Last updated on April 15th, 2024 at 03:27 pm
The United States Treasury Department has requested more enforcement authority against international digital asset service providers in its efforts to ensure national security, according to a recent report by Bloomberg.
The Treasury’s deputy secretary, Adewale O. Adeyemo, reportedly wrote in his testimony as he prepared to appear before the U.S. Senate for a hearing on Tuesday, April 9, 2024, that bad actors providers are finding more ways to conceal their identities and transfer resources using crypto assets despite the Agency’s steps.
Adeyemo noted that last year, Iran’s Quds Force, which is part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, transferred assets via cryptocurrency to militant groups in Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza. The Deputy Secretary noted that the U.S. Treasury could only take legal action against the networks that facilitated smaller donations to Hamas in response to these acts.
Adeyemo sought the lawmakers’ approval for a new sanctions tool targeted at international crypto providers that facilitate illegal financing. He claimed that a new tool would enable the Agency to upgrade its targeting capabilities, as technological changes have rendered highly efficient tools in traditional payments less efficient against crypto assets. He also noted that other states’ malign actors, including North Korea and Russia, use crypto assets.
Although specifics regarding the secondary tool the U.S. Treasury is seeking are unclear, there is no doubt that the Agency is targeting international crypto exchanges that may act as threats against national security while using the United States financial system.
The U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration has especially targeted cryptocurrency and digital asset providers over concerns that they might be used for terrorist financing and money laundering. Many U.S. federal agencies have taken enforcement actions against crypto providers in a bid to fulfil their mandate. Most recently, The U.S. Treasury Department and other federal agencies accused Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, of violating U.S. financial laws by enabling money laundering. Binance has since settled the case.
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