The US Treasury Department has expressed its intention to enhance anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing measures regarding digital assets.
The Ministry published the 2024 “National Strategy to Combat Terrorism and Other Illegal Financing” strategy today. The document outlines its priorities in combating illicit financing and notes its ongoing work on cryptocurrencies. These efforts include sanctions against some exchanges and groups such as Bitzlato and Lazarus, and the agreement with Binance.
The strategy document identified four key priorities: closing gaps in anti-money laundering regulations, supporting a more effective and risk-focused framework, improving the effectiveness of law enforcement and leveraging technological innovations.
The document suggests that updating existing regulatory frameworks for cryptocurrencies would support these priorities. This could include working on global implementation of Financial Action Task Force standards, as well as potential updates to the U.S. regulatory framework to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.
The document says:
“Successful application of the existing Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism oversight and enforcement framework to virtual asset activities requires the United States to allocate adequate oversight and enforcement resources and provide analysts with greater expertise on new technologies, including the analysis of publicly available blockchain data.” “This requires continuing to invest in technology and training for inspectors and regulators.”
During the press conference, a Treasury official revealed that Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo and Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Undersecretary Brian Nelson discussed with lawmakers the department's request for greater authority and oversight regarding certain crypto issues.
*This is not investment advice.