If
you
work
in
crypto,
you
are
going
to
hell.
I
stand
with
Senator
Elizabeth
Warren
(D-Mass.),
as
part
of
her
anti-crypto
army,
in
condemning
this
villainous
industry
chock
full
of
crooks,
bastards
and
fools
waiting
to
be
separated
from
their
money.
The
grift
and
crime
rampant
throughout
crypto
is
comical
and
villainous.
It
is
comically
villainous.
This
is
an
excerpt
from
The
Node
newsletter,
a
daily
roundup
of
the
most
pivotal
crypto
news
on
CoinDesk
and
beyond.
You
can
subscribe
to
get
the
full
newsletter
here.
Together
with
the
likes
of
newsletter
writer
Matt
Stoller,
we
of
the
anti-crypto
army
are
banding
together
to
strengthen
regulatory
attention
on
crypto.
No
way
should
there
be
a
means
for
consenting
peers
to
transact
directly
without
a
bank
or
other
financial
institution
to
act
as
an
intermediary.
We
must
keep
people
and
the
public
safe.
If
cash
were
created
today,
I’d
oppose
it
for
the
same
reasons
as
crypto.
Cash
and
crypto
both
fall
afoul
of
the
Bank
Secrecy
Act
(BSA).
The
BSA
is
a
much
needed
and
highly
effective
regulation.
Without
it,
U.S.
financial
activity
would
falter.
In
no
way
is
the
BSA
simply
a
means
for
banks
to
absolve
themselves
of
the
responsibility
of
proactively
preventing
fraud
or
making
good
when
it
happens,
by
allowing
them
to
file
wanton
Suspicious
Activity
Reports
to
regulators
who
definitely
have
the
means
of
assessing
the
risks.
And
in
no
way
does
the
BSA
violate
the
civil
liberties
enshrined
in
the
U.S.
Constitution
—
that
is
simply
not
a
conversation
worth
having.
Indeed,
because
no
crypto
exchange
performs
standard
know-your-customer
(KYC)
checks
or
works
with
on-chain
analytics
companies
to
monitor
for
illicit
activity
or
terrorist
financing,
the
entire
blockchain
sector
is
simply
a
big
black
box
presumably
filled
with
fraud.
I
know
this
because
Senator
Warren
wrote
a
letter
to
Congress
saying
so.
Nevermind
that
companies
like
Chainalysis
or
Elliptic
routinely
find
that
the
vast
majority
of
crypto
use
is
legitimate
or
at
least
not
explicitly
illicit.
I
mean,
what
else
would
publicly
verifiable
and
immutable
ledgers
be
used
for?
Indeed,
Senator
Warren
also
sent
out
a
number
of
letters
to
crypto
lobbyists
including
Coin
Center,
the
Blockchain
Association
and
crypto
exchange
Coinbase,
which
has
recently
reinvested
in
its
own
Washington
D.C.
pressure
campaign,
calling
out
the
revolving
door
that
exists
between
crypto
and
the
Capitol.
Shameful
activity.
Banks
and
other
stolid
financial
institutions
would
never
hire
former
politicians
or
those
with
political
connections
to
advance
their
interests.
It
would
be
unseemly
—
as
unseemly,
say,
as
a
legislator
who
actively
trades
stocks.
Warren,
mind
you,
is
the
Senator
who
got
the
Consumer
Financial
Protection
Bureau
through
political
gridlock,
so
she
knows
a
few
things
about
financial
safety.
See
also:
Elizabeth
Warren’s
Crypto
Bill
Is
Likely
Unconstitutional
and
Also
Unlikely
to
Pass
|
Opinion
Because
of
all
of
this
and
more,
I
must
join
the
ranks
of
the
anti-crypto
army
and
combat
the
adoption
of
crypto.
Even
if
you
want
to
grant
that
crypto
has
been
used
to
fund
dissident
political
actors
and
freedom
fighters
alongside
terrorists,
the
contributions
blockchain
developers
have
made
to
cryptography
and
self-custody
solutions
or
the
political
flowering
that
can
follow
when
people
begin
to
take
ideas
of
sovereignty
and
community
seriously,
crypto
cannot
be
worth
it.
And
what
exactly
are
the
costs
of
crypto?
Meme
coins,
ransomware
and
grift.
The
internet
is
a
place
of
learning,
which
flattens
access
to
knowledge,
not
a
place
for
fun
and
games
and
gambling.
Further,
in
no
way
would
the
continued
rapid
growth
of
the
internet
explain
at
all
the
concomitant
rise
in
online
crime
—
only
crypto
explains
the
rise
of
hackers
and
scammers
in
U.S.
society.
So,
as
my
fellow
anti-crypto
soldier
Matt
Stoller
has
said,
if
you
are
in
crypto
or
into
blockchain
at
all
today,
you
are
likely
an
enemy
of
the
state.
I
will
die
on
this
hill.
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