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Corey Frayer

@csfrayer.bsky.social
2K followers 475 following 2.2K posts

First in line to dance on the crypto industry's grave. Director of Investor Protection - Consumer Federation of America. Former: Crypto Adviser to Gensler SEC. House and Senate Banking Committees.

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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Say what you want about Wall Street, Big Oil and Big Pharma but two of the most powerful lobbies on the Hill: auto dealers and community banks. There are a bunch in every district, their owners are wealthy, and they sponsor the little league teams.
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Appointing a *securities* lawyer to a vital national *security* role was probably the first mistake.
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Coingecko Chart showing spike in Donald Trump Memecoin Price
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Reposted by Corey Frayer
Zach Everson @zacheverson.com · 01/10/2026
🚨 Remember that fancy dinner Trump hosted at his golf club for top holders of his meme coin, and Justin Sun and a bunch of other foreign investors attended? Well, he's doing it again. @jeffstein.bsky.social for @washingtonsun.com
washingtonsun.com
Want Dinner With the President? Buy His Meme Coin.
The $Trump meme coin is offering buyers a new "exclusive" opportunity to meet the president.
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
How many CLARITY Act autopsies are we at? It's like a whole class of seventh grade biology students sharing one frog. www.coindesk.com/news-analysi...
coindesk.com
Crypto industry gave $8 million to Clarity Act lobbyists who didn't close the deal
In the first half of this year, the sector poured millions into lobbying, with most of it tied to pushing the U.S. market structure bill to a goal it never reached.
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
With the caveat that there are still *a lot* of truly excellent career staff policy experts working on the Hill, this is spot on. Also - the deference to lobbyists by staff isn't just lack of expertise or due to lavish trips or gifts, it's the lure of landing an extremely high-paying lobbying gig.
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Me, trying to fit in with the guys by talking about the 'big game between the Sixers and the Packers' last night.
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
A couple things: Anthropic isn't making a huge bet with their IPO, they're asking us to make a huge bet buying it. Securities lawyers - isn't leaking this info prior to filing a gun-jumping violation? www.reuters.com/business/fin...
reuters.com
EXCLUSIVE: Anthropic's IPO prospectus shows sweeping AI vision, surging costs
Anthropic is making a massive bet that AI will transform the global economy more profoundly than ​industrialization, electricity and the internet, according to its IPO prospectus seen by Reuters. But ...
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
A rogue superintelligent AI agent caused extinction via hackswarm in this newsletter New CFA EyeOnTech eyeontech.substack.com/p/a-rogue-su...
eyeontech.substack.com
A rogue superintelligent AI agent caused extinction via hackswarm in this newsletter
Plus, FTC Wants Surveillance Pricing Transparency (only) and more on the CLARITY Act’s failure
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
FWIW - Ben Delo's firm BitMex was prosecuted for violations of anti-money laundering laws meant to prevent sanctions evasion. Providing a platform to countries like Russia for evading sanctions and speculating on crypto are two very different ways of making money...
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Brian Armstrong: CLARITY failed because the big bank cartel stepping on your necks killed it Also Brian Armstrong: Citi Expands Digital-Assets Footprint With Coinbase Partnership www.wsj.com/finance/curr...
wsj.com
Exclusive | Citi Expands Digital-Assets Footprint With Coinbase Partnership
