ShapeShift responds to Sen. Warren’s comments to ‘set the record straight’

Non-custodial crypto platform ShapeShift refuted United States Senator Elizabeth Warren’s claims of “illicit financing,” suggesting that she used the platform as a scapegoat to “push” her latest crypto bill, according to a recent statement.

ShapeShift stated in a tweet on Feb. 19 that Warren made “mistakes” in her “analysis” of the platform at a recent senate banking committee hearing entitled, Crypto Crash: Why Financial System Safeguards are Needed for Digital Assets, on Feb. 14.

On Valentine’s Day, @SenWarren attempted to use ShapeShift as an example to push her latest crypto bill.

Unfortunately, there were mistakes in the Senator’s analysis, and we’d like to take the opportunity to set the record straight

— ShapeShift (@ShapeShift) February 18, 2023

In a follow-up tweet, ShapeShift denied Warren’s comments regarding its involvement with “illicit financing,” stating it “never handles user funds” and has no ability to “facilitate this.”

This comes after Warren suggested at the senate hearing that ShapeShift had ulterior motives for restructuring itself as a DeFi platform in July 2021.

Warren suggested that the restructure was to encourage people to “launder” money on the platform.

Shapeshift also clarified that it is “not an exchange,” elaborating that it is an open-source crypto dashboard that “connects users” to different protocols and platforms.

It added that it cares about the “same things” as Warren, citing “user safety” and “access to innovation” as a mutual focus.

ShapeShift encouraged Warren and others to “constructively engage” in the topic of financial freedom and innovation with its community, sharing a link to its discussion forum.

This comes only a day after Erik Vorhees, CEO of ShapeShift, took to his personal Twitter on Feb. 18, stating that he is looking forward to Warren “submitting a proposal” to the Shapeshift DAO governance process, in response to her criticism of the platform.

Related: US Sen. Elizabeth Warren says crypto will ruin economy — Community responds

Warren has been a vocal crypto skeptic in recent times, having made comments in an interview on Jan. 25, suggesting that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) should “double down” on its crypto enforcement efforts, as the crypto industry is scared for what’s to come next.

She claimed that the previous SEC administration “essentially gave the green light” to open up a cryptocurrency market “full of junk tokens, unregistered securities, rug pulls, Ponzi schemes, pump and dumps, money laundering and sanctions evasions.”

Cointelegraph reached out to ShapeShift for comment but did not receive a response by publication.