Crypto Responsible for Encouraging ‘Money Laundering’
Senator Elizabeth Warren is currently appealing to regulators as well as colleague Senators to initiate action against crypto. She has come to believe that a crackdown against crypto is necessary as it is sponsoring ‘money laundering’.
When cryptocurrencies were introduced, money laundering was the last thing that developers could think of.
However, criminals and the corrupt have the tendency to find negative aspects in everything and every industry. This is what the criminals have done as they have used cryptocurrencies for illicit purposes.
They have done nothing but use cryptocurrencies and blockchain networks for the purpose of hiding their traces.
Using the decentralization of crypto-blockchain technology, criminals are getting away with several illicit activities.
She is hence, trying to draw the attention of US Congress and regulators to immediately takedown crypto and stop it from encouraging money laundering.
Senator Warren was recently been interviewed on 25th January 2023 for ‘Morning Money’ of Politico.
In that interview, she told that ‘these days her entire focus is towards ensuring initiation of crackdown operation against the crypto industry.
She believes that cracking down on crypto operations is the first step towards legislating the digital asset industry.
Warren Eyeing At Reintroducing Her Crypto Bill
In December 2022, Senator Warren moved before the US Senate a bill called the “Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act”.
The very act of Senator Warren of moving the bill was heavily criticized as the majority of the crypto community regarded it as ‘controversial’.
The community opined that Senator Warren’s bill was a ‘vicious attack’ designed to take away freedoms enjoyed by crypto users.
On the other hand, Senator Warren had reassured me that she cannot be stopped from pursuing the bill at any cost.
She has been alleging that crypto is one of the top sources for activities such as ‘money laundering’. She then claimed that since such activities are quite difficult to identify in crypto, hence, fraud skips people’s attention easily.
Nothing New Added Into Already Defined ‘Anti-Money Laundering Rules’
She emphasized that the crypto world is located in the ‘darkest shadows’ whose unidentified impacts have the potential of harming national security.
Senator Warren also accused the crypto industry of sponsoring money laundering by alleging the activity to be legal.
She remarked that her Bill is not trying to introduce anything new to anti-money laundering whose rules had been there for a long.
She explained that some rules for anti-money laundering shall be implemented upon crypto as are applicable to any industry within traditional finance.
Her intention of applying the same set of rules is in line with the recommendation of the Securities & Exchange Commission of the US (SEC).
It is on record that Gary Gensler, Chairman of SEC, also had proposed adopting of traditional finance rules and implementing them in US’s crypto industry.
Warren Seeks Congress’s Involvement in Passing Appropriate Directions to Regulators
She continued stressing that the US is currently dealing with two major problems emanating from the local crypto industry.
The first she pointed out as ‘consumer fraud’ and said that this problem was ignored by regulators which eventually led to FTX’s collapse.
She then advised that to address this issue, Congress as well as the relevant regulators would need to work together. She insisted that with the joint efforts, strict enforcement action should be initiated forthwith.
Senator Warren explained that a number of required regulatory tools are easily available and accessible for addressing the issue. She insisted that regulators must ensure the utilization of such tools on an emergency basis.
As regards Congress, she suggested that Congress must make sure that appropriate directions are given to regulators.
Again her suggestion is in line with what Gensler had earlier suggested i.e. ‘SEC shall act as a cop of the beat’. What Gensler meant was that SEC would take all necessary actions without any delay against non-compliant crypto entities.