Coinbase, the largest U.S. crypto exchange, will provide the digital rails enabling the bank’s corporate clients to make payments with stablecoins.
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
It's like they're only competitive bidding for dad's unavailable love.
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
STOP ME BEFORE I KILL AGAIN!
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Consumers never touch the stablecoin - it's purely the backend settlement service. Your card swipes like normal but you're actually making a stablecoin transaction, totally unbeknownst to you. The transaction looks the same to the consumer but without any of the protections we've all come to expect.
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
"All credit and debit transactions will be *settled* in SoFi USD" (SoFi's stablecoin). The GENIUS Act did nothing but give giant payment incumbents an end-run around protections that used to exist on credit and debit tx. www.barrons.com/articles/sof...
barrons.com
SoFi Becomes First U.S. Bank to Settle Card Payments on Stablecoin
The program will process more than $25 billion in transactions annually, SoFi said.
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Looking like a cyclist struck and killed in DC's Logan Circle. Terrible sign of what's to come as Trump continues his attacks on our already inadequate cycling infrastructure. www.popville.com/2026/09/deve...
popville.com
Developing: Cyclist said to have been struck and killed in Logan Circle - PoPville
"Dear PoPville, Does anyone know what’s going on at Rhode Island and Logan Circle NW? Street is closed and there’s a ton of police." Another reader shares with me that a cyclist "Swerved in front of a...
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Probably because he has correctly identified that people already HATE crypto such that it might be a good motivator. Also I should note I don't have any inside information on the campaign or anything so these really are just my opinions.
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Not sure in exactly what form yet, but yes. Very preliminary. Extremely fair point. However, if the algorithm has concluded there's a colorable case it's in violation of the law and isn't doing anything about it, that's problematic in and of itself.
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Speaking broadly from my political experience and not to Sherrod specifically - political fundraising emails are not a representation of reality. They do have tons of money to throw around, absolutely no argument there. Makes me all the happier for when he crushes the election anyway.
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Yea I think that's the point I'm most worried about. Crypto has done a very good job *marketing* itself as having unseated him. And they've used that claim to convince other Dems to support bad policy for fear of a similar fate. So that's where my strong response to the claim is coming from.
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I hear that but for awareness, I worked for Sherrod for 5 years and I followed that election pretty closely.
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I can say that it's clear that Sherrod was never going to overcome an 11% headwind at the top of the ticket. Crypto's claim is like me saying "between me and Beyonce we've won more than 30 Grammys."
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
The ability to wash trade your prediction market bets on crypto assets that are regularly wash traded provides liquidity, or something. www.coindesk.com/markets/2026...
coindesk.com
Kalshi faces ‘fake crypto volume’ allegations as critic flags identical $5,500 trades
A trader alleged on X that Kalshi is inflating trading volumes in its ether perpetual futures.
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
When asked if it should stop giving investment advice if it thinks it might be in violation of the law.
ChatGPT Output

