The US Senate Judiciary Committee is currently reviewing Bill S.1241 against to criminalize the intentional concealment of ownership or control of a financial account. The bill would also amend the definition of "financial account" and "financial institution" to include digital currencies and digital exchanges, respectively. According to Senator Dianne Feinstein, a member of the Classification Committee, the bill is needed to modernize existing AML legislation.

Modify Definitions

The Bill would amend the definition of " financial institution "(a) of Title 31, Code of the United States, to include:

" Issuer, writer or cashier of prepaid access devices, digital currency or any digital interchange or goblet of digital currency. "

When passed, the bill would likely have far-reaching effects for digital currency users both in the United States and abroad.

Opinion of the industry

have issued their opinions on the draft law. Tone Vays asserted that he was expecting a confrontation between the Bitcoin team, including the holders and users, and the US government.

"It's bad … I think it's going to end in a very confrontational way between Bitcoin …"

In his testimony at the audience, John A. Cassara asserted that the question of virtual currencies is interesting:

] "Senator, I'm just glad to have had my career when I l & # 39; I did it because I do not know what I would do when trying to track money when it comes to digital currency, it's extremely, extremely difficult … I think at the metric, the parameters suggest today [that] that digital currencies represent a small fraction of the threat that we face. That's not to say that this will be the case in 5-10 years from now. We are at a crossroads, and it will be very, very interesting to see what is going on ahead. "

Earlier reports also indicate that the White House is actively monitoring cryptocurrencies that can only mean more attempts to regulate the world's first decentralized monetary system.With the growing involvement of Wall Street and the increasing attention of the media, it is not surprising that governments are stepping up their attempts to regulate digital currency.