The theories of high-profile crypto critic Elizabeth Warren on the threats of digital assets were reportedly debunked by a government insider during a House Financial Services Committee oversight hearing.
FOX Business reports that testimony from a top official in the Treasury Department’s Terrorism and Financial Intelligence office dealt a serious blow to the US senator’s narrative that digital assets threaten national security.
According to a transcript reviewed by FOX, Brian Nelson, the Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said that the use of digital assets by terrorists is not the significant problem that Warren and other media outlets have made it out to be.
The testimony reportedly hurt Senator Warren’s previous claims that crypto assets are largely responsible for funding terrorist groups around the world.
Warren is also pushing for legislation that would supposedly force the crypto industry to follow “the same anti-money laundering rules as everyone else.”
The Senator previously it’s about closing loopholes.
“The Treasury Department is making clear that we need new laws to crack down on crypto’s use in enabling terrorist groups, rogue nations, drug lords, ransomware gangs, and fraudsters to launder billions in stolen funds, evade sanctions, fund illegal weapons programs, and profit from devastating cyberattacks.”
However, speaking to House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, Nelson said,
“We assessed that terrorists still prefer, frankly, to use traditional products and services.”
In an interview with FOX, Emmer said that the U.S. Treasury Department had the data to correct the narrative surrounding crypto and terrorist financing but the agency chose to stay on the sidelines.
“For months, lawmakers, business leaders and the American public were persuaded to believe that crypto was a significant fundraising tool for Hamas because the press misinterpreted on-chain data and vastly inflated the figures… Treasury had the correct data the whole time and had a responsibility to correct the false narrative created by the press, but it failed to set the record straight until the damage was already done.”
