The growing anti-crypto sentiment within the Democratic Party has caught the attention of one presidential candidate who is pushing back against regulatory agencies’ “war on crypto” for various bank failures that transpired in March. Environmental lawyer Robert Kennedy Jr. has spoken out against the Biden administration’s general handling of the ongoing banking crisis, opposing the bailout approach used by financial agencies.
The War on Crypto
Kennedy backed an article titled “How the War on Crypto Triggered a Banking Crisis,” which outlines how actions taken by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) contributed to the downfall of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Signature Bank, and Silvergate Bank in March. He argues that the FDIC and SEC have no authority to wage an extra-legal war on crypto that leaves major banks as collateral damage.
In recent months, crypto industry leaders have been up in arms about a suspected government conspiracy colloquially termed “Operation Chokepoint 2.0.” This is a subtle effort to dissuade the banking sector from servicing crypto companies and scare blockchain businesses offshore with unclear and arbitrary enforcement actions.
Crypto-friendly politicians have called attention to the SEC’s “regulation by enforcement” approach, but most have come from the Republican isle. Congressional Democrats are showing weariness around the crypto sector and beginning to question whether it even has a legitimate use case.
Banking Crisis and Anti-Crypto Message
Even Barney Frank, a former US congressman and Signature Bank board member at the time of its closure, claimed that the crypto-friendly bank’s closure was unnecessary and specifically meant to send an “anti-crypto message” to other banks.
The growing anti-crypto sentiment has led some crypto companies, such as Coinbase, to suggest that they could seek to relocate their headquarters outside the United States if local regulatory challenges persist.
White House Guidance on Bitcoin Mining Tax
On Tuesday, the White House published guidance to Congress encouraging policymakers to pass a 30% excise tax on Bitcoin mining as part of the federal budget to make miners pay for the “economic and environmental costs” they impose. This has further fueled the concerns of crypto supporters who feel that the government is targeting the industry unfairly.
Despite criticism of the enormous energy consumption used by crypto technology, Kennedy defends the industry and plans to write about the issue to address the “misunderstanding.” He has also stood against Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), arguing that they are an invasion of privacy. He believes that a CBDC tied to digital ID and social credit score will allow the government to freeze assets or limit spending to approved vendors if citizens fail to comply with arbitrary diktats.