U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren’s latest tweet about “sham crypto audits” and holding auditors “accountable” has caused a furor among the Twitter crypto community.
The community said the tweet was Warren’s latest attempt to demonize the crypto industry and called it “tone deaf” amid the banking crisis involving Silicon Valley Bank (SVB)
‘Sham audits’
Warren was tweeting in support of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) recently proclaiming that crypto companies’ proof-of-reserve audits are not up to standard and investors should “exercise extreme caution when relying on them.”
The PCAOB issued the advisory on March 8 and said it was driven by concerns that investors are placing too much trust in PoR reports. It said:
“Importantly, investors should note that PoR engagements are not audits and, consequently, the related reports do not provide any meaningful assurance to investors or the public.”
Warren said the move was a step in the right direction but called on the PCAOB to do more so “consumers aren’t left holding the bag when shady crypto firms collapse.”
Crypto Twitter up in arms
Crypto Twitter has been reeling from the USDC depeg caused by the SVB meltdown after Circle announced that roughly $3.3 billion of its cash reserves for the stablecoin were held at the collapsed bank. The community highlighted the multiple bank failures in recent days and asked whether the Senator doing anything about those as well.
Coin Metrics co-founder Nic Carter said responded to Warren’s tweet and questioned whether the Senator will “apologize” for causing a bank run at Silvergate Bank and “plunging the nation’s banks into chaos.”
Additionally, Carter said the PCAOB’s proclamation was misleading and part of Warren’s plan to stop auditors from servicing crypto firms.
Meanwhile, BlockTower Capital founder Ari Paul said in contrast to Warren’s claims Silvergate — which is a crypto-connected bank — has managed to honor all withdrawal requests, while the “far larger” non-crypto bank SVB has failed to do so and pushed a lot of “good companies into bankruptcy”
Other people echoed the sentiments and said Warren was “anti-innovation” and “politicizing banking.” Some went as far as to allege she was in cahoots with short-sellers and paid off, while some simply called her names for being disingenuous.
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