Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo gave Senate Banking Committee an update on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.
Adeyemo has been a vocal advocate of increasing the regulatory powers of the United States Treasury and their influence on domestic financial affairs.
Adeyemo gives an update to the Senate Banking Committee
The Deputy Secretary told the Senate Banking Committee: “I'm here today because we need additional tools to protect the American people.”
Adeyemo will continue that “as we (Treasury) take steps to remove terrorist groups and other malicious actors from the traditional financial system, we are concerned about the ways these actors are using cryptocurrencies to circumvent our sanctions.”
Deputy Secretary Adeyemo had proposed three main reform themes to the Senate Banking Committee in November 2023. These included the creation of a financial sanctions tool targeting “foreign providers of digital assets that facilitate illicit financing”.
The second proposed theme was “modernizing and closing gaps in existing authorities by expanding their scope to explicitly cover key players and core activities of the digital asset ecosystem.”
Third, Adeyemo addressed “legal risk from offshore cryptocurrency platforms, which is a major challenge.”
The United States Treasury has stated that cryptocurrency is an emerging player in the hands of dangerous groups. Deputy Secretary Adeyemo would also highlight the funding routes used by terrorists and major groups of concern.
He said: “While we continue to appreciate that terrorists prefer to use traditional financial products and services, we fear that without action by Congress to provide us with the necessary tools, the use of virtual assets by these actors will only increase.
While these actors today only use virtual assets for a portion of their illegal activity, we know that in other areas, illegal actors rely almost entirely on virtual currencies. Over the past few years, ransomware attacks have only increased in scale, sophistication and frequency. The Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network found, based on BSA reporting, that more than $1 billion in ransomware payments were made exclusively using cryptocurrencies in 2023. This not only has an impact on our national security, but also on our economy.
You can watch the full hearing Senate Banking Committee and it is hoped that today's hearing will eradicate the external and internal threats that illegal banking can bring.
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