In the first coordinated attempt to counter-lobby to the crypto industry in Washington, USA, a group of 26 renowned technologists, along with some of crypto’s harshest opponents, such as software developer Stephen Diehl and Google Cloud engineer Kelsey Hightower has submitted a counter-lobbying letter to US lawmakers on 1st June, presenting crypto as a threat to national security.
Letter to Washington lawmakers to resist the crypto industry’s influence
The tech experts and crypto critics asked US politicians in the letter to fight from crypto financiers and lobbyists for establishing a regulatory safe haven for digital assets.
Tech experts urge Washington to resist crypto industry’s influence https://t.co/Hj6yMPrZ1A
— Financial Times (@FT) June 1, 2022
The letter to US senators has been signed by 26 people, including some of the crypto industry’s most outspoken critics such as software developer Stephen Diehl and Google Cloud engineer Kelsey Hightower. They claimed that blockchain technology has few real-economy applications. They also claimed that crypto assets have numerous harmful consequences to a nation’s financial stability and are threats to national security. They further cited massive climate emissions due to the crypto industry.
The letter is addressed to both Senate’s majority and minority leaders, as well as many other high-ranking US Senate members. The letter reads the following:
“We urge you to defy pressure from digital asset [crypto] industry financiers, lobbyists, and boosters to create a regulatory safe haven for these risky, flawed, and unproven digital financial instruments. Instead, we request you to take a position that protects the public interest and ensures that technology is deployed in genuine service to the needs of the ordinary citizens.”
Blockchain is a disaster for financial privacy and a boon to money launders
The signatories also said that blockchain-based financial products are a disaster for financial privacy. They further stated that the financial privacy provided due to blockchain is a gift to money-launderers.
However, when the relevant pieces of evidence in money laundering, and terror funding cases are evaluated, the assertions that crypto assets are disproportionately used for illegal operations may not carry much weight. Money laundering accounted for only 0.05% of all bitcoin transactions in 2021, according to 2022 research by blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.
In comparison, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that between $800 billion and $2 trillion in fiat money is laundered each year, amounting to up to 5% of world GDP.
Views of top crypto critics cum tech experts
Diehl, one of the most outspoken crypto detractors on Twitter, allegedly told the sources that the letter is about counter-lobbying the crypto industry’s representatives who say anything they want to the lawmakers. Miguel de Icaza, a former Microsoft engineer, added that the crypto business is wasting millions of dollars worth of equipment because we’ve chosen that we don’t trust the financial system.
According to a March Bloomberg article, the crypto business spent over $9 million on lobbying in 2021, which is more than quadruple what it spent the previous year.
