is not ready for a debt deal “friendly” to crypto traders. Speaking at a meeting of the Group of Seven (G7) in Japan, he stressed that such a deal will protect “wealthy tax cheats and crypto traders while putting food assistants at risk.”

BREAKING: President Joe Biden speaking on the final day of the G7 summit"I'm not going to agree to a deal that protects wealthy tax cheats and crypto traders while putting food assistants at risk."https://t.co/q2ATjj9RFh📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/PIf0O5tKXq — Sky News (@SkyNews) May 21, 2023

Biden and cryptocurrencies. In March, the president unveiled a budget plan that called for a 30% tax on electricity for miners and changes to the tax regime of cryptocurrency transactions that would bring $24 billion to the state budget. Fred Thiel, CEO of mining company Marathon Digital, criticized the president’s plan, saying it would force the industry to go offshore.

Later, Biden called for crypto asset tax rules, closing loopholes for “wealthy crypto investors,” which would bring $18 billion to the state budget.

For its part, the Biden administration said in a report to Congress that cryptocurrencies pose high risks to ordinary consumers and the US financial system as a whole.

Possible US default. Without a new budget deal, the US government could run out of cash by June 1. The risk that the government will not be able to meet its obligations has forced companies in the crypto sector to rethink how they hold their funds. For example, Circle, which issues the USDT stablecoin, adjusted reserves by replacing short-term bonds with Treasury bonds maturing after the beginning of June. The issuer of the largest centralized stablecoin on the market, Tether (USDT), withdrew 90% of deposits worth $4,8 billion from banks and intends to start investing in bitcoin regularly up to 15% of profits.

In addition, investors surveyed by Bloomberg put bitcoin in third place in the ranking of the best protective assets in case of default in the United States, the cryptocurrency was second only to gold and Treasury bonds. The British bank Standard Chartered believes that the default could come in July if Congress does not agree to raise the limit of public debt to a new level, and the rate of BTC in this case will rise by $20 000

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