Senators in the United States last month introduced a bill to combat money laundering and terrorism financing activities and increase the oversight of digital currency related activities.
Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Senator Diane Feinstein of California filed the US SB 1241 in May 2017. The bill – the Combating Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Counterfeiting Act of 2017 – is also backed by Senator John Cornyn and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse.
The bill seeks to update the definition of “financial institutions” to include "any digital currency exchanger or tumbler", CoinDesk reported. It also clarifies that any "issuer, redeemer or cashier" of a digital currency is also covered.
Importantly, the bill states:
“[T]he Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, shall submit to Congress a report—
(1) detailing a strategy to interdict and detect prepaid access devices, digital currencies, or other similar instruments, at border crossings and other ports of entry for the United States”.
Furthermore, the report should include an “assessment of infrastructure needed to carry out the strategy” for prohibiting undeclared funds from entering the country.
The report should be submitted to Congress no later than 18 months after the enactment of this Act.
