Good day everyone,
I hope you are all well and had an excellent week, welcome to CryptoGod-1’s blog on all things crypto. Today I will be looking at the recent claim made by Elizabeth Warren on how North Korea is apparently funding half of its nuclear weapons via cryptocurrency.
Senator Elizabeth Warren & Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan
As a well known critic of cryptocurrency, it came as little surprise when Senator Liz Warren continued her narrative of Bitcoin’s role in terrorist financing. While conducting an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box on Thursday, the 7th of December 2023, she noted that crypto has been used to finance half of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. Some industry figureheads believe her claim is once again exaggerated, as she stated:
“There’s a new threat out there – it’s crypto. It is being used for terrorist financing, it is being used for drug trafficking.”
These comments came after an annual congressional hearing with top U.S. banking CEOs on Wednesday, the 6th of December 2023. During this conference Warren asked the executive whether crypto firms should face the same anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing provisions under the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 as traditional banks. This regulation aimed to prevent financial systems from being exploited by terrorists, drug traffickers, and rogue nations.
In making her statement she received agreement from all the executives present, while also having the CEO J.P. Morgan, Jamie Dimon, argue the point further when he noted that crypto is only useful for criminals and that he’d ban the entire industry if he ran the government. He noted that, in his opinion, crypto’s application is limited outside criminal activities.
While it marked a somewhat rare point of agreement and common ground for Warren and Dimon, it also provided a clear insight into the pairs thinking and new found alignment. Traditionally Warren has been a fierce banking critic due to the industry’s risky practices, but this is also not the first time she has push for strict crypto regulation. Back in October of 2023 she noted how the Biden administration needed to clarify its efforts to reign in crypto-based terrorist financing to groups like Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
Within that letter Warren had claimed that these groups had managed to raise in excess of $130 million in cryptocurrency between August 2021 and June 2023. However, these comments and claims were quickly quashed when Elliptic, the source of the figure, clarified that each group had only potentially received around $20,000 in crypto. Given her previous misinformation, it is difficult for both crypto leaders and everyday people to take Warren's claims regarding North Korea and crypto as legitimate.
In the meantime the industry has been dealing with the latest enforcement actions, such as the Department of Justice’s $4.3 billion settlement with Binance. This was the latest move in a crackdown on crypto-related activities and was led by Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo of the Treasury in a strong attempt and message to the crypto industry, signalling an intent to eliminate bad actors.
Senator Elizabeth Warren in North Korea
Back in 2018 Senator Elizabeth Warren made a trip to South Korea, Japan, and China. During this official she crossed into North Korea for a few moments. The senator from Massachusetts noted at the time that her trip into the demilitarized zone between South Korea and North Korea was an “extraordinary experience” and she could see how North Korea’s hostility towards South Korea was extremely palpable. At the time she stood in a building which straddles both countries and where visitors can briefly journey into the rogue state. She went on to state:
“I walked from South Korea into North Korean territory by walking around a table to the other side. A North Korean soldier immediately appeared at the window and started snapping pictures of me while I was standing in the North Korean part of the room.”
At that time there was a summit between the Unites States and North Korean leaders on the horizon, as Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un were about to embark on a historic meeting. Warren had received a classified briefing from General Vincent Brooks, was at the time was working as the commander of US troops in South Korea. They were joined by the South Korean commander and the conversation focused on the risks within the region and how the two nations joint effort was in force to protect the area. Of that exchange she noted:
“They emphasized when I talked to General Brooks and his leadership team the extraordinary losses that would occur if war broke out in this region. Death rates would be very high.”
Warren then went on to meet with top-level South Korean officials to discuss then President Trump’s planned nuclear summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. As part of Trump's administration he aimed for total denuclearization of North Korea, which happened at a time when North Korea claimed to have halted nuclear testing. Warren noted:
“The South Koreans are doing everything they can to make this meeting succeed. The president has now announced this meeting and it will occur. I want it to succeed, but we need a very clear measure of what constitutes success. North Korea must be willing to move forward from that meeting to put in place verifiable changes that reduce the nuclear threat that it poses — that is the measure of success.”
At the time she went on to state that North Korea’s word is hard to trust, and Trump must be “alert” to that. This was in relation to previous promises made in the past which were then broken repeatedly. She had also noted back then that it would take months or even years of painstaking diplomacy to move North Korea to a place that it does not pose a threat to other nations.
Given her latest comments on how North Korea is apparently financing its nuclear weapons programme via cryptocurrency, it is likely that Warren has long since moved on from any belief of using diplomacy to settle differences with the North Koreans. Instead she is pushing against North Korea with her claims in what she calls a matter of State Security. Only time will tell if her claims are substantial and if any moves will be made to curb the apparent use of crypto for terrorism financing.
Have a great day.
Peace. CryptoGod-1.
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