Robert Kennedy Jr. condemns Biden’s proposed 30% Bitcoin mining tax

Presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on May 3 condemned a 30% crypto mining tax proposed by the Biden administration and responded to considerations round crypto.

Kennedy says crypto regulation is an influence seize

Kennedy, who’s operating within the 2024 U.S. presidential elections, mentioned 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 nasty thought.”

Kennedy argued that proposals for controls on cryptocurrency and crypto mining are politically motivated. He known as arguments round Bitcoin’s excessive power consumption a “selective pretext” to manage threats towards elite energy buildings.

He additional argued that america financial system can be extra resilient if Bitcoin and plenty 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 May 2. The attainable tax was additionally mentioned in a tax plan in March.

RFK Jr. argues gaming is as demanding as mining

Kennedy conceded that power consumption concerned in Bitcoin mining is a “concern.” Nonetheless, he argued that mining makes use of roughly the identical quantity of power 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 attainable supply is a 2020 estimate from the mining group Braiins, which means that video gaming consumes 104.7 TWh of power per yr globally. Against this, Cambridge College knowledge means that Bitcoin mining at present makes use of 131.53 TWh of power per yr in whole.

Kennedy questions Bitcoin’s use in crime

Kennedy additionally argued that Bitcoin shouldn’t be not simply utilized by “criminals who need privateness,” opposite to some critics. He mentioned that political dissidents and common residents can also 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 less than 5% of all crypto transactions have been associated to crime since 2016.

Nonetheless, different research recommend that 46% of Bitcoin transactions had been utilized in criminality as just lately as 2018. As such, the true quantity of crypto-related crime is unknown.

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