Brad Sherman, a US Representative, said that cryptocurrencies have not been banned by Congress because they have too much power and money.

He elaborated that they hadn’t banned crypto as yet because money works for campaign contributions and it works for lobbying as well.

US lawmaker shares his views

Published on Sunday, Congressman Brad Sherman gave an interview in which he shared his views regarding cryptocurrencies and their regulation.

He is also the head of a House subcommittee, which is responsible for consumer protection. The Californian lawmaker said that even though he wants to outlaw crypto, he does not believe it will happen.

The lawmaker said that Congress would take such an action and he did not believe cryptocurrency would likely be banned in the United States anytime soon.

Sherman elaborated that this was because of the money behind lobbying and also for campaign contributions, which means that a ban is highly unlikely.

He stated that they had not banned crypto in the beginning because they didn’t believe it was important enough and they have not banned it now because it has too much power and money behind it.

The concerns

Nonetheless, the congressman has his concerns about cryptocurrency, as he said that it can be used for defrauding individual customers, but that is not all.

He also believes that cryptocurrency can be a threat to the United States national security as well. According to the Congressman, these digital currencies facilitate criminals.

Plus, he regards them as a systemic threat and that they can also threaten the dominance of the US dollar.

His biggest concern is about crypto mixing services, such as Tornado Cash. The Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC), which is a department of the US Treasury, took action against the said app.

The Ethereum mixing application was banned back in August, as it was believed to have been used by North Korean hackers, such as the state-backed hacking organization called Lazarus Group.

Crypto regulation

According to Sherman, there is not much they can do to stop investors from spending their money recklessly.

The US lawmaker said that running a subcommittee aimed at protecting investors, when people want to invest their money into meme coins is tough.

He implied that crypto was like a Ponzi scheme in which people invest and hope to sell it for a higher price to someone before it goes down.

Sherman also talked about crypto regulation and said that he believes the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) should oversee the crypto market, just like security or stock.

He said that the size of the regulatory authority, its expertise, and its enforcement approach made them the best fit.

But, Congress has seen three bills introduced this year alone that are aimed at making the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) the regulatory authority for the crypto space.

Sherman had urged the SEC to target crypto exchanges back in July that was still offering the XRP token.