Crypto policy advocacy group warns of 'disastrous' provision in a new US bill
Jerry Brito, the executive director of non-profit crypto policy advocate group Coin Center, suggested U.S. residents call their elected officials over possible privacy and due process concerns in a new bill proposed by House leaders.
According to a Wednesday Twitter thread from Brito, the America COMPETES Act recently released by House members contains a provision that he said would be “disastrous” for crypto users from both a privacy and due process standpoint. According to the Coin Center director, a section of the bill on the “prohibitions or conditions on certain transmittals of funds” proposed by Representative Jim Himes would give the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury “unchecked and unilateral power to ban exchanges and other financial institutions from engaging in cryptocurrency transactions.”
Under the proposed framework, the Treasury Secretary would be able to employ the Bank Secrecy Act to require certain financial institutions to report information around transactions potentially connected to money laundering, as well as prohibit them from serving account holders with such alleged ties to illicit funds. The provision, according to Brito, would essentially bypass the existing checks and balances on the Treasury Secretary’s authority in this area.
“First, the law requires that Treasury engage in a public rulemaking before instituting a prohibition,” said Brito. “Second, the secretary can impose a surveillance special measure through a simple order, but its duration is limited to 120 days and must be accompanied by a public rulemaking [...] While not full due process, these limitations at least alert the public and gives the public some opportunity to comment on a special measure's merit or constitutionality.”
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