Financial Services Committee and Cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others offer several advantages in comparison with fiat currencies. One of the main differences is that central banks are not controlling the crypto money.

There are some problems as well. Two days ago, the House Financial Services Committee (FSC) discussed some of those issues. The FSC subcommittee hearing was focused on how domestic terrorists finance their activities in general.

During this hearing, U.S. lawmakers and witnesses also discussed the connection between crypto and unlawful activities.

The FSC subcommittee on National Security, International Development and Monetary Policy examined various ways to combat domestic terrorism, etc. The purpose of this hearing was to discuss how U.S. financial institutions can tackle those problems.

Cryptocurrencies and illegal activities

The Director of the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness was one of the witnesses. Jared Maples said U.S. authorities should address this issue as cryptocurrencies are used to finance the domestic terrorism.

He also listed several incidents when organizations used cryptocurrency for such purposes.

Extremist groups are also using cryptocurrencies, and one of the witnesses Rena Miller touched this topic. She is a specialist in financial economics at the Congressional Research Service.

According to Miller, it is hard to combat the financing of extremist groups. The emergence of new technologies, such as cryptocurrencies, complicated the situation/

George Selim senior vice president of programs at the Anti-Defamation League underlined that transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain are still transparent. It is possible to track the transactions even though it’s anonymous.

Selim talked about the regulations for crypto-related platforms. Thank regulations it would be possible to track online transactions.

U.S. Congress members criticized Facebook’s Libra project. Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg had to defend the digital currency in front of the U.S. lawmakers. Such examples show that Congress is not ready to embrace cryptocurrencies.

There are certain problems when it comes to crypto and illegal activities. However, it is possible to develop a crypto industry and at the same time, reduce the cases when people are using cryptocurrencies to break the laws.