U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Senator Sherrod Brown that the Treasury Department could use more powers to combat the alleged use of cryptocurrencies by terrorist groups during a congressional hearing.
The Ohio Democrat believed to hold the purse strings on future cryptocurrency legislation is At a Senate Banking Committee hearing Thursday, Yellen was asked what updates the Treasury Department needs to address the issue. Most of the hearing focused on discussion of the economy as a whole, but some Democrats questioned Yellen about the use of cryptocurrencies by malicious actors.
“We know that terrorist groups like Hamas, Al Qaeda, and Hezbollah have used digital assets to raise and transfer funds. We have important tools to counter illicit finance, but many of them have been used since 9/11. It goes back to later times.” “As terrorists continue to innovate, should we update our counter-terrorism tools to address the risks posed by digital assets? Mr. Secretary.”
Yellen said the Treasury could use additional authority.
“We have a lot of authority that allows us to act, but we’ve found a lot of loopholes in the authority and we’ve compiled a list of proposals for ways that the Treasury’s authority can and should be strengthened,” Yellen said.
Brown, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, called Discussions are underway to crack down on the use of cryptocurrencies to finance terrorism. On legislation aimed at using digital assets for money laundering Politico.
Promoting legislation to prevent terrorist financing
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) asked Yellen during Thursday’s hearing what she thought of her recent actions. legislationIt was necessary to crack down on the ability of terrorist groups to use cryptocurrencies.
Senators Warner, D-Va., Mike Rounds, R.D., Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Mitt Romney, R-Utah, seek to extend the Treasury Department’s authority beyond the 2015 law. The expanded Terrorism Financing Prevention Act was proposed in December. It mainly focused on Hezbollah.
The new law allows the agency to identify and then sanction foreign financial institutions and foreign digital asset companies that knowingly facilitate the dealings of Hamas and other groups.
“We agree that there are limitations facing the Treasury, and we certainly support the goals of the bill,” Yellen said. “It will help give us the power to better respond to very serious threats.”
“I would consider that an endorsement,” Warner said.
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