So I'd characterize the situation this way:

There is enough of a plausible Advisers Act issue that “just keep giving personalized investment recommendations and put a disclaimer on them” is not an adequate regulatory response.

The responsible alternatives would be to:

restrict the system to general financial education and factual securities information;
avoid individualized recommendations such as “you should buy X” or “sell Y”;
or establish a legally compliant advisory structure, including determining whether registration, an exemption, or an exclusion applies.

And importantly, a disclaimer doesn't cure an underlying registration violation if the statutory requirements for registration are otherwise met. The SEC's framework focuses on the substance of the activity.
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I finally understand how some people are getting into relationships with their chatbots. Swoon.
ChatGPT output

Advice? Potentially yes, depending on the output.
Compensation? There is a meaningful basis for saying yes.
Engaged in the business? Potentially, given the scale, recurring nature, and specificity of some interactions—but fact-intensive.
Exclusion/exemption? Needs separate analysis.
SEC registration required? Not established merely by the first three points; that's the remaining legal question.
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
chatGPT admitting its initial analysis of the compensation prong for the investment advisers act was wrong.
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I've avoided AI as long as possible but have to play around with it for some investor protection research. Three inputs got me to "I might be breaking the law." It is everything I expected and then some.
A chatGPT output stating there's a colorable case that it's in violation of the Investment Advisers Act.
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Sherrod - didn't even vote on the crypto bill, crypto announces $30 million against him. Susan Collins - voted against the bill, crypto announces nothing. Crypto is a right wing movement disguised as technology.
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Crypto is more a political movement than a financial one. Sherrod isn't in the Senate and didn't vote on the crypto bill but he's the target of crypto spending. Susan Collins is in the Senate and voted against the crypto bill and they aren't targeting her race. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/21/u...
nytimes.com
The Crypto Industry Targets Sherrod Brown of Ohio, a Top Democratic Senate Candidate
Angry after the defeat of a major crypto bill last week, the industry is planning to spend $30 million against Sherrod Brown in Ohio.
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Sherrod lost by 3.5% in 2024 while Trump led Harris by 11%. The idea that crypto cost him victory in 2024 is frankly delusional. He lost in in a red, Trumpy state and wildly overperformed over the top of the ticket. Crypto had nothing to do with it.
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
IYKYK
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
First, Sherrod's going to win this seat. Second, saying crypto cost him the election is delusional. Trump beat Harris by 11% in Ohio while Moreno only beat Sherrod by 3.5%. He lost a brutal election in a red state determined at the top of the ticket. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/21/u...
nytimes.com
The Crypto Industry Targets Sherrod Brown of Ohio, a Top Democratic Senate Candidate
Angry after the defeat of a major crypto bill last week, the industry is planning to spend $30 million against Sherrod Brown in Ohio.
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Called this over a month ago. www.wsj.com/articles/how...
wsj.com
How Crypto Blew Its Big Moment
Plus, fading voter enthusiasm worries Republicans, and Ed Sheeran apologizes to his fans.
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Back in my day, video games were 8-bit and Presidential corruption meant selling weapons to countries run by religious authoritarians to fund drug-smuggling militias on an entirely different continent. Simpler times.
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Reposted by Corey Frayer
Zach Everson @zacheverson.com · 17/09/2026
New: Trump called crypto "thin air." Last year, he reported $1.4 billion in income from it. Buyers of his crypto? They're an estimated $4.7 billion underwater. I made an 8-bit game out of it— 📈 Play as Trump: you cannot lose money. 📉 Play as an investor: you cannot win.
thinairrealmoney.com
‘THIN AIR,’ REAL MONEY — The Trump Crypto Game
An 8-bit game about real money. Play as Trump: you only make money. Play as an investor: you only lose. Every figure is drawn from Public Citizen's report and the sources it cites.
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
I spent months at SEC working with crypto to help them comply with the law. Both sides of Congress criticized us for not getting a deal with them It's rewarding to watch this bill fail as Congress learns what I already knew: crypto doesn't negotiate in good faith www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/...
coindesk.com
Crypto’s biggest Senate push falls flat as the Clarity Act fails to clear a crucial procedural vote
The years-long effort to set U.S. regulations for crypto markets couldn't muster enough support to make the leap over the Senate's final 60-vote hurdle.
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
NO OTHER COUNTRY IS RACING US FOR CRYPTO DOMINANCE. Banned in China. Allowed in Russia but only for evading Ukraine sanctions. Lagarde has been guiding EU away from it for years. What major economy are we competing with on crypto?
