WASHINGTON—U.S. lawmakers are reportedly discussing a new bill entitled the “Cryptocurrency Act of 2020.”
The bill’s purpose is to “…clarify which federal agencies regulate digital assets, to require those agencies to notify the public of any federal licenses, certifications, or registrations required to create or trade in such assets, and for other purposes,” Blockchain News reported.
“You should be able to tell your examiner, and/or your regulator like FinCEN, how you mitigate risks…identify potentially suspicious activity and comply with reporting and recordkeeping requirements — including the Funds Travel Rule. You can count on being asked about this during an examination,” stated Kenneth A. Blanco, Director of FinCEN.
Provisions in Bill
Among the bill’s highlights, according to the report:
- It assigns a definition of “Federal Digital Asset Regulator” or “Federal Crypto Regulator” to three agencies – the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CTFC), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)
- It splits digital assets into three different categories: cryptocurrencies, crypto-commodities, and crypto-securities
- The Federal Crypto Regulator is assigned one of the categories and is defined as the sole government agency with the authority to regulate: CFTC – crypto-commodities, SEC – crypto-securities, FinCEN – crypto-currencies
- Each Federal Crypto Regulator is required to make available to the public and keep current a list of all Federal licenses, certifications, or registrations required to create or trade in digital assets
- It requires the Secretary of the Treasury, through FinCEN, to establish rules similar to financial institutions on the ability to trace cryptocurrency transactions