Senator Hints at U.S. Crypto Ban

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), chair of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, suggested outlawing cryptocurrencies during a recent appearance on NBC's “Meet the Press.” He admitted, though, that outright banning cryptocurrencies would be difficult.

"Maybe banning it, although banning it is very difficult because it will go offshore and who knows how that will work," the lawmaker said.

The senator from Ohio has emphasized that cryptocurrency risks national security.

Brown on Sunday said the cryptocurrency market is a “complicated, unregulated pot of money” and the issue was much larger than FTX.

“So we’ve got to do this right,” the senator said, adding that he has talked to the Treasury Department to do a related assessment across regulatory agencies.

“I’ve spent much of the last eight years and a half in this job as chair of the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee,” Brown added “educating my colleagues and trying to educate the public about crypto and the dangers that it presents to our security as a nation and the consumers that get hoodwinked by them.”

Following the collapse of the FTX exchange, which sent shockwaves through the cryptocurrency industry and beyond, Brown urged Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to help rein cryptocurrency companies in late November. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) requested a blanket ban on Bitcoin in a letter to federal regulators back in 2014 in response to the failure of Mt. Gox, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world at the time.

Even harsh cryptocurrency critics concede the sector has grown too powerful. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), recently claimed that while the government didn't outright forbid Bitcoin in its early years, cryptocurrency proponents are now spending too much on lobbying for this to happen.

Governments could impose restrictions or outright bans on cryptocurrencies, as some nations have already done. Each nation has a unique approach to cryptocurrencies based on its financial and regulatory policies, but governments may impose various regulations. Some countries may also take additional measures, like outlawing cryptocurrency exchanges.

Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, stated last year that he had no plans to restrict or outlaw cryptocurrencies.