Coin Center says it won't answer Sen. Elizabeth Warren's letter and that it makes 'no apologies' for its work

Crypto advocacy group Coin Center has responded to a strongly worded letter from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass, who wanted to know how many former government officials the advocacy group had hired, supposedly to undermine legislative efforts. In its response, the group refused to answer her questions or back down from its work.

In December, Warren sent the letter in question to crypto exchange Coinbase and several industry groups, accusing them of "flexing a not-so secret weapon" of hiring former defense and law enforcement officials in an purported attempt to undermine Congressional efforts to address the alleged role of crypto in financing terrorist groups including Hamas.

"This abuse of the revolving door is appalling, revealing that the crypto industry is spending millions to give itself a veneer of legitimacy while fighting tooth and nail to stonewall common sense rules designed to restrict the use of crypto for terror financing – rules that could cut into crypto company profits," Warren said in the letter to Coin Center.

Coin Center's response

In its response, Coin Center began by stating that it had no obligation to answer her questions and refuting the notion that participation in public policy debates amounts to undermining Congressional efforts.

Coin Center claimed that bills Warren described as common sense rules are instead unfair, unworkable and unconstitutional. On this basis, it argued that it was right to oppose the bills and said that it makes no apologies for doing so.

"You have confused our patriotic duty to oppose an unconstitutional and draconian expansion of surveillance for political bias," the advocacy group wrote.

As for the use of crypto by organizations such as Hamas, Coin Center wrote that Warren's proposals would be ineffective and would waste time and energy that could be spent on proven approaches to prevent terrorist financing.

"If a gap exists it is in enforcement, and if you truly care about the effectiveness of antiterrorist efforts you would work on securing more funding for FinCEN, the FBI and DOJ's crypto enforcement units, and the like," said Coin Center.

Coin Center added that it was proud to support bipartisan efforts to understand and address the role of cryptocurrency in financing Hamas and other terrorist organizations, including a letter sent by lawmakers to the Treasury and the White House.

The end of the letter noted that the advocacy group declines to offer further answers to her questions — but that it would be open to "honest, respectful policy discussions" going ahead.