Cryptocurrency News: Elizabeth Warren Speaks Out About The Flaws

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has spoken out again about cryptocurrency, expressing skepticism over its environmental impacts and stability.

In an interview Friday with Yahoo Finance, the former presidential candidate said that it’s time the government stepped in to protect small investors and reign in the titanic electrical costs of cryptocurrency mining.

“I also think with bitcoin, and with the other cryptocurrencies, I think there's a real issue about the environmental impact as well, this whole notion of how much energy is consumed just to keep the currency tracking going,” she said.

Many cryptocurrencies allow participants in the network to mine for more by completing intensive calculations, pushing demand for ever more powerful computers and the power they need to run.

Currency mining has become a large enough industry to overtake entire countries in power consumption and threaten the success of the Paris climate accords.

“You don't consume that kind of energy, in order to have money on deposit at a bank or a mutual fund,” Warren said. “In that sense, Bitcoin is very different and in the 21st century, we're becoming a lot more sensitive to the worldwide impacts of the choices we make.”

Warren's concerns went beyond the carbon footprint. In March, the Democrats' most prominent consumer advocate echoed comments from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen calling cryptocurrency “speculative in nature and going to end badly."

Debate over the massive fluctuations common in cryptocurrency stocks has been reignited after Elon Musk’s performance on “Saturday Night Live” sent dogecoin spiraling. The instability continued through Sunday morning, dropping the price of one Dogecoin from $0.66 to $0.43.

Though Dogecoin has since rebounded, those kinds of peaks and valleys are considered more dangerous for small investors. Personal investing app Robinhood drew increased ire Sunday after its platform temporarily went down during the frenzy.