U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has called for updating the country’s bank secrecy laws to address the “threat” from cryptocurrencies.
“What we have to do is we have to update it again because there are new threats,” Warren said. CNBC Squawk BoxThey claim that cryptocurrencies are used to finance terrorism and drug trafficking.
She added that North Korea used cryptocurrency to pay for about half of its nuclear weapons program, repeating claims she made at a Senate Banking Committee hearing earlier this week. “We cannot allow that to continue,” she said.
Warren took to Twitter to call for greater oversight of the cryptocurrency industry, saying enforcing anti-money laundering regulations for cryptocurrencies is “common sense and important” and a matter of national security.
“When it comes to banking policy, I usually disagree with the CEOs of multibillion-dollar banks,” she said. JPMorgan’s CEO referenced Jamie Dimon’s testimony at a Senate Banking Committee hearing this week. She said she was “always against cryptocurrencies” and urged the government to “shut them down.”
When it comes to banking policy, I usually disagree with the CEOs of multibillion-dollar banks. However, enforcing anti-money laundering regulations for cryptocurrencies is common sense and important to protect national security. Now is the time for Congress to act. pic.twitter.com/zZAegAjeb4
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) December 7, 2023
The Bank Secrecy Act requires U.S. financial institutions to provide assistance to government agencies in reporting and preventing money laundering, tax evasion, and other criminal activity.
Warren has an old-fashioned approach to linking cryptocurrencies to criminal activity. In June 2023, she linked cryptocurrencies to the fentanyl trade, and in an October 2023 letter to the Treasury Department and the White House, she said that terrorist groups including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad had “raised over $130 million in cryptocurrencies.” “He claimed.
Some of Warren’s claims are questionable. In a blog post, blockchain analytics firm Elliptic accused Warren of misrepresenting research into terrorist financing and said there was “no evidence to support claims that Hamas has received significant amounts of cryptocurrency donations.” .
Warren’s North Korea-related claims, which allege that North Korean hackers have stolen “more than $3 billion in cryptocurrency” over the past five years, are consistent with figures from blockchain analytics firm Chainalytic’s 2023 Crypto Crime Report. According to the report, North Korea-linked hackers have stolen just under $3.2 billion since 2018.
