Another anti-crypto-skeptic United States senator is on the loose, with Democrat Jon Tester boldly declaring that he sees “no reason why” cryptocurrency should exist.
Tester is Montana’s senior senator and has held the seat since 2007. He also serves on the Senate Banking Committee, one of the key players involved in the ongoing debate over US cryptocurrency regulation.
During a Dec. 11 appearance on NBC Meet the pressTester argued that since cryptocurrency has no real value at all, the industry should not be regulated as this would give it legitimacy.
“It hasn’t passed the smell test for me. I haven’t been able to find anyone who has been able to explain to me what’s in there other than synthetics […] which means nothing,” he said, adding that:
“The problem is if we regulate it, and I pointed this out to some of the regulators here a week or two ago, if we regulate it, it might give people a chance to think it’s real.”
In line with this thinking, Tester went on to state that he “sees no reason why these things should exist.”
The crypto community wasn’t shy about condemning the senator’s anti-crypto remarks and his self-admitted lack of cryptographic knowledge, with @BS0064 saying that “it’s always good to see people who have no idea what they’re talking about have strong opinions on this issue.”
Additionally, @blocknonprofit countered: “It’s real… imagine all these cryptocurrencies are just tech stocks that don’t trade on the traditional exchanges used today.”
Tester’s latest comments on the tests come just weeks after he told media start-up Semafor that the industry was “total bullshit” and that he couldn’t “figure out who is supporting it”.
The Semaphore’s Dec. 1 article was also peppered with negative crypto stances from many Democratic senators, with crypto-hater Elizabeth Warren strongly interjecting, noting, “finally, there are more people blowing the stupid whistle.”
Bernie Sanders was at least more diplomatic, stating that he is not a big fan of cryptocurrencies.
Related: Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee are warning SoFi about meeting the compliance deadline
Commenting on the article via Twitter, Semafor Washington editor Jordan Weisman suggested that since the FTX debacle disappeared, “the dems suddenly feel free to say what they really think about the crypto industry.”
After FTX, Dems suddenly feel free to say what they really think about the crypto industry.
Jon Tester told our reporter yesterday that he thought the whole thing was “nonsense.” Warren, Brown and Sanders also had names. https://t.co/LzbCM9SkJD
— Jordan Weissmann (@JHWeissmann) December 1, 2022
