Joe Biden Can Launch Crypto Winter, The Question Is If He Will

Two articles jumped at me this week. The first was an opinion piece in Politico, claiming that ‘Bitcoin is the next climate fight for democrats’, the second an article in Barron’s, a dinosaur publication of Wall Street, that titled ‘White House Wants Crypto Rules as a Matter of National Security.’

Matt Hougan, CIO of crypto platform Bitinvest, stated:

In my humble opinion the pending release of Biden’s Executive Order on crypto is like Groundhog Day for this pullback. If it’s strongly anti-crypto, we’ll see our shadow and have months more of crypto winter. If it’s at all balanced, we’re in for an early spring.

Midterms and Bitcoin mining

It’s clear that the current revival or a further downing of Bitcoin depends not only on the Federal Reserve’s actions but also on possible White House action in great part. Joe Biden has tried to pass a crypto bill since last year, but now it is more urgent than ever.

Fact of the matter is that Democrats have been unable to pass any major legislation so far in Joe Biden’s presidency and face a loss (against Republicans) in the upcoming Midterms. This could spell great trouble for the US at first and for the world economy in a ripple effect, because it would basically paralyze Biden for the next two years.

The Democrats therefore need an enemy they can defeat (to score a political win) and some fresh money to support their fledging political campaigns. For them, solving climate change by reducing crypto mining seems like the easy win they desperately need. Get money from classic banks who fear the rise of crypto to score a win against energy consuming Bitcoin mining (which mostly takes place in Texas, a Republican led-state).

Senator Elizabeth Warren, who’s spearheading the criticism, stated:

The extraordinarily high energy usage and carbon emissions associated with Bitcoin mining could undo much of our work to tackle the climate crisis — not to mention the harmful impacts cryptomining has on local environments and electricity prices.

It is time for Congress and federal regulators to step up and address the serious risks that crypto poses to our economy and our environment.

Don’t be mistaken by Senator Elizabeth Warren’s left-wing’s credential. If she can choose between accepting money from major bank donors for her upcoming Midterm campaign or downing the crypto investments of younger millennial voters, she’ll choose the former.

President Joe Biden, who owes Warren his presidency (without her staying on for Super Tuesday, Vermont Senator Sanders would have been the probable Democratic Presidential Nominee), could therefore indeed decide to launch crypto winter.