US Congress Encouraged to Regulate Crypto Sector Under Bank Secrecy Act

A Washington DC-based strategic advisory firm, the Financial Integrity Network (FIN), pushed the United States Congress to regulate firms in the cryptocurrency sector under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA).  

The FIN recommended that virtual asset service providers (VASPs) should be regulated based on the type of service that they provide, as stated in testimony. The testimony was published before a hearing set to be held by the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs’ subcommittee on National Security and International Trade and Finance on Sep 3.   

The hearing, “Human Trafficking and its Intersection with the Financial System” will be reviewing ways to prevent financial transactions related to human trafficking and to detect these transactions swiftly once they have occurred.   

David Murray, the FIN’s vice president for product development and services, will be testifying among others. He noted that some VASPs are currently regulated as money transmitters under the BSA. He stated:  

“Some VASPs are currently regulated as money transmitters under the BSA. Others are not regulated at all. Even for those VASPs currently regulated as money transmitters, the regulations are insufficient to protect virtual assets from exploitation."  

Murray also mentioned that imposing the recommended regulations on people and entities would make it more difficult for existing implementations of blockchain-based payments to continue to operate.   

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