The cryptocurrency community in the U.S. might be hit with a new set of regulations to govern its activities. While no one is currently sure how stiff the new rules would be, they will be revealed by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). The development was unveiled by the Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin while he spoke before the Senate Finance Committee.
Mnuchin was asked a question about cryptocurrency, which spurred the response. Senator Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) asked the Secretary about the proposed increase in the institution’s budget and whether or not it will sanitize the crypto sector. The senator wanted to know if the Treasury had any plans to closely monitor illicit crypto activity and how it planned to tackle criminals who use crypto to facilitate their crimes.
In response, Mnuchin said that “significant new requirements” were in the works and there is some collaborative effort between the Treasury Department and FinCEN. He added that:
“We want to make sure that technology moves forward but, on the other hand, we want to make sure that cryptocurrencies aren’t used for the equivalent of old Swiss secret number bank accounts.”
Last year, a similar announcement was made when Congressman Emanuel Cleaver II of the 5th district of Missouri said the Treasury Department will investigate Facebook’s Libra for systemic risk.
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