Coin Center Responds to Scathing Letter from Senator Elizabeth Warren
Coin Center has responded to allegations made by Senator Elizabeth Warren claiming the crypto non-profit was working to “undermine bipartisan efforts in Congress” by hiring “former defense, national security, and law enforcement officials.”
Coin Center pushes back
Executive Director of Coin Center, Jerry Bitro, posted a letter to X rebuking Warren’s demands for the crypto organization to reveal its hiring practices, citing it has “no obligation to answer these questions beyond the public disclosures we make under the law.”
Moreover, Bitro condemns Warren for publicly chastising Coin Center in the letter sent last month, which was also sent to Coinbase and the Blockchain Association.
“Your letter, which you made public, discourages participation in important public policy debates and chills these rights,” Bitro wrote in part. “It equated our good-faith engagement with “stonewalling” and “undermining” congressional efforts; it characterized passionate and patriotic advocacy as providing a mere “veneer of respectability” to crypto; and it repeatedly and inappropriately invoked the events of October 7 alongside child abuse and crime, as if we are indifferent or complicit in these tragedies.”
“Unfair, unworkable, and most importantly, unconstitutional proposals”
Warren, who has long held an anti-crypto stance, is currently championing both the Crypto-Asset National Security Enhancement and Enforcement Act as well as the Digital Asset Money Laundering Act, which Coin Center opposes.
As Bitro writes in his response, the aforementioned bills “are not ‘common sense rules’ as you style them, but are instead unfair, unworkable, and most importantly, unconstitutional proposals.”
“Good policy-making can only happen when diverse voices and perspectives are earnestly welcomed and engaged, not baselessly accused of complicity in atrocities,” Bitro states.
Leaving the door open to future engagement
Previously, Coinbase’s Chief Policy Officer, Faryar Shirzad, responded to Warren’s accusations by calling them “unfounded” and “a willful misrepresentation of our intentions and efforts.”
“Coinbase has always been, and will continue to be, an active supporter of responsible legislation and regulation in the cryptocurrency space,” Shirzad said.
Similarly, the Blockchain Association penned its own response to Warren, affirming that the non-profit is “dedicated to promoting a pro-innovation policy environment for the digital asset economy” and that the broader crypto community “is more engaged than ever in Washington, D.C.”
All three recipients of Warren’s letter have left the door open to further discussions with the Senator in regards to challenges surrounding the cryptocurrency industry. However, it remains to be seen when, or if, Warren will respond.
