Elizabeth Warren Blames Cryptocurrency For Everything

From climate change to crime, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) knows who pin the blame to. It's cryptocurrency. The Massachusetts senator said that cryptocurrency such as bitcoin is responsible for everything. This includes online crime to carbon emissions.

RELATED: Yellen Warns That Bitcoin Is Extremely Inefficient

Confront Cryptocurrency

Speaking to a Senate Banking subcommittee hearing, Warren confronted cryptocurrency. She demanded that lawmakers confront the growing use of bitcoin and others. She attributed crypto mining as one of the culprits for worsening climate change.

Warren suggested that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are on the hook for a lot of things. Specifically, she said it's to blame for the rise in carbon emissions. It's also the preferred payment for criminal organizations engaging in cybercrime.

Senator Elizabeth Warren Says Crypto Is Currency of Criminals, Scourge of Environment

“Cryptocurrency has created opportunities to scam investors, assist criminals, and worsen the climate crisis, ” she said. The threats posed by crypto show that Congress can’t continue to hope that the issue will go away.

It won’t. As a result, Warren wants Congress to confront these issues head-on. Recent bouts of cybercrime such as the ransomware attacks at the Colonial pipeline. The criminal group demanded ransom payable in bitcoin.

Later, Warren went to social media. She gave suggestions on how to fight “environmentally wasteful” cryptocurrencies. Foremost is to have federal lawmakers take action against energy-hungry bitcoin. She said that bitcoin consumes more energy than entire countries.

Additionally, Warren also said Bitcoin mining activities consume more energy than traditional banking.

Environmental Footprint of Cryptocurrencies

Afterward, Warren repeated her claim of climate change effects. She said there's a real issue about the environmental impact of cryptocurrencies. In particular, she noted the energy consumption needed to track cryptocurrencies.

“You don’t consume that kind of energy, in order to have money on deposit at a bank or a mutual fund. In that sense, bitcoin is very different, and in the 21st century, we’re becoming a lot more sensitive to the worldwide impacts of the choices we make,” she added.

Alternative To Crypto

In addition, Elizabeth Warren is pressing for an alternative to cryptocurrency. She’s in favor of creating a Federal Reserve-backed digital dollar.

This can help banking easier for low-income Americans. These are the ones without access to traditional banking. However, many Republican critics remain skeptical of an apparent “pseudo-cryptocurrency backed by a world government.”

In fact, Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) told Warren flat-out that “we don’t need a state-sponsored bank interfering with this successful free-enterprise system” that’s in current use.

Other critics were not so polite in their critique. Many point out that Elizabeth Warren supported traditional bankers with companies and lifestyles that consume enormous amounts of energy.

Others said that Warren travels by private jet, which also consumes carbon-based fuel. In addition, many say that traditional banking actually burns more energy in managing their high-rise corporate headquarters and computing and server requirements.

Is Crypto Really That Bad?

According to NASDAQ, “Cathie Wood of ARK Investment Management says the bitcoin ecosystem consumes less than 10% of the energy compared to what traditional banking system uses.

As such, “it’s also vital to understand that the banking system is extensively large and serves billions of people.”

Various Twitter commenters also said Warren suggested Bitcoin itself was the environmental scourge. However, it’s supposed to be Bitcoin mining.

Watch The Hill video reporting that Senator Elizabeth Warren says crypto is a lousy investment:

Do you agree with Senator Elizabeth Warren that bitcoin is to blame for cybercrime and global warming? What do you think of Warren’s arguments about what makes cryptocurrency wrong?

Let us know what you think about crypto and how Warren perceives it. Share your comments in the comments section.