Two
crypto
provisions
addressing
anti-money-laundering
concerns
were
dropped
from
a
joint
version
of
the
National
Defense
Authorization
Act,
a
military-funding
bill
viewed
as
must-pass
legislation,
ending
a
backdoor
effort
to
get
digital-asset
rules
passed
this
year
in
the
U.S.
According
to
a
joint
bill
published
Thursday
by
lawmakers
from
the
U.S.
House
and
Senate,
provisions
that
would
create
an
anti-money-laundering
examination
standard
for
crypto
assets
and
require
a
report
analyzing
the
use
of
privacy
coins
or
other
“anonymity-enhancing
technologies”
in
crypto
were
dropped.
The
House
of
Representatives
version
of
the
NDAA
did
not
contain
the
provisions
that
the
Senate
version
did.
The
NDAA
details
the
military
budget
for
the
upcoming
year,
though
as
one
of
the
U.S.’s
few
must-pass
bills,
it’s
often
amended
with
various
other
provisions.
Senate
amendments
included
one
for
the
Secretary
of
the
Treasury
“to
establish
a
risk-focused
examination
and
review
process
for
financial
institutions”
to
look
at
whether
reporting
obligations
for
crypto
assets
under
money-laundering
rules
were
adequate
and
whether
firms
were
compliant.
The
other
would
direct
the
Treasury
Department
to
produce
and
publish
a
report
on
the
use
of
mixers
and
tumblers,
the
magnitude
of
transactions
using
privacy
tools,
the
extent
to
which
sanctioned
entities
might
be
using
those
tools
and
more.
It
would
also
direct
the
Treasury
to
come
up
with
“recommendations
for
legislation
or
regulation
relating
to
the
technologies
and
services
described.”
Later
on
Thursday,
Senators
Mark
Warner
(D-Va.),
Mitt
Romney
(R-Utah),
Jack
Reed
(D-R.I.)
and
Mike
Rounds
(R-S.D.)
introduced
a
bill
intended
to
expand
U.S.
sanctions
rules
to
any
parties
that
“facilitate
financial
transactions
with
terrorists,”
naming
Hamas
as
one
key
example.
The
bill
focuses
much
of
its
attention
on
“foreign
digital
asset
companies”
that
might
process
or
otherwise
support
transactions
to
terror
groups.
