In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, the United States senators Cynthia Lummis and Ron Wyden praised Bitcoin.
This comes amidst the regulatory ambiguity with Bitcoin in the United States.
They stated, “Assets like Bitcoin may be natively digital, but they are not amorphous such as heat or electricity. Bitcoins have a clear unilateral owner at all times. If a user wishes to transfer Bitcoin to someone else, they use their private key to sign a transaction that transfers the Bitcoins to a new address. At no point in the transaction process is there uncertainty over where ownership resides.”
Sens. Lummis, Wyden Against DOJ’s Stance on Tornado Cash Charges
Senators Lummis and Wyden’s positive statements on Bitcoin were mentioned in their letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, in which they shared their reservations on the Justice Department’s (DOJ) interpretation of money transmission licensing.
Additionally. the US senators referred to the case of Roman Storm, the co-founder of crypto mixer Tornado Cash, who is facing charges of allegedly operating an unlicensed money transmission operation.
In a tweet, Lummis stated that the DOJ’s interpretation of The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is legally wrong and non-custodial crypto service providers like Tornado Cash should not be classified under money transmission platforms.
President Biden’s DOJ steamrolling the longstanding interpretation of FinCEN is legally wrong and threatens to criminalize Bitcoin software development in America. @RonWyden and I have sent a bipartisan letter to DOJ urging it to drop this interpretation immediately. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/iazbBhMcOv
— Senator Cynthia Lummis (@SenLummis) May 13, 2024
According to her, the interpretation paints Bitcoin software developments and internet service providers in the country in a bad light. Regarding the issue, she continued, “ @RonWyden and I have sent a bipartisan letter to DOJ urging it to drop this interpretation immediately.”
Controversies on Bitcoin
While Bitcoin faces mixed regulatory stances from US authorities and citizens alike, other countries are showing a solid opposing stance against the asset.
For instance, the Central Bank of Switzerland has shown great reluctance in adding Bitcoin to its list of national reserves. The bank’s chairman, Thomas Jordan, listed several reasons behind the national bank’s stance on crypto.
According to the bank, one reason is that Bitcoin causes environmental defects, such as carbon emissions, caused by massive energy consumption during mining and transactions. Jordan also added that Bitcoin does not meet the criteria of a currency reserve.
