Trump is not a fan of the crypto marketplace. In the past, he has expressed negative sentiments about crypto on Twitter. Recently, the White House released a budget proposal for the fiscal year 2021. In the budget, the administration proposes some tough countermeasures for crypto.
Secret Service To Treasury
In the budget, Trump proposes giving more power to the Treasury Department on crypto. Besides that, it proposes funding for FinCEN to expand its capabilities to fight crypto-threats and other financial threats. In the budget, it is proposed that the Secret Service be returned to the Department of Treasury. The Secret Service was moved to the Department of Homeland Security in 2002.
In the budget, it is stated that technical advancements in the recent past such as crypto and growing interconnectedness of the financial sector have led to the creation of more complex criminal entities. It states that these complex criminal entities are more connected to electronic crime and terror financing. As a result, it calls for the Secret Service to be returned to the Treasury to create more efficiency when investigating criminal activity carried out electronically. Cybercrime is the purview of the Secret Service, which includes criminal activity carried out using crypto. This includes cryptojacking, according to their site.
FinCEN Treasury Budget
The budget proposes that the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) be given $127 million. FinCEN is under the treasury and it is tasked with fighting money laundering and safeguarding the US financial system from illegal actors. According to the budget proposal, these additional resources would improve the ability of FinCEN to protect data collected under the Bank Secrecy Act. The result is that FinCEN would be able to expand its ability to combat cybercrime and digital currency threats.
FinCEN has already been combating crypto quite vigorously. It strictly enforces rules that govern businesses in the crypto sector, including crypto exchanges. For instance, all exchanges in the US have to verify the identities of their users. All the identities of the original parties and beneficiaries of crypto transfers of over $3000 have to be verified. This also includes the information on counter-parties, if they exist.
Under the proposed Cryptocurrency Act of 2020, FinCEN would be allowed to regulate crypto while the CFTC would regulate crypto commodities. The SEC would then be allowed to regulate crypto securities. There is currently no law in the US Federal Government that regulates how federal bodies regulate the crypto sector.
Trump Does Not Like Crypto
Most people are saying that Trump’s budget is dead on arrival. It is being viewed as a mostly political document and it will most likely be rejected. However, the proposals concerning the crypto sector could make it into the final document in some form.
Trump has never been a fan of crypto. In the past, he has claimed that the value of crypto is based on thin air. His administration has not created any favorable legislation or enacted any measures that support the crypto sector. This attitude towards crypto is believed to have greatly hampered the growth of the sector in the US. Even Facebook Libra, one of the biggest digital currency projects in the world, is registered outside the US.
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