Politico: The Crypto Scandal Is Missing a Secret Ingredient

To most people, the implosion of the cryptocurrency marketplace FTX seems like an emblematic 21st century imbroglio, replete with indecipherable technological and financial jargon. But to Washington good-government advocates watching the political fallout this month, it also points to something that feels distinctly retro: A bipartisan Beltway scandal.

Writ large, the Washington aspect involves the speed with which the crypto industry managed to insinuate itself at the nexus of money and power across the political spectrum just as the government was grappling with how to regulate this confounding new industry.

Writ small, it involves a March letter from eight members of Congress to Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler sharply criticizing the organization’s ongoing investigation of blockchain and cryptocurrency firms. The legislators, most of whom had gotten significant contributions from crypto players, essentially called on the feds to back off. …

“It’s cross ideological,” says Aaron Scherb, who keeps an eye on Congress for Common Cause, the good-government watchdog group. “All sorts of crypto players throw their money around, to progressive causes, conservative causes.”