Warren and Marshall Introduce Anti-Money Laundering Crypto Bill

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WASHINGTON Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Roger Marshall, R-Kan., introduced legislation Wednesday that would extend existing anti-money laundering laws and rules to cryptocurrency.

The Digital Assets Anti-Money Laundering Act would extend know-your-customer rules to crypto participants, including wallet providers and miners, and prevent financial institutions from doing business with crypto-mixers. digital assets. It would also give the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network the cover needed to implement a proposed rule that would require financial institutions to report certain transactions involving non-hosted wallets.

The bill, which is unlikely to pass in the final weeks of the current Congress, comes shortly after the dramatic arrest of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. The Senate Banking Committee, which includes both Warren and Marshall, held a hearing on FTX’s collapse shortly after the senators announced their legislation.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., On Wednesday introduced a bill with Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., that would apply anti-money laundering rules to cryptocurrency companies.

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Warren said the bill, if passed, would apply banking standards to the crypto industry.

“Rogue nations, oligarchs, drug lords and human traffickers use digital assets to launder billions in stolen funds, evade sanctions and fund terrorism,” Warren said in a statement. “The crypto industry should follow common sense rules like banks, brokers and Western Union, and this legislation would ensure that the same standards apply to similar financial transactions.”

The bill is also a rare piece of bipartisan legislation. Laws related to national security tend to get more bipartisan support, and this has been an effective way for financial policy bills, in particular. The Treasury Department, the senators said, has warned that digital assets are increasingly being used for money laundering, theft, fraud schemes and terrorist financing.

“After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, our government enacted significant reforms that helped banks cut bad actors out of the US financial system,” Marshall said. “Applying these similar policies to cryptocurrency exchanges will prevent the misuse of digital assets to fund illegal activities without limiting access for law-abiding U.S. citizens.”

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