Fake letter claims Elizabeth Warren wants 1% crypto wealth tax

This morning, Crypto Twitter widely shared an official-looking document that supposedly detailed a request by Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren to impose a 1% wealth tax on personal crypto holdings exceeding $500,000.

Just one problem: The letter was fake.

Although Senator Warren is famously antagonistic toward crypto — even spawning a derogatory meme coin making fun of her staunch opposition — she didn’t sign a letter seeking “the imposition of a 1% wealth tax on cryptocurrency holdings exceeding $500,000 for individuals, trusts, and entities.” In fact, nobody signed that letter.

The hoaxer revealed the troll in the spelling of Warren’s name, purposefully substituting the character Z for S in her first name.

Apparently this recent Warren letter suggesting a 1% tax and mandatory reporting is fake.

Check her misspelled name at the bottom. It’s also not on her website.

The sad part is that it is beyond believable that she would make these types of policy suggestions. pic.twitter.com/fftdy6j7Q2
— Dennis Porter (@Dennis_Porter_) April 22, 2024

Elizabeth Warren haters succumb to confirmation bias

Even traditionally careful Bitcoiners were overtaken by confirmation bias. This included Jameson Lopp who, as of publication time, still hasn’t deleted his misguided promotion of the fake. It’s been several hours since commenters debunked its veracity.

Lopp was far from being the only high-profile crypto personality who was fooled. Some deleted their gleeful applause after they realized their mistake while others have apparently still not noticed.

Confirmation bias is one of the most common cognitive fallacies. All humans tend to believe information more quickly if it supports their prior beliefs. Because crypto users already believed that Warren was predisposed to enact anti-crypto tax legislation, a faker easily fooled them with nothing more than an official-looking letter on US Senate letterhead.

I’ll leave the US and renounce my citizenship if this bullshit passes

Apple’s market cap is the size of the entire crypto market. Where the wealth tax on tradfi assets? https://t.co/Kil7zeXo9P
— Matt (@mattmaximo1) April 22, 2024

A man is ready to renounce his US citizenship over deepfaked news.

Generally speaking, Senator Warren has previously supported some forms of wealth taxes. For example, she co-signed an act that floated the possibility of taxing fortunes above $50 million with a 2% tax. However, she’s not suggested taxing crypto wealth above $500,000 at a 1% rate. That’s just simple, fake news.

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