U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is demanding to know how the Biden administration is doing in throttling the use of cryptocurrencies in the trafficking of fentanyl, according to a letter she and another lawmaker sent to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Warren and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) asked for updates on “actions to crack down on drug traffickers’ exploitation of crypto to grow their business and launder their ill-gotten gains,” the letter said, arguing that “cryptocurrency has played an increasingly prominent role in the global fentanyl trade over the past decade, both in terms of facilitating the manufacturing and trafficking of fentanyl and in laundering drug cartels’ criminal proceeds.”
The U.S. Treasury Department and federal law enforcement agencies have pursued networks and individuals involved in the trafficking of fentanyl precursor chemicals.
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Warren suggested last year the need for laws to shut down use of digital assets in that segment of the global drug trade.
The senator faces election this year, and the announcement of her latest letter was made a few hours before the appearance at CoinDesk’s Consensus 2024 event of John Deaton, a crypto-supporting Republican trying to unseat the prominent lawmaker.