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A bipartisan duo of senators in the United States have sent an inquiry to government agencies concerning the efforts to combat the use of cryptocurrency in the illicit fentanyl market.<\/p>\n
Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and William Cassidy (R-La.) have sent a letter<\/a> to the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Drug Enforcement Administration<\/a>, which reads:<\/p>\n [We] seek an update on the Biden Administration\u2019s actions to crack down on drug traffickers\u2019 exploitation of crypto to grow their business and launder their ill-gotten gains<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Senators claim that cryptocurrencies have become increasingly prominent in the fentanyl trade, with much of the drug ending up in the United States for consumption. The letter, addressed to ONDCP director Rahul Gupta and DEA administrator Anne Melissa Milgram, asks the agencies to provide answers by June 14.<\/p>\n The senators are requesting information regarding the significance of cryptocurrency in drug trafficking; new initiatives to be implemented in the next 12 months; metrics for measuring success; and challenges faced by their offices in those efforts. The senators cited data showing that Chinese companies supplying fentanyl precursors received nearly $30 million in crypto, which they claim is enough to produce $54 billion worth of fentanyl.<\/p>\n Warren has been previously criticized for citing misconstrued data<\/a> in her anti-crypto agenda. In a letter addressing illicit cryptocurrency activity, she cited an article that had incorrectly stated the extent of Hamas\u2019s use of cryptocurrency. Though The Wall Street Journal later corrected the article she cited, Warren did not publicly respond.<\/p>\n This development follows late April reports that a collaboration among law enforcement in India and the United States has led to the discovery of a cryptocurrency drug ring worth $360 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nQuestioning the crypto fentanyl trade<\/h2>\n