By Blake Haas
BLOOMINGTON – Illinois Senior Senator Dick Durbin is warning investors to stay away from cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
Citing energy, security, and volatility concerns, Democratic Whip Durbin criticizes the Bitcoin market.
“Many ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) even disclose their holdings every day; after all, they have to. They’re required by law their regulated by the Security Exchange Commission (SEC). With cryptocurrency like bitcoin, there’s no such transparency. They’re decentralized, illiquid, and highly speculative.”
Last Tuesday, Senator Durbin sent a letter to Fidelity, urging the investment giant to refrain from offering cryptocurrencies to 401(K) plan participants. Fidelity announced in April that it would allow investors to put bitcoin into their plans later this year at a 20% cap.
“During this peroid of economic uncertainty, I can’t think of exposing any reason to exposing retirement savers to new risk,” added Durbin… “Retirement accounts must be held to a higher standard.”
According to PBS, the world’s bitcoin mining operations have an annual energy budget equal to the entire country of Argentina.
“Instead of encouraging working families to risk their hard-earned cash into remarkably unstable investments, let’s pump the breaks on the rocket to the moon.”
In June, Bitcoin plummeted to an 18-month low of $20,000 per Bitcoin.
Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected].
