Senator denounces “anonymity” of crypto in crimes

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Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire has raised concerns about the use of cryptocurrency for illicit purposes and called on federal agencies to do something, The Hill reported.

Hassan, who is a member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, raised the issue amid a preponderance of ransomware and similar cyber attacks over the past year, which have gained momentum and has grown since the world had to go digital due to the pandemic. , according to the report.

The anonymity provided by the cryptocurrency has helped facilitate its use by criminals in multiple ways, she said, according to The Hill. These uses include dark web drug sales, payments for ransomware attacks, tax evasion, terrorist and organized crime financing, money laundering, and more.

Agencies she insisted in a Thursday, September 16 letter to take action include the Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), IRS, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Treasury Departments Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), according to the report.

She asked those agencies what they can do to regulate crypto, what other authorities they need, and whether crypto exchanges should have to reimburse victims of fraud from those exchanges, the report said but did not. detailed responses.

An example of a recent fraud Hassan gave from New Hampshire was a case in which $ 2.3 million was stolen from the city of Peterborough and converted into cryptocurrency, which made it impossible to recover, according to the report.

With more regulation looming, there were recent Capitol Hill debates that delayed the Senate’s $ 1,000 billion infrastructure package from August, and lawmakers should continue to dissect them. problems, according to the report.

Peter Diskin, deputy regional director at the SEC’s U.S. office in Atlanta, said last month that crimes involving cryptocurrency had become a trend.

Read more: Crypto scams are now a favored delinquency tool

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