Online onslaught unleashed by members of the cryptocurrency community has attracted strong criticism from lobbying groups
In a letter to members of the European Parliament (MEP) obtained by Politico, the European Crypto Initiative (EUCI) strongly condemned recent attacks on the lawmakers who voted in favor of clamping down on unhosted cryptocurrency wallets.
The EUCI calls such behavior “unacceptable,” adding that it is committed to work that is “constructive” and “responsive.”
Blockchain for Europe, another lobbying group, wrote that there is no place for verbal abuse.
Assita Kanko, a Belgian journalist and politician from the New Flemish Alliance, and Aurore Lalucq, a French economist and politician in the Place Publique party, were the main targets of racist and sexist attacks on social media since these two MEPs spearheaded the effort to make anonymous cryptocurrency transactions illegal.
As reported by U.Today, the European Parliament voted to effectively prohibit anonymity in crypto in late March. Crypto companies will be required to check the sender and recipient of every transaction regardless of its size.
The new measure attracted scathing criticism within the cryptocurrency community, with some of the most prominent voices within the industry adding more fuel to the fire. In a tweet, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong opined that imposing KYC on anonymous transactions “eviscerates” all of the work in the realm of privacy law and policy that has been done by the EU.
However, it should be noted that the controversial amendments are not final. They will become the subject of the upcoming trilogue negotiations that could still make a difference.
Both Kanko and Lalucq have indicated that they want to have a constructive dialogue with the industry.