Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has penned a sharply worded letter sent Wednesday to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Fed Chair Jerome Powell that has drawn a hard line against the possibility of government intervention in the cryptocurrency market.
She is formally demanding that the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department refuse any taxpayer-funded bailouts for crypto billionaires.
The ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee addressed the recent market turmoil that has seen Bitcoin shed approximately 50% of its value since its peak in October.
Using taxpayer dollars for bailing out crypto tycoons would be "deeply unpopular." Such an intervention would essentially act as a wealth transfer from everyday Americans to crypto elites.
According to the Senator, the current sell-off has been exacerbated by "cascading liquidations of leveraged positions."
Warren's letter cited reports that Binance founder Changpeng Zhao has lost nearly $30 billion. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has taken a $7 billion hit to his net worth. MicroStrategy, the corporate Bitcoin holding giant led by billionaire Michael Saylor, has also seen its stock tumble nearly 20% since the start of the year.
During the February 6 session, Secretary Bessent was pressed on whether taxpayer money would be deployed into crypto assets to bail out the industry. Bessent noted that the government is "retaining seized Bitcoin" in response.
"Rather than giving a simple 'no,' he deflected," Warren wrote. "It's deeply unclear what, if any, plans the U.S. government currently has to intervene in the current Bitcoin selloff."
She explicitly instructed the agencies to avoid "propping up Bitcoin" through direct asset purchases, federal guarantees, or special liquidity facilities.
Stricter regulations
Warren closed her letter by reiterating her long-standing call for stricter regulations to shield everyday investors. She pointed out that a record $17 billion was lost to cryptocurrency fraud and theft in 2025. federal financial agencies, she concluded, "must strengthen protections for retail crypto investors."
Neither the Treasury Department nor the Federal Reserve have publicly responded to the letter.
Vladislav Sopov
Dan Burgin
