Known Crypto-Hater Sherman to Chair Congressional Subcommittee on Investor Protection

The anti-crypto United States Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA) has been elected to serve as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship and Capital Markets.

On Dec. 5, Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee Maxine Waters (D-CA) announced that Sherman was elected to take up the position of Chair at the subcommittee that oversees the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the New York Stock Exchange and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Sherman vs crypto and maybe the internet

Sherman, who is an American politician serving as a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives since 1997, is known to be a formidable opponent of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general.

Largely pro-crypto congressman and Sherman’s colleague on the Financial Services committee Warren Davidson (R-OH) recently told Cointelegraph that Sherman really doesn’t like anything in the cryptocurrency space. Davidson went on to say:

“In my view, [Sherman’s] goal is essentially to try to ban the internet. He’s like ‘we’re going to ban crypto, we need to ban crypto, the only reason to have any crypto asset is to launder money and evade taxes. Go back, rewind the tape. Every hearing on crypto, that’s Brad Sherman. He doesn’t like the space.”

Sherman has expressed opposition to any money that challenges the U.S. dollar’s role as global reserve currency. He continues to argue for an outright ban on cryptocurrency. This outspoken negative stance towards crypto earned him some criticism from Bitcoin bull Max Keiser, who said that Sherman is going to a gunfight with a knife, adding: 

“He has failed to take on board exactly what the dimension of this battle is going to be [...] He doesn’t understand he’s already lost.”

Crypto could ‘displace or interfere with dollar’

In October, Sherman appeared to give unlikely weight to the idea that a disruptive financial instrument, such as cryptocurrencies, can succeed in taking power away from the dollar. He said:

“Cryptocurrency either doesn’t work, in which case investors lose a lot of money, or it does achieve its objectives perhaps and displaces the U.S. dollar or interferes with the U.S. dollar being virtually the sole reserve currency in the world.”