WASHINGTON (PNN) - December 1, 2017 - On November 28, 2017, the Fascist Police States of Amerika Senate Committee of the Judiciary held a hearing regarding S.1241: Modernizing AML Laws to Combat Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing. Despite little attention being given to digital currencies during the hearing, S.1241 would amend the definition of “financial institution” in the United States Code to include digital currencies and digital exchanges. This could have alarming consequences for users of cryptocurrencies both in the FPSA and abroad. S.1241 would amend the definition of “financial institution” in Section 5312(a) of Title 31 USC to include “an issuer, redeemer, or cashier of prepaid access devices, digital currency, or any digital exchanger or tumbler of digital currency.” Currently, the definition of “financial institution” includes banks, trust companies, credit unions, currency exchanges, etc.
In her introduction, Senator Diane Feinstein (Kalif.), ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee, said, “The bill criminalizes intentionally concealing ownership or control of a bank account.” Although during the hearing no further clarifications were given as to the effects this would have on the cryptocurrency community, based on the amended definition of “financial institution”, it seems clear enough that the bill would “criminalize [those] intentionally concealing ownership or control of a [digital currency or digital exchange] account.” Let this sink in for a minute.
The FPSA Senate is proposing a bill to make criminals out of anyone intentionally concealing ownership or control of a digital currency or digital exchange account. What’s more, according to the hearing’s prolonged discussion of FPSA terrorist pig thug cop’s handling of foreign banks and financial institutions, this bill is certain to have far-reaching effects on not only FPSA citizens, but the global community as a whole.
If the above statement describes you, it is strongly recommended that you watch the hearing with this new definition of “financial institution” in mind. If you’ve already watched the hearing, watch it again, but this time replace all mentions of “banks and financial institutions” with “digital currencies and digital exchanges”. The implications are rather alarming.
Interestingly enough, Kathryn Haun Rodriguez, a Coinbase Board of Directors member, made absolutely no mention of digital currencies or digital exchanges in her testimony; nor was she asked any questions pertaining to these topics.
Conversely, in her July 2017 written testimony to the US House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services and Subcommittee on Terrorism and Illicit Finance, she stated that some users of digital currencies use them “to conceal and move illicit proceeds because of the perception that virtual currency is untraceable.”
Also in her prior written testimony, she stated that “the FinTech industry could be a very helpful partner to the government in addressing national security concerns;” that “investigators like digital footprints and that is exactly what digital currencies provide;” and that “of course, we can only follow the money to an individual or group if they used a regulated exchange, one that follows basic AML/KYC laws.”
Contrary to the bill itself, the hearing was noticeably lacking in references to cryptocurrencies; although there was some limited mention of such.
Due to the probable negative implications for the global cryptocurrency community, hopefully the interpretation of S.1241 in this article is proven incorrect; however, at this point, it seems fairly clear that this is the intent behind the bill. If this is indeed the case, it will be the most recent attack on a growing list of State-backed attacks against the crypto-community.
Furthermore, from the noticeable lack of references made to digital currencies during the hearing, it would appear this bill is yet another underhanded attempt by the FPSA government to further erode global freedoms and civil liberties, which markedly began with the introduction of the USA PATRIOT Act shortly after the events of September 11, 2001.
It will be very interesting to see what goes forward. If this bill passes, how many of you future criminals out there are still set on holding?
