An amendment in the bill tightens oversight on institutions
that are engaging in crypto trading.
The United States Senate passed the 2024 National Defense
Authorization Act (NDAA) worth $886
billion on the evening of July 27. The bill includes a provision that targets
crypto mixers, anonymity-enhancing coins and institutions
that are engaging in crypto trading.
The NDAA is a bill that helps authorize how the country’s defense department
can utilize federal funding. Within the bill, a crypto-related amendment was
advanced by a group of senators, including Cynthia Lummis, Elizabeth Warren,
Kirsten Gillibrand and Roger Marshall.
The amendment was created with provisions that were taken
from the Digital Asset Anti-Money
Laundering Act which was introduced back in 2022 and the Responsible Financial Innovation Act
which aims to establish guardrails to prevent another
FTX-style event happening within the industry.
More specifically, the amendment will require establishing
examination standards for crypto.
This would help assess risk and make sure that businesses
are in compliance with related sanctions and money laundering laws.
Apart from this, it compels the Treasury Department to
perform a study aimed at cracking down on
anonymous crypto transactions. This includes the use of
crypto mixers like Tornado Cash, that’s used to make transactions private.
In 2022, the U.S. Treasury Department issued sanctions against the crypto mixer Tornado Cash,
barring residents from using the crypto mixer.
While the mixer was designed for people to
anonymize their crypto transactions, it was often utilized by malicious actors to hide
their ill-gotten crypto from hacks and exploits.
According to the Treasury Department,
the mixer failed to impose controls that disallow money laundering
from bad actors in the space.
Meanwhile, the NDAA also includes an amendment that will require
companies in the U.S. to disclose
their investments in China. U.S. Senator Bob Casey said that this
notification is necessary for the
government to understand how much” is being transferred to their
