US senators Elizabeth Warren and Bill Cassidy have written a letter expressing concern about the use of cryptocurrency to facilitate the trafficking of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
The senators highlight the pseudonymity provided by cryptocurrencies, which enable the rapid movement of payments for CSAM into the crypto world.
A report from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis identifies cryptocurrency-based sales of CSAM as a growing problem, with Bitcoin being the most widely used cryptocurrency for purchasing CSAM.
Senators Warren and Cassidy demand clarification from the US Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security on the assessment of cryptocurrency's role in facilitating CSAM, the steps taken to combat it, and the challenges posed by privacy coins and obscurification methods.