The Biden administration is urging Congress to consider the most significant updates to Treasury sanctions authority since 2001.
This measure aims to better regulate the use of digital assets for financial transactions in regions affected by terrorism.
According to Bloomberg, US foreign trade representative Wally Adeyemo said it was necessary to introduce a “secondary sanctions regime”. These types of sanctions control a company or person within the US financial system because “they also put at risk any company that continues to do business with a sanctioned target,” he said.
Treasury “provided Congress with a set of common-sense recommendations to expand our authorities and expand our tools and resources to pursue illicit actors in the digital assets space,” Adeyemo added.
In recent months, US authorities have stepped up oversight of the cryptocurrency industry and are demanding stricter measures to combat the use of cryptocurrencies by terrorists.
Last month, US Senator Cynthia Lummis and Representative French Hill sent a letter to the Department of Justice asking it to “carefully evaluate the extent to which Binance and Tether provide material assistance and resources to support terrorism.”
US senators led by Elizabeth Warren also believe that cryptocurrencies remain one of the tools groups use to raise funds. They asked the administration to provide information on a plan to prevent the use of cryptocurrencies to finance terrorism.
However, Chainalysis analysts questioned the data in several reports on the use of cryptocurrencies to finance terrorism. In his opinion, these figures may be greatly exaggerated. According to the company’s estimates, only $450,000 of the $82 million previously announced in the media can be clearly attributed to funds intended to finance terrorist activities.
