Bitcoin
One high-profile bitcoin and crypto investor has suggested the recent banking crisis may have started with a state-level campaign against crypto-friendly banks.
Now, influential Democrat senator Elizabeth Warren has signaled she's "building an anti-crypto army" as part of her re-election campaign following a warning from crypto lobby group Coin Center that a crackdown on TikTok could pave the way for a bitcoin ban.
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Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has launched her re-election campaign, promising to build an ... [+]
"I’m in this fight to put our government on the side of working families," the former U.S. presidential hopeful posted to Twitter, embracing a quote from a recent Politico profile that said she's "building an anti-crypto army."
Warren, who is on the Senate Banking Committee that oversees the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has been at the vanguard of a slew of anti-bitcoin and crypto bills that have been introduced over the last year.
“Rogue nations, oligarchs, drug lords, and human traffickers are using digital assets to launder billions in stolen funds, evade sanctions, and finance terrorism," Warren said in December alongside the introduction of the Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act, adding the bill would "help close crypto money laundering loopholes."
The crypto industry has been on alert since the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) blacklisted crypto mixing tool Tornado Cash last summer, fearing it was the first of more enforcement actions to come.
This week, Coin Center warned a newly introduced bill known as the Restrict (restricting the emergence of security threats that risk information and communications technology) Act risks opening the door to a future bitcoin and crypto ban.
"Although the primary targets of this legislation are companies like TikTok, the language of the bill could potentially be used to block or disrupt cryptocurrency transactions and, in extreme cases, block Americans’ access to open-source tools or protocols like bitcoin," Coin Center wrote in a blog.
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The bitcoin price has crashed back from its late 2021 peak of almost $70,000 per bitcoin but has ... [+]
Anti-bitcoin and crypto sentiment has significantly increased following the latest price crash that wiped away around $2 trillion of value from the crypto market through 2022, plunging many crypto companies into chaos and culminating in the implosion of major exchange FTX in November.
"If ... authorities do intend to restrain that progress, they should declare that goal openly and pursue it through transparent democratic channels," Kevin Reynolds, Coindesk editor-in-chief, wrote in an op-ed. "I hope ... the Biden administration is not out to kill crypto. Assuming that’s the case, the White House needs to clearly demonstrate its positive intent."
