Presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Could 3 condemned a 30% crypto mining tax proposed by the Biden administration and responded to issues round crypto.
Kennedy says crypto regulation is an influence seize
Kennedy, who’s working within the 2024 U.S. presidential elections, stated in a thread on Twitter:
“Cryptocurrencies, led by Bitcoin, together with different crypto applied sciences are a significant innovation engine … Biden’s proposed 30% tax on cryptocurrency mining is a foul concept.”
Kennedy argued that proposals for controls on cryptocurrency and crypto mining are politically motivated. He referred to as arguments round Bitcoin’s excessive vitality consumption a “selective pretext” to regulate threats in opposition to elite energy constructions.
He additional argued that the US economic system can be extra resilient if Bitcoin and lots of different currencies can be found together with the U.S. greenback.
The Biden administration’s plan to introduce a 30% mining tax was beforehand reported on Could 2. The doable tax was additionally mentioned in a tax plan in March.
RFK Jr. argues gaming is as demanding as mining
Kennedy conceded that vitality consumption concerned in Bitcoin mining is a “concern.” Nonetheless, he argued that mining makes use of roughly the identical quantity of vitality as video video games do and famous that gaming doesn’t face requires regulation.
Kennedy didn’t say the place he obtained that knowledge. Nonetheless, one doable supply is a 2020 estimate from the mining group Braiins, which means that video gaming consumes 104.7 TWh of vitality per 12 months globally. In contrast, Cambridge College knowledge means that Bitcoin mining at present makes use of 131.53 TWh of vitality per 12 months in complete.
Kennedy questions Bitcoin’s use in crime
Kennedy additionally argued that Bitcoin is just not not simply utilized by “criminals who need privateness,” opposite to some critics. He stated that political dissidents and common residents may have a necessity to make use of Bitcoin as governments can management financial institution accounts and funds.
His assertion about crime is supported by some statistics. Knowledge from Elliptic means that lower than 5% of all crypto transactions have been associated to crime since 2016.
Nonetheless, different research counsel that 46% of Bitcoin transactions have been utilized in criminality as not too long ago as 2018. As such, the true quantity of crypto-related crime is unknown.
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