U.S. Representative French Hill, chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion, has spoken out against one aspect of the digital assets bill proposed by Senator Elizabeth Warren.
At a February 15 hearing, "Cryptocrime in Context," Congressman Hill and other U. S. lawmakers asked #cryptocurrency experts whether digital asset miners and validators should be subject to rules similar to those currently applied to financial institutions. Senator Warren's bill, the Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act, proposes to amend the Bank Secrecy Act to apply new standards to cryptocurrency providers to combat the financing of terrorist organizations.
Representative Hill hinted that changing the requirements for miners and validators would "do nothing" to stop terrorist organizations using #cryptocurrencies. The Massachusetts representative did not explicitly mention his bill, which Michael Mosier, co-founder of Arktouros and former acting director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, said states that much of the illegal financing of cryptocurrencies is done through centralized exchanges. He said.
Miners and validators basically generate blocks, validate them and operate as internet service providers," Mosier said. It's not something that can extend the [Know Your Customer] requirements in terms of just processing data.
Mosier adds:
"Neither validators nor miners have customers. They're randomized. They can't choose them.
The hearing was the second House of Commons committee meeting in the past four months on the illegal use of cryptocurrencies with a focus on terrorist financing. The chairman of the full committee, Congressman Patrick McHenry, announced in December that he would not be up for re-election in 2024, and depending on the outcome of the election, leadership could go to Democrats or Republicans.
Since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, the issue of terrorist financing through cryptocurrencies has been a growing concern in the U. S.
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