Elizabeth Warren’s bill ‘does nothing’ to stop terrorist financing through crypto – US lawmaker
US Representative Frances Hill, chair of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion, has opposed one aspect of Senator Elizabeth Warren's bill on digital assets.
During a Feb. 15 hearing on “Crypto Crime in Context,” Rep. Hill and other U.S. lawmakers called on experts from the crypto space to subject digital asset miners and verifiers to the same laws that currently apply to financial institutions. Senator Warren's bill, the Digital Asset Anti-Counterfeiting Act, proposes amending the Bank Secrecy Act to impose new standards on crypto providers to combat the financing of terrorist organizations.
Rep. Hill said changing the requirements for miners and validators “does nothing” to stop terrorist organizations from using crypto. He did not specifically mention the Massachusetts Enter Math. According to Arcturos co-founder Michael Mosier, former acting director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the vast majority of illegal financing in crypto goes through centralized exchanges.
“Miners and validators are basically producing blocks and validating blocks, and they're acting like Internet service providers,” Mosier said. “It's not something we buy. [Know Your Customer] It's just information in progress,” he said.
Mosier added:
“There is no client for a validator or a miner – it's a mathematical process. Those are random. You can't choose them.”
The hearing is the second time in the past four months that a House committee has focused on the illegal use of cryptocurrency, focusing on the financing of terrorism. Representative Patrick McHenry, who chairs the full committee, announced in December that he would not seek re-election in 2024.
RELATED: Blockchain Society Calls Out Elizabeth Warren's Law on Digital Assets
Following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, calls for action on the issue of crypto-terrorist financing have been growing within the US government, with many supporting Senator Warren's bill. Chainalysis reported on February 15 that the amount of cryptocurrency transactions related to illegal activities decreased by more than 29% from 2022 to 2023 – from $31.5 billion to $22.2 billion.
Magazine: Legislators' fear and skepticism fuel proposed crypto regulations in the US.
