On August 2, Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) introduced the “Combatting Money Laundering in Cyber Crime Act of 2024.”
This bipartisan bill seeks to grant the Secret Service enhanced investigative powers to address crimes involving digital assets, including financial institution fraud, structured transactions, and unlicensed money transmitting enterprises.
Senator Cortez Masto emphasized the growing threat posed by digital assets in criminal activities. “The funding of criminal activity through digital assets poses a direct threat to the security and safety of our nation,” she stated, underscoring the urgency of the bill.
The bill aims to expand the Secret Service’s authority to investigate cryptocurrency transactions carried out by unlicensed money transmitters and potential frauds targeting U.S. financial institutions. “This bipartisan and bicameral bill will allow for the U.S. Secret Service to better investigate new forms of financial crime involving digital assets,” added Cortez Masto.
Senator Grassley highlighted the need for stronger threat assessments to identify and prevent money laundering schemes facilitated by dubious financial enterprises. “Putting financial activity on federal law enforcement’s radar like this bill does will improve our capacity to anticipate and prevent crimes,” he said.
The latest development comes days after US House members passed the Financial Technology Protection Act on July 22 by voice vote after the bill was introduced in April 2023.
The bill aimed at preventing illicit crypto activities also grants primary regulatory responsibility to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), reducing SEC oversight.
As per a blockchain analytics firm, Chainalysis revealed that illicit addresses laundered around $22.2 billion worth of cryptocurrencies in 2023. This marked a notable decline of around 30% from the 2022 total of $31.5 billion.
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