Paradigm's Justin Slaughter on the Blue Wave and How Legislation Survives a Democratic Senate

CoinDesk's The Policy Protocol hosts Rebecca Rettig and Renato Mariotti open on the breaking news that Jensen Huang is stepping down as CEO of Nvidia, and what it says about national security, export controls, and the concentration of power in a handful of U.S. tech companies. From there: the CFTC's order telling exchanges they generally can't block customers by state, and Matt Huang's “swarm riders” post. Then the hosts are joined by Justin Slaughter, Senior Advisor at Paradigm, to make sense of the Democratic “blue wave” and what it means for crypto and tech. Slaughter walks through the durability of Trump-era crypto rules, why he's pessimistic about new commissioners, and why his real funding fear isn't budget cuts but a rolling government shutdown. The hosts name Stacey Cunningham as the Person of the Week. - This episode is brought to you by Grayscale, the world's largest digital asset-focused investment platform. Grayscale's mission is to make digital asset investing simple and open to every investor. Learn more at grayscale.com. - 00:00 Welcome to The Policy Protocol 00:33 Breaking: Jensen Huang Resigns as Nvidia CEO 01:54 Do We Need a National AI Regulator? 02:28 Senate Tea: An AI Committee for Sherrod Brown? 02:53 Hot Topic: Can the CFTC Stop Exchanges From Blocking States? 05:48 Hot Topic: Swarm Riders and ‘Accountability Arbitrage’ 08:44 Guest: Justin Slaughter of Paradigm 09:20 The Blue Wave: ‘Trump Giveth, Trump Taketh Away’ 11:11 Export Controls and Nvidia's Reckoning 12:04 How Durable Is Trump-Era Crypto Guidance? 13:03 Sue and Settle & the Congressional Review Act 14:32 Pared-Down Commissions and the Funding Question 15:39 Why We Won't Get New Commissioners 17:31 The Real Funding Fear: A Government Shutdown 18:38 Can Crypto Legislation Survive a Democratic Senate? 19:25 ‘85% of CLARITY Is Fine’ 20:38 Waters vs. Warren: ‘An Ocean of Difference’ 21:07 Why Crypto's Fate Comes Down to Age 22:32 ‘Progress Occurs One Funeral at a Time’ 23:28 Debrief: Crypto Goes Mainstream 24:09 Person of the Week: Stacey Cunningham - #digitalfinance #finance #bitcoin Subscribe to CoinDesk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/CoinDesk?sub_confirmation=1 CoinDesk is the leading digital media, events and information services company for the crypto asset and blockchain technology community. Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/coindesk LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/coindesk Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coindesk Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CoinDesk Newsletters: https://www.coindesk.com/newsletters CoinDesk Podcast Network: https://open.spotify.com/show/2jyIhkvAQhed8AWDZiPpSP Public Keys: https://open.spotify.com/show/1rqYzRV10nfKfoTpFXZhTE Markets Daily Crypto Roundup: https://open.spotify.com/show/7sDXM8BlxsUqzL2IqmLqwE The Policy Protocol: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Fh8ffulAWcCqMu0uVuwoj