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Remember when Brian Armstrong threw a Twitter tantrum that killed the January markup, dragging things out for months and creating more problems every week? What an own-goal.
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Still a couple weeks left to try and negotiate but the sticking points seem immovable. The WH is not going to budge on ethics. Banks won't give on stablecoin yield. Fixing tribes and prediction markets costs defi industry support. Armstrong killed this with his January tantrum.
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Reposted by Corey Frayer
Molly White @molly.wiki · 15/09/2026
Clarity Act has just surpassed 41 NOs in the cloture vote; it will not advance to a full vote. The bill is essentially dead in the water under this Congress.
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Reposted by Corey Frayer
Jacob Silverman @jacobsilverman.com · 15/09/2026
GILDED RAGE: ELON MUSK AND THE RADICALIZATION OF SILICON VALLEY will be published in paperback, with a new afterword, next Tuesday. There are also cheap hardcovers on the 'zon. www.amazon.com/Gilded-Rage-...
amazon.com
Amazon.com: Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley: 9781399419987: Silverman, Jacob: Books
Amazon.com: Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley: 9781399419987: Silverman, Jacob: Books
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Reposted by Corey Frayer
Indivisible ❌👑 @indivisible.org · 15/09/2026
TODAY: The Senate is expected to take up a bill that would turbocharge Trump’s corruption. There is absolutely no good reason for any Democrat to support this legislation. Email your senators and demand that they vote NO on the CLARITY Act.
act.indivisible.org
Urge Your Senators to Oppose and Stop Trump's Crypto Corruption
Last year, the House passed the CLARITY Act (H.R. 3633), a bill disguised as “crypto regulation” that actually serves the billionaires and bad actors at the center of today’s crypto chaos. This bill d...
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Molly White @molly.wiki · 14/09/2026
Corey Frayer (@csfrayer.bsky.social), former SEC crypto adviser on how carefully definitions were drafted to miss Trump’s actual businesses: “whoever wrote it knows Trump’s crypto businesses inside and out. And then they made sure Trump’s crypto businesses would remain outside and not in.”
As for what’s prohibited: “covered individuals”, including the president,4 will be barred from issuing or sponsoring digital assets, or “maintain[ing] a significant financial interest” in cryptocurrency companies.5 While this sounds like it should apply Trump’s multitudinous crypto ventures, the definitions are carefully drafted — almost as if to intentionally exclude the president’s ventures. Corey Frayer, the Director of Investor Protection at the Consumer Federation of America and former crypto adviser at the SEC during the Biden administration, wrote: “The way this section is written makes it clear that whoever wrote it knows Trump’s crypto businesses inside and out. And then they made sure Trump’s crypto businesses would remain outside and not in.”6
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Molly brings the goods on the meaningless ethics add to the Senate's crypto bill. @molly.wiki This ethics proposal is a cruel joke, it makes Trump's interests in crypto explicitly legal, and anyone who votes for it should be impeached for corruption. www.citationneeded.news/clarity-act-...
citationneeded.news
The Senate must reject the Clarity Act’s ethics charade
The supposedly “unprecedented” ethics restrictions exempt Trump’s crypto businesses and leave enforcement to his loyalists
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
And if they tell you that they got new ethics provisions for Trump - they're lying. eyeontech.substack.com/p/clarity-ac...
eyeontech.substack.com
CLARITY Act Update - Ethics Schmethics
It’s Unethical to call this an Ethics Provision
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Reposted by Corey Frayer
Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Shame on any Democrat who votes for the abominable pro-crypto CLARITY Act. Call your senators and tell them to vote NO when it comes up for a crucial procedural vote tomorrow: (202) 224-3121.
robertreich.substack.com
NO to Crypto
ALL Senate Democrats should reject the so-called “Clarity Act” when it comes up for a vote tomorrow
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Zach Everson @zacheverson.com · 14/09/2026
"You could fly an illegally gifted Qatari jet through the loopholes in the definition of 'issue' or 'sponsor' but the more important point is the President doesn’t even need to."
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Trump wrote his own ethics rules for the Senate crypto bill. They don't do anything. eyeontech.substack.com/p/clarity-ac...
eyeontech.substack.com
CLARITY Act Update - Ethics Schmethics
It’s Unethical to call this an Ethics Provision
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Reposted by Corey Frayer
Indivisible ❌👑 @indivisible.org · 14/09/2026
The Senate could soon vote on a bill that would turbocharge Trump’s corruption. Since the GOP only needs to peel off a handful of Democrats to pass this crypto legislation, it’s extra important for the Senate to hear from us. Send an email and demand that your senators vote NO on the CLARITY Act.
act.indivisible.org
Urge Your Senators to Oppose and Stop Trump's Crypto Corruption
Last year, the House passed the CLARITY Act (H.R. 3633), a bill disguised as “crypto regulation” that actually serves the billionaires and bad actors at the center of today’s crypto chaos. This bill d...
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Corey Frayer @csfrayer.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Yes. Yes it is.
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