“The number of cryptocurrency transactions linked to Chinese fentanyl brokers increased 450 percent last year alone,” Elizabeth Warren said, citing a report by the Elliptic Group.
The senator from Massachusetts spoke at a hearing on Wednesday, May 31, before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee to discuss China’s influence.
“Congress has talked long enough about fentanyl.. We suggest we do something to fight back,” the senator added.
According to the National Institutes of Health, there were more than 70,000 deaths from overdoses from synthetic opioids like fentanyl in the United States in 2021. And this despite the fact that one of the largest illegal platforms that helped illicit drug transactions using cryptocurrencies, Silk Road, was shut down back in 2013 and founder Ross Ulbricht was sentenced to life in prison.
Elizabeth Warren is a Democratic U.S. senator and an ardent cryptoskeptic.. In March 2023, Senator called for the creation of a so-called “anti-crypto army”. Otherwise, the parliamentarian believes, investors will continue to lose the investments they make in the so-called “new wild west;
A bill to ban money laundering through cryptocurrencies, which Warren is drafting, has been delayed due to a lack of sponsorship.