Presidential Candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. May 3rd Addressed concerns about cryptocurrencies by denouncing the 30% crypto mining tax proposed by the Biden administration.
Kennedy says crypto regulation is a power grab
Kennedy, who is running for the 2024 US presidential election, said in a Twitter thread:
“Bitcoin-led cryptocurrencies are major innovation engines along with other cryptocurrency technologies… Biden’s proposed 30% tax on cryptocurrency mining is a bad idea.”
Kennedy argued that the proposed regulation of cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency mining was politically motivated. He called the debate about Bitcoin’s high energy consumption a “selective pretext” to control threats to elite power structures.
He further argued that the US economy would be more resilient if Bitcoin and many other currencies became available alongside the US dollar.
The Biden administration’s plan to introduce a 30% mining tax was previously reported on May 2nd. The tax potential was also discussed in the March tax plan.
RFK Jr. Claims Gaming Is As Demanding As Mining
Kennedy has admitted that the energy consumption associated with Bitcoin mining is a “concern.” However, he argued that mining uses about the same amount of energy as video games, and pointed out that games are not facing regulatory demands.
Kennedy did not disclose where he got the data. However, one possible source is Estimates for 2020 This suggests that video games consume 104.7 TWh of energy annually worldwide.In contrast, Cambridge University data suggests Bitcoin mining now uses 131.53 TWh total annual energy.
Kennedy Questions Bitcoin’s Criminal Use
Kennedy also argued, contrary to some critics, that Bitcoin is not only used by “privacy-seeking criminals.” He said dissidents and ordinary citizens may also need to use bitcoin because governments can control bank accounts and payments.
His claims about crime are backed up by some statistics. According to Elliptic data, since 2016, less than 5% of all his cryptocurrency transactions have been linked to crime.
However, other studies 46% of Bitcoin transactions It was recently used for illegal activities until 2018. As such, the true amount of crypto-related crime is unknown.
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