Four U.S. Senators Introduce Crypto Anti-Money Laundering Bill

On July 19th, a crypto anti-money laundering bill was introduced by a group of four United States senators - Jack Reed, Mike Rounds, Mark Warner, and Mitt Romney, as per the information given in a news release on Senator Reed's official website. This bill was targeted at halting unlawful financial transfers.

The bill end “Crypto-Asset National Security Enhancement and Enforcement (CANSEE) Act (S. 2355)” focuses on money laundering and sanctions evasion involving decentralized finance (DeFi).

The bipartisan bill requires DeFi services to be compliant with similar anti-money laundering (AML) and economic sanctions compliance obligations as other financial firms. This includes centralized crypto trading platforms, casinos, and pawn shops, according to the bill.

Special treatment for DeFi will be eliminated through the application of similar national security laws applicable to banks and securities brokers, casinos and pawn shops, as well as other crypto firms such as centralized trading platforms.

Maintaining AML programs, conducting due diligence on customers, and reporting suspicious transactions to FinCEN will be required for DeFi services.

Crypto ATM operators will be required to improve traceability of funds through the verification of the identities of each counterparty to each transaction.

“The legislation also makes clear that if a sanctioned person, like a Russian oligarch, uses a DeFi service to evade U.S. sanctions, then anyone who controls that project will be liable for facilitating that violation. If nobody controls a DeFi service, then—as a backstop—anyone who invests more than $25 million in developing the project will be responsible for these obligations,” said Reed.