Crypto Should Follow Same Guidelines As TradFi – Senator Elizabeth Warren

Jimmy Aki
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Anti-crypto US legislator Elizabeth Warren has continued her call for a strong regulatory framework for the crypto industry. The Massachusetts Senator stated that crypto should be regulated according to the same guidelines as traditional financial institutions. In addition, she has called for stricter regulations on artificial intelligence (AI) to ensure fair and equitable ecosystem growth.

‘Same Kind of Activity, Same Kind of Risk’

In a recent Bloomberg Television interview, Senator Warren emphasized the need for a “level playing field” in regulating financial transactions. She argued that both traditional financial assets and cryptocurrencies carry similar risks. Therefore, they should be subject to the same regulatory standards to ensure fairness and transparency.

Warren also added that she is open to working with the industry. However, she noted that crypto practitioners have largely rejected her efforts. They demand a more comprehensive regulatory framework to support their growth.

Warren noted that these calls are just concessions for crime. She listed ransomware scammers, drug and human traffickers, and terrorists thriving on the chaos currently prevalent in the crypto space.

The Senator’s Bloomberg appearance is part of the US government’s attempt to regulate the crypto market. Warren has been quite vocal about her skepticism surrounding blockchain-based assets due to their decentralized nature.

To regulate the crypto industry under the US government’s purview, Warren introduced the Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act in mid-2023. To emphasize her point, Warren highlighted that crypto is often used for criminal activities like terrorist financing. She proposed treating blockchain nodes, validators, wallets, and software providers like banks and stock brokers.

The US public has not embraced this bill, and the Treasury Department has reluctantly acknowledged minimal terrorist financing through crypto.

Artificial Intelligence Also Comes Under Warren’s Microscope

Since November 2022, artificial intelligence (AI) has experienced exponential growth. Several tech firms, including Google, Amazon, OpenAI, and Salesforce, have been in an AI arms race. However, Warren recently said that this needs to stop.

In a Washington DC conference, the Massachusetts Senator stated that these tech giants should not be permitted to use their enormous size to dominate a new field. This means Google and several other firms should be prohibited from operating AI large language models (LLMs) and building with the technology.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuykIQ15Lag&t=20249s

To her, not stopping these giants could effectively ostracize much smaller AI competitors who will easily be swallowed up by the sheer market reach of their more established rivals. Warren said breaking the growing monopoly of AI tech for these giants could open up the market, allowing for a more streamlined and fair ecosystem.

AI has continued to grow at an unprecedented pace. In the past week, leading AI LLM firm OpenAI launched Sora, a text-to-video model.

The platform allows users to create hyper-realistic and imaginative scenes from text prompts.

About Jimmy Aki PRO INVESTOR

Based in the UK, Jimmy is an economic researcher with outstanding hands-on and heads-on experience in Macroeconomic finance analysis, forecasting and planning. He has honed his skills having worked cross-continental as a finance analyst, which gives him inter-cultural experience. He currently has a strong passion for regulation and macroeconomic trends as it allows him peek under the global bonnet to see how the world works.