The Republican senator on a crusade against crypto

Comments like those have set Marshall apart from the rest of his party when it comes to the issue of crypto. While several Democrats have taken to openly savaging the industry in the wake of its recent scandals, the deeply conservative Kansan is the first GOP senator to have openly joined the ranks of crypto skeptics.

In what’s perhaps the unlikeliest duo on crypto legislation so far, Marshall and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. rolled out a bill on Dec. 16 designed to crack down on digital assets that are used for money laundering. It would also require crypto exchanges to verify client information in a similar manner as banks, and impose other rules the financial industry already plays by.

Marshall told Semafor that Warren called shortly after he assailed crypto as a national security threat and unexpectedly said the government should impose a moratorium on all trading during a Senate Agriculture hearing on Dec 2. Warren pitched her plan afterward, and they drafted the legislation together. Thus was born the chamber’s latest legislative odd-couple.

His views have been shaped in part by conversations with national security officials at U.S. embassies during overseas trips with Congressional delegations. Marshall said they’re increasingly sounding the alarm about the use of digital tokens to facilitate sanctions evasion by rogue nations, human trafficking, and drug trafficking.

“Every one of them brings this issue up within a matter of minutes,” he said.

As for other Republicans? Marshall thinks some of his GOP colleagues quietly share his concerns — but wouldn’t name names. “Anybody that’s spoken to any national security folks realize what a huge concern this is,” he said.