Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote to lobbying groups Blockchain Association, Coin Center, and Coinbase, claiming that attempts to lobby the U.S. Congress to stop Hamas and other terror groups using cryptocurrency to finance themselves are an affront to lawmakers in what Politico called a “not-so secret weapon.”
Warren’s letter revealed that Coinbase had hired former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Bush administration counterterrorism advisor Frances Townsend, and retired Republican Sen.
Pat Toomey and the nominee for the U.S. seat at the OECD, Sean Patrick Maloney, who was previously a Democratic congressman in Congress along with Tim Ryan. They are members of the Global Advisory Council of Coinbase.
She also cited a recent letter from the Blockchain Association to Capitol Hill, which was signed by forty former national security specialists, intelligence officers, and military personnel.
In the statement, the former group downplayed illegal behavior in cryptocurrency and argued against laws that would force companies that deal in digital assets to relocate.
The cryptocurrency industry is spending millions to give itself a facade of legitimacy while fighting tooth and nail to stonewall common sense regulations intended to restrict the use of cryptocurrency for terror financing — rules that could reduce cryptocurrency company profits, she said.
“This abuse of the revolving door is appalling,” she said. “It also exposes serious weaknesses in the country’s ethics legislation.” Warren’s demands for an industry crackdown escalated, and business executives swiftly criticized them.
She led over 100 congressmen to request that the Biden administration step in following the October 7 attacks in Israel, and she has been cultivating bipartisan support for legislation that would put new anti-money laundering measures on the cryptocurrency market.
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