US Intelligence Concerned About Chinese Influence Over Crypto

This week, the US intelligence community has voiced concerns about the influence that the Chinese Communist Party holds over virtual currencies.

The concerns were raised by one of Donal Trump’s spy chiefs, who has sought scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Calls are also being made to draw cryptocurrency, central bank digital currency, and e-cash to combat Beijing on multiple fronts, in a competition for leadership of the global economy. The spy chief’s claims have been backed up by some experts, who also believe that China is leaving the US for dust in the digital currency race.

How China’s New Cryptocurrency Could Challenge Facebook’s Libra | WSJ

Throwback to Trump Administration vs Huawei

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen the Trump Administration make such a call to arms against Beijing, however. The current US Government reacted similarly when Chinese tech giant Huawei was successful in conquering a large proportion of the global 5G technology market. That move led to a ban of Huawei in the US, with the Trump Administration claiming the Chinese could use the 5G equipment to spy on US citizens and officials.

China Dominates Crypto Mining

Part of the reason for the Trump Administrations concerns are thanks to global crypto mining operations. In the letter penned to the SEC by John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence, it was claimed that over half of the world’s current crypto mining operations are in China. The letter also contained information claiming that the Chinese government is planning to make its own state controlled digital currency. If true, it would become the first ever centralized cryptocurrency and would make things extremely tough for US based competition.

Overall, the aim of the letter sent by Mr. Ratcliffe to the SEC was to persuade the SEC to put rules in place that would allow US owned crypo companies to more easily compete with their Chinese counterparts.