US Senator Elizabeth Warren slams foreign crypto miners, says they threaten national security

Well-known cryptocurrency critic and US senator Elizabeth Warren is fighting against digital asset miners, especially foreign-owned facilities, for their alleged risks to national security and the environment.

During a recent hearing of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, Warren asked the Treasury Department’s Assistant Secretary for Investment Security, the Honorable Paul Rosen, about the threat these entities pose to soil american

A threat on American soil

Warren said that Chinese citizens and people with direct ties to the Chinese government own a third of the crypto mining facilities in the US, insisting that they can be used for espionage and threaten the US energy sector, the energy resources and the energy supply chain. He cited a New York Times report that said Chinese-owned Bitcoin mining facilities in the US use enough energy to power 1.5 million homes.

According to Warren, these mining facilities are noisy, hot and “suck up a lot of electricity,” which can bring down the nation’s greed for power. He called cryptomining an environmental disaster, which also poses national security risks.

“Foreign adversaries are using crypto-mines to spy on US military operations. This is an obvious risk to national security. But it is not the only risk. Foreign-owned crypto-mines also threaten the energy grid…

National security experts have warned that connecting foreign-owned crypto-mining facilities to our energy grid could leave the United States vulnerable to targeted blackouts and cyber-attacks,” the politician stated.

Warren further explained that these foreign nationals have been able to purchase US-based cryptocurrency mining facilities by paying in crypto, bypassing the traditional banking system and its anti-money laundering (AML) measures. He emphasized the need to “plug the holes” by implementing AML rules in the crypto sector.

Senator Roger leaves support for DAAMLA

Senator Warren’s latest blow against cryptominers comes as Senator Marshall Roger withdraws his support for the Digital Assets Anti-Money Laundering Act (DAAMLA), which they co-sponsored and introduced last year.

DAAMLA is an anti-crypto bill that aims to subject the industry to existing AML laws and anti-terrorist financing networks. It has garnered support from a number of organizations, including the Bank Policy Institute, the National District Attorneys Association, and the National Consumers League.

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