If passed, the Digital Assets Anti-Money Laundering Act proposed by Senators Elizabeth Warren and Roger Marshall will cause a stir in the crypto-sphere. Doubt hangs over its impact on digital freedom in the country of Uncle Sam.
Senators Warren and Marshall take on money laundering
While the crypto-sphere is in turmoil following the collapse of FTX, two US senators have introduced a bipartisan bill called the “Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act” (DAAMLA). The qualifier “bipartisan” originates from the contrasting political affiliation of these senators. If Elizabeth Warren is a liberal Democrat from Massachusetts, Roger Marshall is rather a conservative Republican from Kansas.
Their law Project of 7 pages would require anyone involved in maintaining the public blockchain infrastructure, whether through software development or validating transactions on the network, to register as a financial institution (FI) “, precise No Bullshit Bitcoin.
However, this status of financial institution imposes in particular:
- Know-Your-Customer (KYC) to crypto players, including wallet providers and miners;
- establishment of adequate anti-money laundering program by FIs;
- issuing reports on cold crypto wallet holders at the request of the government;
- the prohibition of any use of crypto-asset mixers such as Tornado Cash or anonymous cryptocurrencies such as Monero or Zcash;
- etc
It should also be noted that the DAAMLA law grants more powers to FinCEN. The latter will act as a financial policeman supposed to monitor transactions involving wallets not controlled by crypto exchanges, or non-custodial wallets.
The divided crypto community
Patrick Daughterty, of Foley & Lardner, is among the first to congratulate this initiative by the Warren-Marshall duo.
” I am delighted to see Senator Warren acting in a bipartisan manner in joining Senator Marshall in introducing this bill. It has the salutary effect of radically preventing the misuse of digital assets for criminal purposes “, he whispered to Cointelegraph.
” This bill from @SenWarren and @RogerMarshallMD is the most terrible attack on digital freedom I have ever seen. It transforms validators into financial services companies. It prohibits financial confidentiality. [Et] it turns America into a total surveillance state. This is how Western democracies die. »
This hastily crafted bill is unlikely to make it to the next session of Congress. Note, however, that Senator Warren is preparing comprehensive legislation on the regulation of cryptocurrencies. Gary Gensler’s SEC will be granted more powers if this law is passed.
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