On November 16, the Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy unveiled the concept of the Three Freedoms of Crypto. In his words, it would “guarantee a bright future for crypto and economic freedom for Americans.”
15 years ago, U.S. taxpayers were forced to bail out big banks, brokering an arranged marriage between big banks & big government that has poisoned the proper functioning of capitalism. The crypto movement was born as an alternative to that ignominy. The policy I… pic.twitter.com/tiLcrcx8rW
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) November 16, 2023
«15 years ago American taxpayers were forced to bail out big banks, brokering an arranged marriage between big banks and big government that has poisoned the proper functioning of capitalism. The cryptocurrency movement was born as an alternative to this ignominy», — said the politician at the North American Blockchain Summit in Fort Worth, Texas.
As the name suggests, the concept comprises three points:
- Freedom to write code: developers have the right to write and publish code.
- Freedom of financial autonomy: users must enjoy the freedom to be financially independent and autonomous.
- Freedom from overregulation: projects should be free from excessive regulation and uncertainty.
«Using this policy as a basis will allow us to free American innovators from the administrative state that pursues innovation and stifles it. This is the right path», stressed Ramaswamy.
He argued that developers of smart-contract code should not be liable for actions of people using the code. As an example, he cited Tornado Cash, noting that sanctions on mixing services violate the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
«When you take the example, say, the case against the guys from Tornado Cash, set aside the details of whether what was done was right or wrong. You cannot prosecute developers of code. What you really need to do is prosecute individual criminals who already break existing laws», — noted the candidate for the presidency.
Ramaswamy also pledged to bring clarity to the regulatory framework that would allow crypto projects to avoid claims by the SEC for a period after their launch in selling unregistered securities. In addition, the concept calls for preventing any federal agency from creating rules that would restrict the use of self-custody wallets.
In August 2022, OFAC placed the Tornado Cash website on the sanctions list, through which, according to the agency, criminals laundered more than $7 billion in cryptocurrency. Over $455 million of that is linked to the North Korean Lazarus Group.
Kraken CEO Jesse Powell called sanctions against the mixer unconstitutional, while TRM Labs analysts called it a compliance challenge.
Members of a decentralized autonomous organization Tornado DAO urged the community to hire a team of lawyers to challenge the service’s blocking. Later, Coin Center, a crypto-industry–focused rights group, announced its intention to challenge the US restrictions.
On August 12, Dutch authorities arrested Tornado Cash developer Alexey Percev for suspected involvement in laundering funds and concealing illicit financial flows. He denied all charges.
In April 2023 the court altered Percev’s bail conditions to house arrest.
In August the U.S. Department of Justice charged two Tornado Cash co-founders—Roman Storm and Roman Semenov—with money laundering and sanctions violations. The first was arrested in Washington state, the second was charged in absentia.
Subsequently, Storm’s attorney reported his release on bail. According to the lawyer, the prosecutors’ approach in the case carries “dangerous consequences” for all software developers.
In August, Ramaswamy criticised the digital dollar and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen for promoting CBDC.