Bitcoin Bounces at $20,000 As Biden Administration Fights 50 Million American Citizens Who Own Cryptocurrency

Bitcoin just bounced off a historic line of support at $20,000 as the Biden Administration launches an all-out assault on cryptocurrency and the 50 million registered American voters who own digital assets.

The latest jab stems from President Biden’s dead on arrival tax plan, which would impose a 30% tax on the energy used for Bitcoin mining, reports the New York Times.

The plan would also stop crypto investors from selling assets at a loss and quickly rebuying them in order to save on taxes, reports Bloomberg.

This follows news that the US government just sent $217 million in confiscated Bitcoin to the crypto exchange Coinbase, where it could be sold on the open market.

It also comes amid the liquidation of the crypto-friendly bank Silvergate, which cited pressure from the U.S. Department of Justice and other regulators, as well as the collapse of the crypto exchange FTX, in its decision to close its doors.

The Biden Administration’s attempts to hammer the exponentially growing and global crypto industry follow a months-long campaign from U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler to label every digital asset aside from Bitcoin a security.

One such attempt received pushback from a judge in New York this week, who blasted the agency for trying to stop bankruptcy proceedings for the embattled crypto lender Voyager by claiming a token designed to help repay customers may be a security.

Chairman Gensler is also at odds with the head of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, Rostin Behnam, who just reiterated his belief that the second-largest crypto asset, Ethereum, is not a security.

Meanwhile, Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF lawsuit against the SEC may be headling in a positive direction.

This week, a panel of judges in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals questioned why the SEC would allow the launch of a Bitcoin futures ETF, but not a Bitcoin spot ETF.

Said Judge Neomi Rao, per Reuters:

“It seems like it’s fine for an agency to say okay, we need some more information, but it seems there’s quite a bit of information here on how these markets work together, and the SEC has not offered any explanation… that the petitioners here are wrong.”

Bitcoin’s price has dropped precipitously amid the US government’s push to squeeze the crypto industry and its investors.

The top crypto asset began the week at $22,400 and is worth $20,342 at time of publishing, down 7.5% in the last 24 hours.

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