Sen. Elizabeth Warren Faces Backlash Over Call for Stricter Measures Against Crypto

Anti crypto senator Elizabeth Warren has come under attack for asking that stricter measures be employed in dealing with crypto. 

Top crypto players such as Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and others have reacted to her recent move to bring more oversight to the crypto industry.

Warren sent a series of letters to crypto organizations earlier this week, alleging a “revolving door” strategy employed by crypto firms who hire former defense and law enforcement officials to give them legitimacy.

“This abuse of the revolving door is appalling, revealing that the crypto industry is spending millions to give itself a veneer of legitimacy while fighting tooth and nail to stonewall common sense rules designed to restrict the use of crypto for terror financing – rules that could cut into crypto company profits,” Warren said in a letter to Coin Center on Monday. 

The senior senator also sent letters to the Blockchain Association and Coinbase, in protest on the same subject. Reacting to the letter, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said Warren was “lobbying for big banks.”

“Being anti-crypto is a really bad political strategy going into 2024,” Armstrong wrote on Twitter.

“It is sad that @ewarren who started her career with good intentions has morphed into a disingenuous know-it-all who uses any chance she gets to make a headline,” Galaxy Digital CEO Michael Novogratz posted.

Warren is known for her vocal criticism of cryptocurrencies and her role in advocating for crypto oversight. She is one of those in support of the securities and exchange commission (SEC)’s enforcement approach to regulating the industry.

Voting Warren Out

Warren is a senior and influential senator from Massachusetts. As the elections are approaching and as her influence against crypto continues to grow, the crypto industry is considering voting her out as an option to thwart her plan.s

However, this may not work as according to crypto lawyer Scott Johnsson, trying to unseat Warren from Congress is “not worth the energy”, adding that the industry should “Instead, focus on vulnerable seats that have supported her crusade this past year.”

The idea was also supported by Castle Island Ventures co-founder Nic Carter who echoed the idea of going after Warren’s allies rather than her directly.

“If the crypto industry gets their act together in 2024 and helps swing a few close races, like eg. Brown in Ohio, senators will be a lot less brazen about wantonly attacking us going forward,” Carter wrote on Twitter.

Why Warren is Winning

Despite resistance from some pro crypto lawmakers like Tom Emmer, Warren’s war against crypto seems to be prevailing. According to Messari CEO Ryan Selkis, she is winning because she has powerful allies in government.

“Warren’s opposition to crypto is so effective because it’s mostly indirect. The White House and major financial regulators won’t even field phone calls from the industry because of her pressure, and they rebuffed all the meeting requests with the 40+ founders who visited the Capitol during Coinbase’s ‘Stand with Crypto’ this September,” Selkis wrote in his Crypto Theses for 2024.

Among her top allies listed my Selkis are Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chair Martin Gruenberg, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Rohit Chopra, deputy Treasury secretary Wally Adeyemo, Democratic congresswoman Maxine Waters, and National Economic Council deputy director Jon Doneneberg.

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