Elizabeth Warren, a US Senator, is requesting a report on the agency’s latest findings and initiatives on the use of cryptocurrencies in the illegal fentanyl market.

Senators Seek Update on Anti-Crypto Measures in Drug Trafficking

Senators Warren and William Cassidy said in a May 29 letter, “[We] seek an update on the Biden Administration’s actions to crack down on drug traffickers’ exploitation of crypto to grow their business and launder their ill-gotten gains.”

With most of it ending up in the United States for consumption, the letter, directed to Office of National Drug Control Policy director Rahul Gupta and the Drug Enforcement Agency’s administrator Anne Melissa Milgram, reaffirmed their long-running contention that cryptocurrencies have “played an increasingly prominent role” in the fentanyl trade.

Warren and Cassidy want the agencies to respond by June 14 regarding how important they believe cryptocurrencies to be in drug trafficking, what fresh projects will be carried out in the next 12 months, and what criteria will be used to gauge the success of reducing illicit cryptocurrency use in the fentanyl trade.

The two senators also inquired about the challenges your offices face in trying to stop the use of cryptocurrencies in illicit drug trades.

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The senators used a May 2023 probe to reveal that 80 Chinese firms providing fentanyl precursors paid about $30 million in cryptocurrencies to make their case.

“This is enough to buy the required precursors to generate a startling $54 billion worth of fentanyl pills.”

Warren has previously been criticized for using erroneous statistics in her anti-crypto agenda.

In a letter on illegal cryptocurrency activity, Warren mentioned in an October 2023 The Wall Street Journal report on the degree to which Hamas funded its terrorism operations linked to the Israel-Palestine war using cryptocurrencies.

Though the WSJ subsequently corrected the reported facts, Warren did not publicly react.

John Deaton, a U.S. attorney and XRP advocate, is looking forward to occupying Warren’s Senate seat in Massachusetts.

Deaton remarked at Consensus, “I savor the day I stand on a stage with her and we discuss income disparity [and] the opioid problem.”