Regulation
US Treasury Says Wants to Improve Money Laundering Regulations Around Crypto and Other Illicit Financing
The US Treasury Department wants to continue to strengthen its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing efforts around digital assets, as part of its broader strategy to combat illicit financing.
The department published its 2024 strategy “National strategy to combat terrorism and other illicit financing” on Thursday, describing its priorities in the fight against illicit financing. The Treasury highlighted its ongoing work around crypto, including sanctions against certain exchanges and groups like Bitzlato And Lazarusits settlement with Binance and its warnings regarding pig slaughter scams. The annual document explains how the Treasury examines illicit financing and what role crypto regulation can play in combating this problem.
Broadly speaking, the strategy document released on Thursday says its four priorities are closing gaps in anti-money laundering regulations, supporting a “more effective and risk-focused” framework, strengthening efficiency law enforcement agencies and take advantage of technological innovations.
Updating existing supervisory frameworks for cryptocurrencies would support these priorities, the strategy document says.
This includes potential updates to the US regulatory framework (for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing) as well as work on “global implementation of [Financial Action Task Force] standards,” the document states.
“To successfully apply the existing AML/CFT supervisory and enforcement framework to virtual asset activities, the United States must allocate sufficient supervisory and enforcement resources and continue to invest in technology and training analysts, investigators and regulators to develop additional expertise related to new technologies. , including analysis of public blockchain data,” the document states.
In a press call, a Treasury official said Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo and Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson discussed the Department’s request for greater authority and oversight of some crypto issues with lawmakers.
“I can say that we will continue to work with Congress to provide technical assistance [with those] proposals, and it remains a priority for the leadership of this building to obtain these authorities,” they said.
In Thursday’s filing, Treasury said it would continue to monitor developments in digital asset payments – including decentralized finance –, provide technical assistance to Congress, continue to review its use of sanctions and to seek more funding for the Financial Crime Network and the Office of Foreign Assets. Control.