US Senator Elizabeth Warren has penned an open letter to Donald Trump’s pick to lead the US Treasury, urging him to evaluate stricter regulations and enforcement measures for digital assets if he takes office.
In the Jan. 12 open letter, Warren asked Treasury Secretary-designate Scott Bessent if the Treasury Department should have more power to sanction the crypto sector.
“Should AML/CFT and sanctions programs include risk-based provisions reasonably designed to prevent money laundering or terrorist financing involving digital assets,” wrote Warren, who is soon to be the top Democrat on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.
According to Warren, bad actors use cryptocurrency for criminal activity like money laundering and sanctions evasion and to finance actions such as North Korea’s nuclear program and ransomware attacks.
“Bad actors are also increasingly turning to cryptocurrency to enable money laundering, sanctions evasion, and to finance major national security threats, such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, North Korea’s nuclear program, China’s sale of weapons parts to sanctioned nations, and ransomware attacks,” Warren said.
She also asked Bessent whether the department’s powers regarding Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing should include a secondary sanctions tool that would allow it to “sever fintech and crypto operators from US relationships.”
Warren wrote a 31-page letter to the lead candidate for Treasury Secretary, asking dozens of questions that she wants answers to at his confirmation hearing on Jan. 16. Source: Elizabeth Warren
Warren has also asked whether the Office of Foreign Assets Control should have jurisdiction over stablecoins and if Congress should extend Treasury’s Bank Secrecy Act authority to include overseas companies connected to US markets and clients.
The Bank Secrecy Act requires financial institutions to maintain operational records and file reports with the US Department of the Treasury.
Under current regulations, US crypto exchanges, wallet providers and other service providers must comply with certain BSA…
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