‘Strong plan’ against bitcoin: US Lawmaker Urges Biden Administration

A US congressman has called on Vice President Joe Biden’s administration to implement a “strong plan” to prevent bitcoin from being used to avoid sanctions.

“Emerging technologies such as Bitcoin have a wide range of uses.”,” he continued, “but the government has not kept pace in ensuring that this unique form of payment is not exploited to damage US national security.”

No space to avoid sanctions

Rep. McCaul wants a “strong strategy” to prevent cryptocurrency from being used to avoid sanctions.

Representative Michael McCaul (R-TX), a prominent member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has taken a variety of steps to prevent cryptocurrency from being used to avoid US sanctions.

In a statement released on Thursday, he urged the Biden administration to develop a “strong plan” to prevent crypto from being used to avoid sanctions.

Punishing criminals is a good start, but I urge the administration to adopt a comprehensive policy to prevent bad actors from avoiding US sanctions by using bitcoin.

His remarks came after Virgil Griffith was sentenced to more than five years in federal prison for assisting North Korea in evading US sanctions by utilizing bitcoin technologies.

Last month, Rep. McCaul wrote to President Joe Biden, expressing his concern about “Russia’s potential exploitation of emerging technology like cryptocurrencies to avoid sanctions.” He mentioned “an expected UN report on North Korea’s nuclear program being funded with stolen bitcoins.” Biden has not responded to him.

Concern with Russia’s use of crypto

“Steps are  taken to ensure that developing technology is not used to avoid US sanctions.”

The congressman wrote a similar letter to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines following her testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence concerning how her department will deal with cryptocurrency-related sanctions evasion. 

McCaul introduced the Russia Cryptocurrency Transparency Act with House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Gregory Meeks (D-NY) earlier this month. The bill was passed by the House Foreign Affairs Committee with bipartisan support.

While some lawmakers are concerned about the use of cryptocurrency to avoid sanctions, many experts believe that cryptocurrency is not an efficient instrument for avoiding penalties.

In March, a US Treasury official said, “We don’t anticipate crypto being used in a large-scale fashion to avoid sanctions.” 

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has sponsored a crypto sanctions bill that “would impose extensive limitations on persons who construct, operate, or use cryptocurrency networks, even if they have no knowledge with the aim to aid in sanction evasion.”

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Nancy J. Allen is a crypto enthusiast and believes that cryptocurrencies inspire people to be their own banks and step aside from traditional monetary exchange systems. She is also intrigued by blockchain technology and its functioning.

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