Elizabeth Warren is full of garbage… THIS is the best form of money for bad guys… I’m buying Ethereum…
- Is crypto the money of drug dealers and terrorists?
Elizabeth Warren thinks so…
The Massachusetts senator recently said, “Big-time financial criminals love crypto. Just last year… crypto was the payment method of choice for international drug traffickers.”
And she’s introduced a new congressional bill to crack down on those ill-gotten gains.
The Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act would essentially ban crypto in America. Without getting into the “legalese,” it would require anyone who touches blockchain tech to register as a bank!
Let’s not mince words: Elizabeth Warren is full of garbage. She has her facts backwards. She’s either ignorant or lying.
She seems to think crypto is untraceable internet money helping bad guys get away with murder. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Let me explain...
It is true that blockchain—the tech that underpins all cryptos—gives you complete anonymity.
You can send and receive bitcoin without revealing any personal details. Senders and recipients are denoted by wallet addresses. These addresses are a long string of random, untraceable letters and numbers shielding individual identities.
However… every bitcoin transaction since the network launched in 2009 has been recorded in a permanent, public database. Anybody can see any transaction.
Crypto’s veil of anonymity vanishes when you understand how “on-ramps” work...
An on-ramp is how you swap US dollars for crypto. The only legitimate way to do this is by opening an account at a big crypto exchange like Coinbase.
These companies have strict procedures in place to verify who you are. You have to provide a picture ID, a physical address, and a bank account.
So while bitcoin is anonymous, it’s nearly impossible to get your money in or out without verifying your identity… which means you’re no longer anonymous.
- Cops LOVE crypto...
Katie Haun spent over a decade chasing down murderers and motorcycle gangs as a federal prosecutor.
Then she stumbled upon bitcoin.
In 2012, Haun’s boss asked her to research whether this new thing called “bitcoin” could be used as a money-laundering tool. She soon realized it was a prosecutor’s best friend.
Haun has said, “[It] leaves these… digital breadcrumbs in a way that the physical world or your cash, even wires… don’t quite leave. It makes it easier for investigators to trace because of those digital breadcrumbs.”
Blockchain allows cops to “follow the money” like they’ve never been able to before.
In fact, most criminals who’ve stolen money through crypto over the past few years have been caught.
In 2016, hackers stole 120,000 bitcoins from crypto exchange BitFinex. They spent six years trying, and failing, to launder their newfound billion-dollar fortune. They were caught last year and now face decades in prison.
Two years ago, Colonial Pipeline—the largest fuel pipeline in the US—was hacked. It was forced to pay a $5 million ransom (in bitcoin) to get rid of the cybercriminals.
Within days, the US Department of Justice traced the hackers and recovered 85% of the ransom.
Does bitcoin sound like a “criminal’s paradise” to you?
- Here’s the anonymous money bad guys DO favor…
Cold. Hard. Cash.
The UN estimates roughly $2 trillion worth of government-issued paper currency is used for illicit activity each year.
Drug dealers and terrorists know anything “electronic” like bitcoin and bank wires can be traced. Briefcases full of $100 bills? That’s a different story.
Katie Haun is on record saying, “The thing you have to step back and realize is that 99.9% of money-laundering crimes with fiat [physical cash] today succeed.”
That’s why physical cash is BY FAR the payment method of choice for bad guys.
Top blockchain audit firm Chainalysis found illicit transaction volume on crypto rails hit $20 billion last year.
That might seem like a lot. But it represents just 0.24% of crypto transactions.
To put it into perspective, cash facilitates roughly 100X more illicit activity than crypto.
Does that mean we should ban cash?
Here’s an interesting question to ask yourself: If physical cash were a “new technology,” would the government allow it?
An anonymous… untraceable… widely accepted form of money that any lowlife can get their hands on?
Elizabeth Warren would chain herself to the gates of Congress to make sure no American could access such a dangerous weapon.
- Criminals are always the first adaptors of new technologies…
A century ago, bank robbers bought automobiles and Thompson submachine guns to outmaneuver the law.
Remember pagers and beepers? They became a favorite tool for drug dealers in the 1980s, helping them communicate with each other using secret codes to evade police. At one point, the DEA estimated 90% of drug lords used pagers!
More recently, criminals have used drones to drop drugs and weapons into prisons.
Like all new technologies, criminals found ways to exploit crypto. But as I showed you, it’s far from a haven for felons.
- So why is Elizabeth Warren on a crypto crusade?
Warren is a staunch critic of Wall Street bankers.
As much as she dislikes banks, as a member of the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs… she has them under her thumb. And she doesn’t want to give up that power.
Crypto, which is fueling a new financial system, threatens her reign as a banking overlord.
Luckily, Warren can’t pass a bill to save her life. In her decade as a senator, she’s introduced 315 bills. Only one was enacted into law.
- Now is a great time to buy crypto...
Crypto hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons last year. After crypto exchange FTX collapsed, many thought the industry was dead forever.
But prices tell us a different story.
One of my top cryptos to own, Ethereum (ETH), bottomed eight months ago and jumped 40% since the start of 2023.
I’m a buyer here. I think it will outperform the S&P 500 and the vast majority of stocks this year.
Stephen McBride
Chief Analyst, RiskHedge
