The Trump Admin Wants Western Union and MoneyGram To Report on Immigrants
An obscure bureau of the U.S. Treasury is using USA PATRIOT Act powers to sniff out under-the-table employment.
Financial Regulation
Treasury Department Surveillance at the Southern Border Faces Fourth Amendment Challenges
A new FinCEN rule forced small money services businesses to collect personal data on nearly every customer transaction. Lawsuits claim this violates the Fourth Amendment.
Could New York Go Bankrupt Again?
Financial historian and attorney Richard E. Farley explains how political games, union power, and creative accounting tanked New York City in 1975—and why it could happen again.
Streaming Music Isn't a Free Market. It's a Regulated Monopoly.
Rock legend David Lowery draws on his decades in the music industry to explain how government-imposed licensing fees and price controls helped streaming platforms flourish while eroding artist rights and income.
Trump's FTC Chair Is Continuing To Push Lina Khan's Antitrust Ideology
The Federal Trade Commission was established to protect consumers. Under Biden and Trump, its focus has shifted.
Judge Halts Federal Scrutiny of $200 Transactions
The temporary restraining order allows time to challenge burdensome reporting requirement.
Sleepwalking Into a Cashless Society
Central bank digital currencies would destroy any chance for financial privacy, but society is willingly moving in that direction.
Taking $200 Out of an ATM Should Not Trigger Federal Financial Surveillance
No, not even if you do it in a county that borders Mexico.
How To Recover From Debanking
Thousands of people have lost their bank accounts over "suspicious" activity. Here's what to do if it happens to you.
Regulations' Enormous Costs Give DOGE an Enormous Opportunity
By one account, regulations cost American households over $15,000 per year. Here's hoping DOGE can help.
Capping Overdraft Fees Will Hurt Some of the People It Is Supposed To Help
An apt ending to Joe Biden's war on junk fees, which only made sense if you refused to acknowledge trade-offs and believed federal regulators are all-knowing.
Intrusive Small Business Reporting Law Slapped With Nationwide Injunction
A judge says the federal law has no constitutional basis and threatens First and Fourth Amendment rights.
Abolish the Securities and Exchange Commission
Despite its enormous budget and vast regulatory powers, the agency has failed to detect major frauds while wasting time and money on relatively useless disclosures.
DC Circuit Finds Some FINRA Authority Violates Private Nondelegation Doctrine
The private nondelegation doctrine is getting an increasing amount of attention from the courts.
The Illusion of Financial Privacy
Decades of legislation have chipped away at the financial privacy Americans believe they still have.
Feds Enforcing Unconstitutional Reporting Law Against Most Businesses
Are you in compliance with the Corporate Transparency Act? Have you even heard of it?
The SEC Conscripts Corporate America in Its New Climate Change Fight
The new reporting rules will force companies to disclose whether they are prioritizing climate change concerns.
Goodbye, Navalny
Plus: A listener asks if the editors have criteria for what constitutes a good law.
Prosecutor Fani Willis Touts the Value of Cash, but What About the Rest of Us?
Unfortunately, Willis’s Fulton County includes assets seized from non-prosecutors in its budget.
This NRA Supreme Court Case Has Big Implications for Porn
The ACLU will represent the gun rights group in a case with widespread relevance for free speech.
How Vexatious Government Demands Can Lead Your Bank To Refuse To Do Business with You
The government treats its endless appetite for information about citizens as more important than people's ability to conduct business in a normal fashion.
The Federal Government Is Trying To Shut Down Decentralized Finance
The Commodities Futures Trading Commission announces charges and settlements with three companies that may mean very bad news for all DeFi operations doing business with U.S. citizens.
Did Banks Hand Private Financial Data to the FBI Without Legal Process?
Banks routinely snitch on customers and even deny services to people politicians don’t like.
Caitlin Long on Why Politics Should Stay Out of Banking
The founder of Custodia Bank discusses the future of bitcoin and banking.
