Congressman Brad Sherman had already applied to Congress for having the cryptocurrencies banned, last January
After the appearance on Wednesday October 23rd, of Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, in the United States Congress to explain his plans to launch Libra -the cryptocurrency of the popular social network- Brad Sherman, a Congressman from the United States, rejected the use of this technology and described it as “negative” for the nation’s economy.
During the hearing that took place due to the possible launch of Libra for 2020, Sherman decided to attack all the cryptocurrencies directly. He also mentioned Bitcoin and suggested that this technology is only useful for performing irregular activities so the ones who generally use them are “criminals”, according to the congressman.
In his speech, Sherman decided to comment that the use of these digital currencies puts the dominance of the dollar over the financial system at serious “risk”, both in the country and in the rest of the world.
The renowned congressman is a faithful defender of the traditional economy. In addition to having a strong stance on the use and adoption of these assets. This has been in a way that even Sherman asked the US Congress for the definitive ban on cryptocurrencies, last January.
Zuckerberg talked about his position with respect to these assets, in addition to suggesting that these digital currencies could be beneficial for the United States so the Libra project would be beneficial for the country too.
When Zuckerberg concluded these statements, Sherman mentioned a tweet published by the president of the United States, Donald Trump, where he mentions that these technologies can be used for illegal acts. “Unregulated crypto-assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activities”, says the tweet.
With respect to the irregular events that have involved the use of cryptocurrencies, Congressman Sherman showed a report with investigations that give these assets as allies of terrorists, also ensuring that the dollar works much better for the economy, except for criminals.
“For the richest man in the world to come here and hide behind the poorest people in the world and say that’s who you’re really trying to help them, you’re trying to help those for whom the dollar is not a good currency: drug dealers, terrorists, [and] tax evaders”, he added.
However, with respect to illicit acts, in the past year 2015, the European Police Office (Europol) issued a report detailing that the US currency remains the most used currency for illicit acts.
The congressman culminated his statements saying that cryptocurrencies should be treated as a direct attack to the US dollar, so he added: “Cryptocurrency either doesn’t work, in which case investors lose a lot of money, or it does achieve its objectives perhaps and displaces the US dollar or interferes with the US dollar being virtually the sole reserve currency in the world”, Sherman said.
Some people in the US support cryptocurrencies and some lawmakers do not. Only with clear regulations, the controversy could disappear.
By María Rodríguez
