US Lawmaker Wants to Ban Crypto But Believes Congress Will Not Act
U.S.
Representative Brad Sherman said Congress has not banned crypto because
"there’s too much money and power behind it." He said, "Money
for lobbying and money for campaign contributions works, or people wouldn’t do
it, and that’s why we haven’t banned crypto."
US Lawmaker on Regulation and Why Congress Won’t Ban Crypto
Congressman
Brad Sherman (D-CA) shared his views on cryptocurrency and its regulation in an
interview with the Los Angeles Times, published on Sunday.
The
U.S. lawmaker from California, who Chairs a House subcommittee on investor
protection, wants to outlaw cryptocurrency but does not believe Congress will
take such action. "I don’t think we’re going to ban crypto anytime
soon," he told the publication.
"Money
for lobbying and money for campaign contributions works, or people wouldn’t do
it, and that’s why we haven’t banned crypto," Sherman explained.
‘We
didn’t ban it at the beginning because we didn’t realize it was important, and
we didn’t ban it now because there’s too much money and power behind it,"
he added.
Not
only is the congressman concerned about individual investors being defrauded,
but he also views cryptocurrency as a threat to the national security of the
U.S. He believes crypto poses a systemic threat, enables criminals, and
undermines the dominance of USD.
The
lawmaker is particularly worried about crypto-mixing services like Tornado
Cash. The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC)
banned the Ethereum mixing application in August, claiming that the mixer had
helped North Korean hackers such as the hacking syndicate known as Lazarus
Group.
Sherman
admitted that there is little he can do to stop investors from spending their
money recklessly. "It is hard to be running the subcommittee dedicated to
investor protection in a country in which people want to wager on meme
coins," the U.S. lawmaker opined.
"Cryptocurrency
is a meme you invest in hoping that you can sell it to somebody else
before it tanks. That’s the nice thing about a Ponzi scheme," he asserted.
Sherman
proceeded to discuss whether crypto regulation stops a ban. Likening crypto as a stock
or security, he believes that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
should oversee the crypto sector, citing the regulator’s size, expertise, and
aggressive enforcement actions.
However, three
bills have been introduced in Congress this year to make the Commodity
Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) the primary regulator of the crypto sector.
Sherman urged the
SEC to go after major crypto exchanges that traded XRP in July. The
securities watchdog said in January that it had taken 97 crypto-related enforcement
actions. The regulator said it nearly doubled the size of its crypto
enforcement unit in May.
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