Rep. Brad Sherman to propose companion to senate’s crypto sanctions bill

Rep. Brad Sherman teased a companion bill to proposed legislation in the Senate that would empower the Treasury with the ability to compel crypto exchanges to block transactions with all Russian wallets.

The “Digital Asset Sanctions Compliance Enhancement Act,” introduced by Senator Elizabeth Warren, would also require the White House assemble a report on crypto service providers with ties to Russia.

At today’s House Financial Services Committee markup on a number of sanctions-related bills, Sherman used some of his remaining time to tease the forthcoming companion bill.

“I will be introducing a companion bill in the house and look forward to joining with my colleagues to make sure that one of the tools available to the administration is the ability to tell crypto exchanges, if they’re doing business in the United States, they can’t do business with Russia based crypto wallets until this crisis is over,” he said.

Earlier this week, The Block reported that public records showed Sherman had submitted a measure, “to impose sanctions with respect to the use of cryptocurrency to facilitate transactions by Russian persons subject to sanctions, and for other purposes.”

Still, little is known about the measure. Sherman’s office did not respond to a request for comment sent Monday morning or immediately after the comments made at Tuesday’s hearing.

Sherman has long been skeptical of the use of cryptocurrencies, and once called for an outright ban on crypto purchases in the US. This new legislation comes amid a climate of high alert on crypto’s use to evade sanctions, despite scant tangible evidence that Russia is using crypto to avoid sanctions.