Congressman Talks Smack About Bitcoin Creator 'Saratoshi Nagamoto'
If you're getting Satoshi's name wrong, you might not know what you're talking about.
Get Your Culture War Out of Our Pension Funds
Plus: Should libertarians consider employing noble lies when pitching themselves to new potential voters?
Ron DeSantis Bullies Bud Light Like Elizabeth Warren Bullies Amazon
DeSantis talks a lot about freedom but increasingly only applies it to those who agree with him.
New Crypto Bill Aims To Circumvent SEC's Regulation-by-Enforcement Strategy
Plus: Steep drop in confidence in higher education, what The Bear can teach us about dynamism and bureaucracy, and more...
Europe's Bitcoin-Busting Mistake
The E.U.'s new virtual currency regulations will endanger privacy and trigger an exodus of tech talent from Europe, hobbling its role in the future of finance.
Bitcoin's Greatest Test
The FTX meltdown, "Operation Chokepoint 2.0," and a "crypto winter" have only strengthened the resolve of the enthusiasts Reason spoke with at the annual National Bitcoin Conference in Miami.
Gary Gensler's SEC Cracks Down on Coinbase and Binance
The SEC is suing Coinbase, alleging that it's an unregistered securities broker, after targeting Binance the day before.
Regulators Seize First Republic Bank and Sell It to JPMorgan Chase
Plus: Twitter complies with a greater portion of government censorship requests, a judge allows an antitrust suit against Google to go forward, and more...
This SEC Rule Makes It Harder To Invest—Unless You're Already Rich
Stop limiting entrepreneurs’ ability to get funding from those they know best.
SEC Sues Crypto Exchange Bittrex Shortly After It Announces It's Leaving U.S. Markets
The SEC seems to believe that all crypto exchanges are unregistered security dealers and inherently breaking the law.
Unlock the Cannabis Industry for Financial Institutions
Financial institutions have been locked out of the cannabis industry because of a surveillance regime that appears to have done little to stop real criminals.
Apocalypse Tomorrow: Trump's Looming Indictment
Plus: the terrible case for pausing A.I. innovation
Federal Courts Clash Over Financial Watchdog's Constitutionality
The CFPB funding scheme is constitutional, the 2nd Circuit says.
SEC to Coinbase: Nice Crypto Exchange You Got There, It'd Be a Shame if Something Happened to It
Coinbase says the agency's assault will "only drive innovation, jobs, and the entire industry overseas."
Biden's First Veto Protects and Promotes ESG
What at first appears to be deregulation is actually economic activism in disguise.
Of Course, the Trump Indictment Is Political
Plus: A listener asks the editors if the nation is indeed unraveling or if she is just one of "The Olds" now.
New Regulations Won't Stop the Next Bank Collapse
Plus: Another campus free speech debacle, foreign cheese groups lose Gruyere trademark case, and more...
Federal Judge Blasts SEC for Poorly Argued Attempts To Claim Cryptocurrencies Must Be Regulated by Them
SEC agents cannot explain to a federal judge what its policies and attitudes regarding virtual currencies are—or how they are going to impact the industry.
Blame the Government for the New Banking Crisis? Live With Lyn Alden, Arnold Kling and Zach Weissmueller
Join Reason on YouTube and Facebook Thursday at 1 p.m. Eastern for a discussion of the Silicon Valley Bank meltdown and bailout of depositors with economist Arnold Kling.
Bailouts Should Not Be the Norm
During the pandemic, the U.S. mortgage market avoided collapse without any bailouts. Here's how.
Yes, There Are Libertarians During Bank Runs
Plus: The editors recommend the best books for sparking interest in free market principles.
How the Fed Broke Silicon Valley Bank
The Fed's anti-inflation measures had to hurt someone.
Everyone Is Learning the Wrong Lessons From the Silicon Valley Bank Collapse
Plus: Fox News troubles, junk statistics about illicit economies, and more...
