Elizabeth Warren Wants to Shut Down All Crypto
Previously, she wanted to shut down the big banks
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon. Strange bedfellows. So to speak.
Less than two years ago, Warren called for breaking up all the big banks in the US. In the interest of protecting the consumer. Well, that went nowhere. Now, she’s on the side of the big banks, seeking to protect them, and the fiat currency system, from new technologies like cryptocurrencies.
And it’s not Senator Warren’s first foray into hypocrisy.
A long-time opponent of fossil fuels, Warren was filmed exiting a private jet, carrying just five passengers. She desparately tried to hide behind a staffer as the camera rolled, but to no avail. Oops.
Now Warren has joined forces with Dimon, the CEO of one of the largest banks in the world. Dimon is quoted as saying:
“If I was the government, I’d close it down,” Dimon said before the Senate Banking Committee. I’ve always been deeply opposed to crypto, bitcoin, et cetera,” the 67-year-old head of Wall Street’s largest bank said under questioning from Sen. Warren.
“The only true use-case for it is criminals, drug traffickers … money laundering, tax avoidance.”
Warren, similarly uninformed, agreed. Last Thursday, Senator Warren went live on CNBC claiming that North Korea is using Bitcoin and crypto to fund nearly half of its nuclear weapons program. Fact checkers found this to be untrue, but the senator probably aroused some interest with her statement. Here’s what the senator was not aware of, or chose not to highlight:
In 2020, the criminal share of all cryptocurrency activity amounted to just 0.34%. That’s right, less than 1% of all crypto activity amounted to criminal acts. Far less than with fiat cash. Perhaps cash activities, and electronic cash movement, should be “shut down.”
Warren has introduced a bill, aimed at mandating stricter reporting requirements by extending the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) responsibilities, including Know-Your-Customer (KYC) requirements, file reports on "transactions involving unhosted wallets," and more. All in attempt to close "loopholes and bring the digital asset ecosystem into greater compliance."
This should not be a big worry to cryptocurrency advocates. Warren has previously sponsored 330 bills in Congress.
Eleven has become law.
Jamie Dimon’s bank, JP Morgan Chase, has shown support for crypto and Bitcoin. It’s just the CEO who is not a fan. This, from a Bitcoin.com article:
JPMorgan Sees 'Significant Upside' to Bitcoin — Replaces Real Estate With Crypto as 'Preferred Alternative Asset'
It’s not clear if Dimon’s views are being voiced at staff meetings.
It’s also not clear if Dimon is aware that Bitcoin, being totally decentralized, can’t truly be “shut down.” No headquarters to raid, no CEO to arrest.
Interestingly, this shade is being thrown on Bitcoin just weeks ahead of the expected approval of several Bitcoin spot ETF’s by the SEC. The real heavy hitters of the investment world, firms such as BlackRock, Fidelty, ARK Investments, ValKyrie and others, have all applied for approval, and the SEC has been meeting with them on a regular basis. January 15th is scheduled as the due date for the SEC to approve, or not, many of these applications.
All signs point to a green light. Dimon’s firm may be left behind, as these ETF vehicles open the door to possibly trillions of dollars coming into the Bitcoin space. We will know in a few weeks if SEC Chair Gary Gensler is on board with the products that the giant legacy financial firms have proposed, and revised a few times.
If these products are approved, as expected, it should be interesting to see the rexctions of Senator Warren and CEO Dimon, once opponents, and now just very strange bedfellows.
Stay tuned.
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Issue No. 127, December 22, 2023
Rick Mulvey is a CPA, crypto consultant, and frequent contributor to Bitcoin Magazine. He writes about all things Bitcoin, and yells at the Yankees and Giants. He also runs marathons and makes wine, neither professionally.