BTC Soars As Biden Administration Fights Crypto Ownership

Bitcoin just bounced off a historic line of support at $20,000. This is happening as the Biden Administration launches an all-out attack on cryptocurrency and the 50 million American citizens and voters who own digital assets.

The New York Times says that the latest jab comes from President Biden’s “dead on arrival” tax plan, which would put a 30% tax on the energy used to mine Bitcoin.

The plan would also stop crypto investors from selling assets at a loss and buying them back quickly to save on taxes.

This comes after news that the US government just sent $217 million in seized Bitcoin to the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, where it can be sold on the open market.

It also comes after the crypto-friendly bank Silvergate shut down, citing pressure from the U.S. Department of Justice and other regulators, as well as the failure of the offshore crypto exchange FTX.

Gary Gensler, the head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, has been pushing for months to call every digital asset except Bitcoin a security. The Biden Administration is now trying to crack down on this rapidly growing global industry.

This week, a judge in New York slammed the agency for trying to stop bankruptcy proceedings for the troubled cryptocurrency lender Voyager by saying that a token meant to help customers pay back loans might be a security.

Chairman Gensler also disagrees with Rostin Behnam, the head of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission. Behnam just said again that he doesn’t think Ethereum, the second-largest crypto asset, is a security.

Grayscale’s lawsuit against the SEC over Bitcoin ETFs may be moving in a good direction.

This week, a group of judges from the District of Columbia Court of Appeals asked why the SEC would let the launch of a Bitcoin futures ETF but not a Bitcoin spot ETF.

Reuters quotes Judge Neomi Rao as saying:

“It seems like it’s fine for an agency to say okay, we need some more information, but it seems there’s quite a bit of information here on how these markets work together, and the SEC has not offered any explanation… that the petitioners here are wrong.”

The US government is trying to put pressure on the crypto industry and its investors, which has led to a sharp drop in the price of bitcoin.

The most valuable cryptocurrency started the week at $22,400 and is now worth $20,342, which is a 7.5% drop in the last 24 hours.